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Readers will use the quality measures taxonomy if they are looking
for software technologies that affect particular quality measures
or attributes of a software component or system. The technology
descriptions have been categorized into this taxonomy by the
particular quality measure(s) that they directly influence. Software
quality can be defined as the degree to which software possesses
a desired combination of attributes (e.g., reliability, interoperability)
[IEEE 90]. Software technologies are typically developed to affect
certain quality measures.
We developed a reasonably exhaustive an non-overlapping set of measures
by which the quality of software is judged. With the help of work
done by Boehm, Barbacci, Deutsch and Willis, and Evans and Marciniak,
we established a hierarchical relationship among our list of quality
measures to create the taxonomy
[Boehm 78,
Barbacci 95,
Deutsch
88,
Evans 87].
The following table explains the categories of quality measures and the
areas they address:
| Quality Measure |
Area Addressed |
| Need Satisfaction (QM.1) |
How well does the system meet the user's needs and requirements? |
| Performance (QM.2) |
How well does the system function? |
| Maintenance (QM.3) |
How easily can the system be repaired or changed? |
| Adaptive (QM.4) |
How easily can the system evolve or migrate? |
| Organizational (QM.5) |
none specifically, usually indirect |
Categories 1 - 4 are all considered to be direct measures, i.e., quality
attributes that can be directly impacted by software technologies. The
measures listed in category 5 are measures that generally can not be
affected directly by software technologies, but have an indirect relationship.
Many factors influence these measures, such as management, politics,
bureaucracy, employee skill-level, and work environment. For example,
software alone can not improve productivity. A software technology
that improves a direct measure such as understandability may indirectly
improve productivity. Therefore, most technology descriptions will
not
be categorized into category 5. An example of a technology the reader
may find in this category is a technology that was specifically developed
to measure or estimate costs of productivity associated with software.
The Software
Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and
development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense
and operated by Carnegie Mellon University.
Copyright
2007
by Carnegie Mellon University
Terms of Use
URL: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/str/taxonomies/qm_tax_body.html
Last Modified: 11 January 2007
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