AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen ICREASIG RESOSIBILIY O CUSOMERS HROUGH A YAMIC QUALIY ASSURACE SYSEM I SOFWARE EVELOME Căălin Afrăsinei-Zevoianu 1* an Ramona Lacurezeanu 2 1) 2) Babeş-Bolyai Universiy of Cluj-apoca, Romania Absrac he informaion explosion has le ineviably o he nee o esign an implemen sofware soluions o he new informaion environmens face by any person, group, company, an naion. Measuring sofware prouc qualiy has been neglece for a long ime bu now boh proucers an researchers recognize he imporance of fiel esing an assessmen sofware. In his conex, he aim of he aricle is o propose, valiae an emonsrae he imporance of using ynamic inicaors of sofware qualiy measuremen ha reflec he implicaions ha qualiy has in he emergence of gaps in each sage of he process leaing o he achievemen of applicaion sofware. Meho propose is par of applie researches fiel having he purpose of being a specific insrumen for he omain suie an i is inene o become he means by which he require effeciveness for he assume objecives is reache: increasing responsibiliy o cusomers hrough qualiy improvemen. Moreover, by applying measures o improve prouc qualiy, any company signs up in he curren ren of increasing responsibiliy o he clien which, in is urn, is an imporan componen of CSR. Keywors: sofware evelopmen life cycle, sofware qualiy assurance (SQA), corporae social responsibiliy (CSR), qualiy merics, sofware qualiy managemen JEL Classificaion: O320 Inroucion he inensive evelopmen of he sofware omain, wih more an more iverse an farreaching implicaions for he fiel of echnical applicaions, science an echnology an for all human an social aciviies, requires sofware sysems o be consiere as concepual inangible proucs which ensure he survival an he coninual evelopmen of he companies ha esign an implemen hem (Armas, 2006). * Corresponing auhor, Căălin Afrăsinei-Zevoianu - cafrasinei@yahoo.com 318 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE he muliue of compuer applicaions aims mainly a hree aspecs: he growing number of users of he same sofware, he qualiy of he resuls obaine from aa processing, aa qualiy in e-business, e-commerce, Web sreams or flows (Ivan an ohers, 2000). Our paper sars from he asserions ha "sofware proucion an elivery of relae informaion epens largely on how inellecual effor is manage" an "no naion can affor o have a sofware inusry which prouces anyhing bu qualiy sofware". (Balog an Olaru, 1997). Conclusion ha was rawn base on he researches i in he fiel of social responsibiliy have irece us o he iea evelope in (oma, 2008): coes of corporae governance of he moern companies ami ha he success in business, growh on boh shareholers profis an employees welfare, evelopmen of communiies an ineress of he oher sakeholers are all of hem inerrelae elemens. Wihou claiming o be exhausive an inconesable, he paper is rying o efine an clarify he concep of sofware qualiy assurance as a facor of ensuring responsibiliy o cliens, as a componen of social responsibiliy. 1. Measuring sofware qualiy an increasing responsibiliy o cliens In globalizaion era, companies have become much complex regaring he srucure an geographical region, hey have o cope wih bigger an bigger volumes of aa, wih sronger an sronger compeiion especially in crisis imes an all of hese make he use of I, generally, an ER, SCM, CRM an BI sofware paricularly, a real an sraegic compeiive avanage. owaays, more han ever, he muliue caegories of sofware an is iversiy have impose he necessiy of having a sanarize sysem of sofware qualiy assurance (umiru, 2011; umiru an Florescu, 2009). Over ime here have been ifferen scales for graing he sofware lifecycle. Of all exising ones, we selece he following for he curren heme: analysis of cusomer nees, esign an programming of requiremens, implemenaion an esing of he prouc, ensuring is mainenance (Osafi, 2009; Cavano an McCall, 1978). he qualiy of a sofware prouc means he abiliy o be use effecively, efficienly an comforably by a se of users, for a se of goals, in specifie coniions. Regaring he qualiy of sofware, some of he researchers promoe he iea ha here is no clear an complee heoreical backgroun; here is subjeciviy; here is agreemen on some imporan facors, bu here is no precise an complee efiniion of qualiy facors (Goron, 2006). "Cusomers buy sofware or accep i as long as: - i helps hem in solving problems; - i helps hem o ienify opporuniies o improve heir aciviies; - i provies hem wih a goo image on he marke an o heir mos significan cliens; - i eases heir work an conribues o improving is comfor". (cf. Ivan an ohers, 1999). In he lieraure of sofware-engineering, some researchers esimae ha problems arise from incompleely efine requiremens, ambiguous moelling (esign) an programming errors. Qualiy is always relaive an is base on preeermine requiremens. hese preeermine requiremens are, cerainly, very closely relae o he person who efines hem. eople having ifferen backgrouns bu involve in he same sofware evelopmen process have ifferen ieas abou qualiy. he vas majoriy of I professionals (Creu an Gramaa, 2007) have efine four caegories of people involve Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 319
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen in I, having ifferen opinions abou he qualiy of sofware: users, managers, esigners an programmers. In his paper we are approaching he qualiy inicaors in sofware evelopmen from he perspecive of he user, he clien who has experise in using a leas one of he five currenly acknowlege ypes of sofware (operaing sysems an sysem sofware, real-ime sofware - resricions response ime, sofware sysems - aabases, scienific sofware, sofware-incluing elevaors, elephones, househol appliances) for a perio of a leas five years, an who has experience various errors. Kevi (2008) consiers ha he cos of sofware problems or errors is a significan problem o global inusry, no only o he proucers of he sofware bu also o heir cusomers an en users of he sofware. In he las ecaes, corporae social responsibiliy has been consiere an inelligen invesmen which simulaes companies o improve relaions wih he communiy (cusomers, suppliers, auhoriies) (Gray, 2007). Since 2011 he European Commission has issue new corporae social responsibiliy policies (2011-2014) accoring o which businesses nee o buil processes o inegrae human righs, social, environmenal an ehical aspecs ino business operaions an sraegy in close collaboraion wih sakeholers (Sroe, 2012). Sakeholers coul be venors, cusomers, banks, suppliers, managers, employees, he local governmen, SME organizaions an Chambers of Commerce, he local communiy. Like many oher hings ha appeare in Romania afer 1990, CSR, firs emerge as philanhropy an only laer as economic responsibiliy, social an environmenal (Elkingon, 1997). he economic aspecs arge he subjec iscusse in he paper, i.e. sofware qualiy managemen. In his conex, he quesion arises: why o we nee inicaors of qualiy assurance in sofware evelopmen? he answer shall cover a leas hree aspecs: we winess oay an unparallele evelopmen an use of sofware, wih no preceen in he hisory of I & C; he nee for qualiy in he new era of CSR 2.0 has a primary focus; an curren programming echniques are no able o creae a sofware applicaion free of flaws (errors, inconsisencies). 2. A ynamic moel of measuring qualiy in sofware evelopmen Qualiy improvemen implies an increase in qualiy in every process which belongs o an aciviy as a whole. Each process coul be assesse from he perspecive of qualiy if he corresponing qualiy facors are ienifie. In sofware companies here are several processes, each of hem more or less complex an having a cerain conribuion o he general qualiy level of he organizaion. he basic aciviy in a sofware company is he evelopmen of sofware which is subsequenly o be sol an insalle o cliens. Quie ofen, his aciviy has a pos-sales exension hrough cusomer service an he mainenance process which ensures he proper operaion of he insalle applicaions. he process of sofware evelopmen is a complex one, consising of a leas hree phases (analysis, esign an esing), an he human facor is essenial in each of hem. he analysis phase is performe ogeher wih represenaives of he acual or poenial cusomer. he purpose is o clearly ienify he requiremens an expecaions of he 320 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE clien regaring he perfecion or auomaion of his/her own aciviy wih he help of he sofware applicaion. Subsequenly, hese requiremens are ransforme ino clear funcionaliies ha he applicaions will have inernally so as o reach he esire uiliy. his phase has an imporan influence on he performance of he oher phases of he process. he qualiy of his phase will be asceraine laer, once he applicaion sofware has been prouce an can be funcionally checke firs by he esing eam, an hen by he cusomer, immeiaely afer is implemenaion. herefore, we sae ha he impac of a misunersaning or misake in his phase is criical. Correcion of such misakes involves reurns an elays in he whole process because i may be necessary o reanalyze, reesign an rees wha has been correce. he more such inconsisencies are iscovere, he longer he compleion ime of he sofware is an he higher he associae coss are. he facors which may influence qualiy in his phase coul be: uraion of he analysis phase ( analysis ). I is require o be as shor as possible bu wih no errors, omissions or inconsisencies. umber of inconsisencies cause by misunersanings of he analyze aspecs ( err-analysis ). hese errors epen on he sofware complexiy an on he analyss professionalism an experience (boh from he provier s an he clien s perspecive). Aiional ime o re-analyze (Δ reanalysis ) - as shor as possible; Aiional ime o fix he analysis errors by reprogramming (Δ err-analysis ) - as shor as possible; Aiional coss eermine by fixing he analysis errors (ΔC err-analysis ) - as low as possible. Consiering hese facors, we can creae inicaors which conribue o he efficiency esimaion of qualiy improvemen measures if hey are analyze before an afer hose measures are applie: Weigh of analysis phase in oal uraion of sofware evelopmen: analysis analysis [a-1] A high weigh of analysis uraion in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen is no always a negaive aspec. Analysis ime epens on how complex he requiremens an funcionaliies of he sofware are. lanning of analysis uraion is one by he managemen of he projec an i is performe uner he supervision of a esignae projec manager. Weigh of analysis errors in he oal number of errors iscovere uring he whole process of sofware evelopmen. I is worh menioning ha he errors (inconsisencies) migh be ivie ino wo caegories: analysis errors an programming or esign errors. err analysis err analysis err oal analysis uraion of analysis phase; oal uraion of sofware evelopmen [a-2] err-analysis number of analyses errors; err-oal number of oal errors Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 321
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen Weigh of ime for reanalyzing errors of high severiy: reanalysis reanalysis [a-3] If we also consier he aiional ime spen on fixing he analysis errors hrough reesign (Δ err_analysis ), hen: reanalysis erranalysis ' reanalysis [a-4] Aiionally, i is imporan o observe he growh of he oal uraion ue o analysis errors: a reanalysis err analysis () ' [a-5] Weigh of aiional coss generae by analysis errors in he oal coss of sofware evelopmen: C C C erranalysis [a-6] evelopmen coss consis of 3 cos caegories, relae o he phases of he whole process: analysis coss, esign (programming) coss an esing coss. Aiional coss of fixing errors occur because of he prolongaion of he process phases. Similarly, we can calculae how much he aiional cos of analysis represens in he oal coss iniially planne (C ): C a C () err _ analysis C' Δ reanalysis aiional ime for reanalysis; planne uraion for sofware evelopmen, excluing exra ime C oal cos of sofware evelopmen (incluing aiional coss); ΔC err-analysis aiional cos generae by analysis errors [a-7] If he variaion of aiional coss of analysis is posiively high or has an increasing ren, hen his siuaion inicaes possible qualiy problems wih analysis performance. uring he esign (programming) phase, he proucion of he sofware applicaion akes place. Base on he analysis ocumen (which comes from he analysis phase), a ocumen of aabase esign is firsly wrien an programming (esign) aciviy occurs aferwars. rogramming or esign is performe by sofware esigners (programmers). he esign languages an environmens use epen o a grea exen on he specific characerisics of he sofware which is o be evelope as well as on oher aspecs. 322 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE he esign logic, which has o be as coheren an simple as possible an comprehensive oo, influences grealy he qualiy of he esign, which is epenen on he qualiy of he human resource. here are qualiy facors which are specific of he esign phase. heir expression hrough quanifiable inicaors is no an easy ask an very frequenly i is incomplee. However, we sugges a se of inicaors which reflecs, parially, he qualiy of he aciviies performe in he esign phase: uraion of esign phase ( esign ). I is esirable o have his uraion as shor as possible bu wih as few as possible gaps, omissions an errors. umber of esign errors generae by an incomplee esign ocumen, misunersanings base on i or even errors cause by programmers misakes, generically calle programming or esign errors ( err-esign ). Aiional ime spen on oal or parial re-esign (Δ reesign ). However, reesign is no always neee, excep for he cases when he errors iscovere require i; Aiional ime spen on fixing esign errors (Δ err-esign ); Aiional oal coss eermine by esign errors (ΔC err-esign ). By analogy wih he inicaors propose in he analysis phase, we coninue here wih a new se of inicaors which coul repor qualiy problems, especially when hey are ynamically analyze: Weigh of esign uraion in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen: esign esign [p-1] However, a big weigh of he esign uraion in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen is no always a negaive aspec. everheless, he ime for esign coul be ecrease as a consequence of qualiy improvemen an by enhancing responsibiliy for one s own work an o he cliens ha he company has, which means: - Fewer esign errors eermine shorer reesign ime; - Beer raine an moivae personnel generae prompness an accuracy of work; - Beer organisaion of he esign eam: balance of asks allocaion, high performance projec managemen ec.; - Use of up-o-ae harware an sofware supporing prerequisies. Weigh of esign errors in oal number of errors. In aiion o he analysis errors, errors in esign appear as a resul of misakes in he esigning phase. erresign erresign [p-2] erroal esign esign uraion; oal uraion of sofware evelopmen err-esign number of esign errors; err-oal oal number of errors Weigh of reopene errors in he oal esign errors. his inicaor refers o he siuaions when errors iniially ienifie have no been fixe afer he firs aemp an hey have been reopene by a esing represenaive for furher remey. Of course, he error-racking sysem shoul be capable o recor such cases. Reopening acions inicae a low qualiy an efficiency of he esign eam in solving ienifie problems. Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 323
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen errreopene errreopene [p-3] erresign err-reopene number of esign errors reopene a leas once Weigh of ime for sofware reesign, in consequence of analysis errors propagae o he esign phase or ue o errors of iniial sofware esign. Severe errors eermine such major changes. hese siuaions have o be avoie because hey may have exremely unpleasan consequences, especially when hey are iscovere oo lae in he evelopmen process or even worse, uring he use of he sofware by he clien. reesign reesign [p-4] By analogy wih he analysis phase, if we a he aiional ime spen on fixing he iniial esign errors (Δ err-esign ), we have: reesign erresign ' reesign [p-5] Moreover, we can calculae he increase in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen ue o esign errors: reesign erresign () ' [p-6] If we consier he aiional imes from he analysis phase, hen: a, () reanalysis reesign ' erranalysis erresign he resul shows he growh of he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen eermine by he errors (inconsisencies) from he analysis an esign phases. Weigh of aiional coss cause by esign errors in he oal cos of sofware evelopmen: C Cerr C esign [p-7] Aiionally, i is imporan o calculae he increase in he oal coss of sofware evelopmen ue o esign errors: C Cerresign () C' Δ reesign ime spen on reesign planne uraion of sofware evelopmen (no exra imes) C oal coss of sofware evelopmen (incluing aiional coss); ΔC err-esign aiional esign coss [p-8] 324 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE If we consier boh he analysis an he esign phases, i follows ha: C a, C () erranalysis C' C erresign [p-9] his las inicaor poins ou he surplus of expenses generae by he errors (inconsisencies) which occur in he analysis an he esign phases of he whole sofware evelopmen process. he esing phase marks he momen when he esign phase of he sofware applicaion is complee an he applicaion is verifie in erms of conformiy wih he iniial specificaions. I has he role of measuring he qualiy level of wha has been one. uring his phase errors or inconsisencies from he firs wo phases of he process are iscovere (analysis an esign errors). Such errors may have ifferen causes: incomplee analysis specificaions, misunersanings abou funcional specificaions, wrong inerpreaions of he aabase ocumen, poor esign ue o lack of experience, aenion ec. I is imporan ha he errors be caegorize accoring o he graviy of he implicaions hey have. Base on he observaions we have mae on sofware companies, i is a pracice o classify he errors ino he following ypes: blocking error (impossibiliy o use he sofware applicaion), criical error (funcional anomalies which parially obsruc he normal operaion of he sofware), basic error wih ifferen prioriies (he anomaly can be avoie by following anoher sequence of operaions which generaes a correc resul), an enhancemen (has a posiive impac on he ease of use, ergonomics of he sofware, various opimizaions). Remeial acion wih regar o he ienifie problems is aken consiering he graviy (severiy) of he error. Enhancemens come o mee he poenial nees of he cliens. hey generae he expece leap on he saisfacion level an a greaer responsibiliy o he cliens. he esing phase reuces he number of errors which, oherwise, woul inconvenience he clien. he effeciveness of his phase can be acually measure consiering he number of errors iscovere afer he sofware has been insalle a he clien. I is also coniione by oher aspecs such as: managemen of he es eam, he way in which asks are assigne, experience, knowlege an skills of hose who o he esing, level of awareness of he imporance of heir job, he esing manner ec. By making effors o ienify he qualiy facors of his phase, we have come o he conclusion ha some of hem jus apparenly belong o his phase, an hey acually epen on he evoluion an qualiy of he previous phases. herefore: he number of errors iscovere is no always a reliable measure when esing performance; i is only parially relevan as some errors are he resul of oher causes: inconsisencies of boh he analysis an he esign phases, he complexiy of he sofware which coul generae a bigger or smaller number of errors. he ime for esing ( es ), is again a facor wih muliple causes. Virually, an increase in he esing ime shoul lea o he ienificaion of a bigger number of errors an o higher qualiy of he sofware a he same ime. he ime spen on esing canno be Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 325
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen a performance an qualiy facor in iself in his phase bu is ynamic evoluion coul inicae a beer or worse coniion of his facor: es es uraion of esing; oal uraion of es [-1] sofware evelopmen he cos of esing (C es ) is again a facor which canno be saisfacorily explaine from a qualiaive poin of view. For insance, a high level of he esing cos coul be he resul of poor qualiy originaing in he previous phases. he facors menione above canno be absolue facors of qualiy for he esing phase, bu in special circumsances hey migh become imporan, or be ignore or regare as he consequence of poor qualiy of oher phases. here is one facor which always remains vali an is ruly a measure of qualiy of he esing phase: he number of errors iscovere by cliens uring sofware uilizaion ( err_uniscovere ), i.e. uniscovere on ime by he esing eam. he efficiency inicaor in his case shows he weigh of uniscovere errors in he oal number of errors: err uniscovere err uniscovere err oal [-2] Anoher way o characerize he qualiy of he esing work eam an is responsibiliy regaring he resuls achieve woul be o rack he frequency of he siuaions when false errors are invaliae ( err_invali ). In such cases he repore error is invaliae. Quanificaion is possible as follows: err invali err invali err oal A relaively high weigh or an increasing evoluion means a low qualiy level of he esing phase. Analysis can be eepene if we consier he errors classifie by severiy, as previously escribe. herefore, he errors can be srucure by ypes an weighs are calculae for each ype separaely: err blocking err _ blocking err oal err-oal oal number of errors iscovere (before an afer sofware insallaion) [-3] [-4] his calculaion formula is an example of he blocking error ype ( err_blocking ), an he weigh is calculae in oal errors recore. he formula can be replicae for he oher error ypes. If he weigh of he firs wo error ypes is significan or increasing in ime, he causes nee o be foun an eliminae. heoreically a leas, a ecrease in he weigh of errors wih high level of graviy coul be he consequence of qualiy improvemen in he process of sofware evelopmen. 326 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE he prouciviy of he esing phase can be measure hrough he number of errors iscovere per ime uni: W es err oal [-5] es Resuls in a ynamic approach for his inicaor coul be elusive. hus, a small value for his inicaor oes no mean ha he esing work has been of low qualiy an performance, bu coul perfecly inicae a goo qualiy of work in he esign phase an consequenly he esing phase canno provie many errors, no maer how much effor is pu ino i. Aiionally, a ecreasing evoluion of his inicaor oes no inicae an unerperformance of esing an his is because he sofware isplays more an more he qualiy requiremens uner he circumsances of harer an harer effor of iscovering inconsisencies. he inicaors propose above serve o he analysis of he implicaions ha he errors have when hey appear in any phase of he process of a sofware evelopmen. Acually, inicaors measure he effecs of poor qualiy an emonsrae he responsibiliy for he final prouc an o he cliens. By applying measures of qualiy improvemen (mehos an echniques), he effec is visible when hese inicaors are recalculae an he resuls compare wih heir previous values. 3. Simulae use of he moel an inerpreaion of resuls Saring from he se of inicaors propose for each of he phases ha make up he process of sofware evelopmen, he moel coul be pracically implemene if an aequae framework is creae. Such a moel is base on wo ses of aa: inpu aa an oupu aa (oupu inicaors). Because we are referring o he I omain, he framework can be easily creae. he moel can be a sofware insrumen for qualiy monioring, an insrumen which operaes a he same ime wih he main sofware evelopmen process. I woul be able o recor inpu aa in an auomae or semi-auomae regime. he projec manager is he one who uses he insrumen as a ashboar o ake ecisions of correcion an qualiy improvemen. Insrumen uilizaion coul be exene even o pos-implemenaion phases, when he sofware applicaion is running a he clien/cliens. his approach is evience of a higher responsibiliy of he provier o his/her cliens. Access o a par of he saisical aa of he moel can be mae available o he clien oo hus emonsraing ransparency an care for he clien. In he following, an exemplificaion of how he moel migh be use is illusrae. umerical aa, from a real example of a meium-size sofware evelopmen projec, is going o be use for a beer unersaning of how he moel works. Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 327
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen Inpu inicaors: Members of he eam allocae for he sofware evelopmen (able no. 1): able no. 1: eam allocae for sofware evelopmen osiion o Euro/monh aily salary cos rogrammer 4 1000 189,75 eser 3 500 71,16 rojec manager 1 1700 80,65 Analys 2 500 47,44 In he nex able no. 2 oher aa is presene, necessary for oupu inicaors calculaion. Each line of he able consiss of planne values (p.v.) an a series of 5 consecuive recors a 5 ifferen ime momens (from 0 o 4 ). he able is organize ino 3 groups of inicaors: ime inicaors, errors inicaors an cos inicaors. he inicaors marke wih * are calculae as a sum of ohers from he same group (accoring o he formulas propose in he heoreical moel). able no. 2: Inpu inicaors a ifferen ime momens Inpu inicaors//symbol //MU p.v. 0 Recors a: 1 2 3 4 *oal uraion of sofware evelopmen // // ays 65 68 77 80 86 91 * lanne uraion for sofware evelopmen, excluing exra ime // // ays 65 57 57 58 62 67 uraion of analysis phase // analysis // ays 15 12 12 12 12 12 uraion of esign phase // esign // ays 35 40 40 40 42 45 uraion of esing phase // es // ays 15 5 5 6 8 10 Aiional ime for reanalysis // Δ reanalysis // ays 0 3 4 4 4 4 Aiional ime for reesign // Δ reesign // ays 0 0 3 3 3 3 Aiional ime for fixing he analysis errors hrough reesign // Δ err-analysis // ays 0 3 5 5 5 5 Aiional ime consume for fixing he iniial esign errors // Δ err-esign // ays 0 5 8 10 12 12 *umber of oal errors // err-oal // errors 0 50 71 86 101 124 umber of analysis errors // err-analysis // errors 0 10 11 11 11 11 umber of esign errors // err-esign // errors 0 40 60 65 75 98 umber of errors iscovere by cliens uring sofware uilizaion // err_uniscovere //errors 0 0 0 10 15 15 umber of esign errors reopene a leas once// errreopene // errors 0 10 15 16 18 20 umber of invaliae errors // err-invali // errors 0 3 8 10 11 11 umber of blocking errors // err-blocking // errors 0 5 15 15 18 18 * oal cos of sofware evelopmen (incluing aiional coss)// C // euro 13662 14772 16010 16542 17766 18880 * oal cos of sofware evelopmen (excluing aiional coss)// C // euro 13662 13112 13112 13264 14108 15223 328 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE Inpu inicaors//symbol //MU p.v. Recors a: 0 1 2 3 4 Cos of analysis phase // C analysis // euro 1921 1537 1537 1537 1537 1537 Coss of esign phase // C esign // euro 9464 10816 10816 10816 11357 12168 Cos of esing phase // C es // euro 2277 759 759 911 1214 1518 Aiional cos generae by analysis errors // ΔC err_analysis // euro 0 712 1139 1139 1139 1139 Aiional cos generae by esign errors // ΔC err_esign // euro 0 949 1760 2139 2519 2519 A ynamic racking of qualiy inicaors involves a coninuous recoring of inpu aa. he sofware insrumen for qualiy monioring coul recor aa auomaically. he projec manager will generae repors of he oupu inicaors, which can be eiher summary or eaile repors, an which provie him/her wih necessary informaion. I is esirable ha his aciviy be par of he aily rouine of any eam manager. Oupu inicaors he nex ables presen he resuls of oupu inicaors as expose in he heoreical escripion of he moel, an heir inerpreaion. Base on hese resuls, i is possible o creae chars which show he ime evoluion of he inicaors. Aiionally, he moel may be programme o warn he user every ime some of he inicaors have ba ynamic evoluions. Similarly, posiive evoluions migh be marke ou so as o observe he posiive effecs of he correcive measure formerly aken. In he nex able we highlighe some useful aspecs of qualiy monioring in regar o he process of sofware evelopmen: calculae inicaors (planne an measure values), evoluion chars, an special siuaions bookmarks (favourable unerline an unfavourable bole) Regaring he analysis phase, able 3 illusraes a few aspecs which may influence he normal operaion of he whole process, qualiy assure: Compare o he planne value, he weigh of analysis uraion has a ecreasing evoluion (row 1, able 3). A firs sigh, his is a posiive fac bu, unforunaely, his hurry o finish quickly he analysis phase has negaive effecs which will be highlighe laer; A consierably imporan par of he analysis errors are o be noe; however, in he en he siuaion will improve ue o he fac ha he oher ypes of errors are numerically increasing (row 2, able 3); he increase in he oal uraion of he sofware evelopmen process ue o he errors of his phase is fairly accelerae in he firs half of he perio an i remains imporan ill he en (approx. 14). he phenomenon is accenuae in he firs par of Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 329
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen he proucion perio because he analysis phase iniiaes he whole evelopmen process (rows 4, 5, able 3); here is aiional ime generae by he nee o reanalyze some of he funcionaliies (row 3, able 3). his aspec has negaive implicaions for he whole process. he case has o be carefully approache because he ime consume for reanalyzing generaes aiional ime in he esign phase in orer o implemen he moificaions require. Referring o our case, an increase in he oal uraion by more han 5 (row 3) ue o reanalysing generaes a propagae effec which means more han 13 of he final increase, i.e. a muliplicaion effec esimae a more han ouble (row 5); he oal coss of sofware evelopmen are also influence by he errors of he analysis phase, an hey eermine an increase in he oal coss of approximaely 8 (row 6). I Is o be noe ha he problems from he analysis phase negaively affec he uraion of he evelopmen process o a greaer exen han he coss of he process; Finally, here is a significan increase in analysis coss ( /ay), from 128 o 223, which inicaes ha qualiy problems in his phase make i more expensive han expece. I is herefore a serious alarm signal for he projec managemen an i requires quick remeial measures. analysis erranalysis reanalysis able no. 3: Oupu inicaors of he analysis phase Oupu inicaors AALYSIS HASE 0 1 2 3 4 analysis erranalysis erroal reanalysis ' reanalysis erranalysis ' reanalysis C c a a analysis () reanalysis ' err _ analysis Cerranalysis () C' C analysis C analysis erranalysis V.. 23,08-128,08 17,65 2 5,26 8,82 10,53 5,43 187,38 15,58 15,49 7,02 11,69 15,79 8,68 222,96 15,00 12,79 6,90 11,25 15,52 8,58 222,96 13,95 10,89 6,45 10,47 14,52 8,07 222,96 13,19 8,87 5,97 9,89 13,43 7,48 222,96 /ay 330 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE Generally speaking, improvemen measures in he analysis phase are relae o he human resource, in he firs place, an organizaional measures in he secon. Wihou going ino eail, he resuls of he analysis phase (able 3) can be easily paricularize per each member of he analysis eam. uraions, inconsisencies (errors) by ype an generae coss, meaning he 3 groups of inpu aa (able 2), refer o one or more employees in paricular. Saring from his poin, here is he possibiliy o ienify wih precision he source of inconsisency. All of his is rue for he oher phases of he process of sofware evelopmen. Regaring he esign phase, resuls inerpreaion is similar o ha of he analysis phase, consiering he inicaors given in able 4. esign erresign errreopene ' reesign reesign able no. 4: Oupu inicaors of he esign phase Oupu inicaors ESIG HASE 0 1 2 3 4 esign erresign erroal erresign errreopene reesign ' () reesign reesign () ' err _ esign err_ esign () a, a ().V. 53,85 - - 58,82 8 2 7,35 8,77 19,30 51,95 84,51 21,13 5,26 14,29 19,30 35,09 5 75,58 18,60 5,17 16,25 22,41 37,93 48,84 74,26 17,82 4,84 17,44 24,19 38,71 49,45 79,03 16,13 4,48 16,48 22,39 35,82 C C c a, esign Cerresign () C' C () C esign err_ analysis C esign C' C err _ esign erresign 270,40 7,24 12,66 294,12 13,42 22,11 314,40 16,13 24,71 323,89 17,85 25,92 330,37 16,55 24,03 326,38 /ay Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 331
AE Increasing Responsibiliy o Cusomers hrough a ynamic Qualiy Assurance Sysem in Sofware evelopmen Some of he observaions are: he weigh of esign uraion is floaing aroun he planne value (row 1), which is a favourable siuaion; he increase in average aily coss compare wih he planne ones oes no cause rouble (row 10); he errors of he esign phase have generae an imporan increase in he oal uraion, amouning o approx. 22 an 17 increase in coss. he growh of coss is less han ha of ime exension (reverse if compare wih he analysis phase). Moreover, by comparison, hese effecs are less criical han hose of he analysis phase, alhough he esign phase is preominan in he enire process; Overall, he increase in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen generae by boh analysis an esign phases is approximaely 36 whereas he increase in he proucion coss is abou 24 (rows 7 an 9); As in he analysis phase, reesign, which is a correcion aciviy relae o he esign phase, involves srucural changes of high ampliue in he sofware applicaion. I is an aciviy o be avoie ue o he negaive effecs i can generae. Consiering our example, reesign increase he oal uraion by 5, which is no so ba. he esing phase is characerize by he oupu inicaors given in able 5. W es erruniscovere err _ invali err _ blocking es C ces able no. 5: Oupu inicaors of he esing phase Oupu inicaors ESIG HASE 0 1 2 3 4 es erroal err oal es es es erruniscovere err _ invali erroal err _ blocking erroal.v. 23,08 - - - 151,80 7,35 6,00 1 1 151,80 6,49 11,27 21,13 14,20 151,80 7,50 11,63 11,63 17,44 14,33 151,80 9,30 14,85 10,89 17,82 12,63 151,80 10,99 12,10 8,87 14,52 12,40 151,80 Err no./ay /ay Remarks: As agains he planne value, he weigh of he esing uraion in he oal uraion of sofware evelopmen is much smaller (row 1). A firs sigh, he resul is grea, he 332 Amfiearu Economic
Organizaions responsibiliy o consumers AE weigh being half of esimaions. Correlaion wih he res of inicaors iscloses a worrying siuaion, as shown in he following; he weigh of uniscovere errors before he momen of elivery an insallaion a he clien (row 2) has a high value, which inicaes ha a shorer esing uraion has negaive effecs on he secon inicaor. oo many errors have been misse an appeare afer sale; In suppor of he previous reasoning, he hir inicaor unerlines he same case: he weigh of invaliae errors is raher significan. Again, a level of superficialiy can be ienifie an measures o improve qualiy have o be aken; he weigh of blocking errors (row 4) has high values along he ime series, bu i is no he faul of he esing phase. I is he effec of he esign phase. More imporan now is o see how many of hese errors have escape o he clien. his means furher specifying he inicaor from he 2 n row of he able by graviy levels of he errors coune, incluing blocking errors; Consiering he prouciviy of esing, i has limie relevance from a qualiaive perspecive (as menione). everheless, is ime evoluion eserves our aenion even if his epens a lo on he qualiy of work in he previous phases: analysis an esign. he correc inerpreaion of he siuaions escribe above hrough he oupu inicaors epens a lo on he capaciy of he manager o analyze an ake ecisions. In aiion o he consequences on he clien an on he relaionship wih him/her (elays, inconsisencies iscovere oo lae, coe rewriing ec.), anoher irec effec is visible on he uniary aily average cos of sofware evelopmen (figure no. 1). I is easy o noice he sharp increase of aily average cos, as a combine consequence of he inconsisencies which appeare uring he process of sofware evelopmen. Figure no. 1: aily average cos of sofware evelopmen Conclusions Responsibiliy o cliens an qualiy assurance are conceps ha become inerwine any ime a company acually pursues such goals in a professional way. he evelopmen of moels which coninuously monior he qualiy of processes is a necessiy in orer o shif from a eclaraive o a facual level in erms of responsibiliy o self an o he cliens, an his is possible using insrumens like he one escribe in his paper. I proves he fac ha insrumens which faciliaes sysemaic racking of a valuable se of inicaors can be evelope in orer o X-ray in eph he qualiy of criical processes which influence he qualiy of he final prouc an he public percepion of he firm s responsibiliy o cliens. Vol XVI o. 35 February 2014 333
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