QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF AN IT COMPANY BASED ON THE USE OF THE UTILITY FUNCTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20998/2079-0023.2024.01.02Keywords:
software development process, quality of software systems, poorly structured system, maturity model, criterion scale, local criteria, utility function, expertsAbstract
The paper considers the software development process as an object of research, which is a poorly structured system. A description of such systems is given in the form of general characteristics, which include: difficulties in building an analytical model; incompleteness, inaccuracy, unreliability and uncertainty of information; benchmarks required for assessing weakly structured systems are often absent; uniqueness of the decision-making process; dynamic nature of models of poorly structured systems, etc. In this paper, the quality assessment of the software development process is considered based on maturity model standards, which can have continuous and discrete variants. The continuous version assesses the quality of the individual focus areas and processes of the maturity models. For this purpose, a discrete point scale of the first type is used, when the assessment is carried out according to an objective criterion. The quality assessment of individual focus areas and processes characterizes the local criteria for assessing the quality of the entire software development process. Therefore, the task is to form some kind of integral quality assessment on their basis. One of the options for solving this problem is a discrete maturity model, where the scale for assessing the entire software development process has five gradations called maturity levels. Starting from the second level, each gradation is characterized by a set of focus areas with corresponding levels of capability. The availability of such a scale allows not only assessing the quality of the entire software development process, but also solving the task of planning to improve its quality. But first, it is necessary to analyse such a scale from the point of view of its balance, namely, that the distances on the scale between the gradations are approximately equal. Therefore, the paper analyses the existing scales that can be proposed for expert assessment for the quality of the software development process. Their construction can be realized on the basis of a utility function using the local criteria of maturity models formalized in this paper. For this purpose, a fundamental property of systems is used. Namely, the dependence of the utility (efficiency) of a complex system on the invested resources over the life cycle interval, which usually takes the form of a logistic curve. Further research will be devoted to using this fact to build a balanced scale for assessing the entire software development process based on maturity models.
References
Taran T. A., Zubov D. A. Shtuchnyy intelekt. [Artificial Intelligence]. Luhansʹk, Vyd-vo SNU im. V. Dalya Publ., 2006. 240 p.
Hlybovetsʹ M. M., Oletsʹkyy O. V. Shtuchnyy intelekt. [Artificial Intelligence]. Kyiv, KM Akademiya Publ., 2002. 366 p.
Goodman F. A. Defining and deploying software processes. Auerbach Publ., 2006. 221 p.
Li T. An Approach to Modelling Software Evolution Processes. Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer Publ., 2008. 213 p.
Andon F. Y., Kovalʹ H. Y., Korotun T. M. Osnovy ynzheneryy kachestva prohrammnykh system. [Fundamentals of Software Systems Quality Engineering]. Kyiv, Akademperiodika Publ., 2007. 672 p.
Humphrey W. S. Managing the software process. Boston, MA, Addison-Wesley, 1989. 512 p.
Ambler S. W. More Process Patterns: Delivering Large-Scale Systems Using Object Technology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999. 369 p.
Pressman R., Maksym B. Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach (9th ed.). 2019. 78 p.
Madachy R. J. Software process dynamics. Hoboken, New Jersey: IEEE Press, Wiley Interscience, 2008. 601 p.
Wissenberg N. History and best practice of the standard for quality management systems DIN EN ISO 9001. Faculty of Communication and Environment of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. 2015. 7 p.
Al Qutaish R. Quality Models in Software Engineering Literature: An Analytical and Comparative Study. Journal of American Science. 2010, vol. 6, p. 10.
Estdale J., Georgiadou E. Applying the ISO/IEC 25010 Quality Models to Software Product. In: Larrucea X., Santamaria I., O'Connor R., Messnarz R. (eds). Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement. EuroSPI 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science. 2018, vol. 896. 12 p.
Mesquida A., Mas A., Alcover A., Calvo Manzano J. IT Service Management Process Improvement based on ISO/IEC 15504: A systematic review. Information & Software Technology. 2012, vol. 54, pp. 239–247.
Lugo J, Bermudez P. A., Piñero P., Bello R. Project Control and Computational Intelligence: Trends and Challenges. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems. 2017, vol. 10, pp. 320–335.
Hodlevsʹkyy M. D., Maletsʹ D. K. Syntez funktsiyi korysnosti protsesu rozrobky prohramnoho zabezpechennya na osnovi etalonnoyi modeli SPICE. [Synthesis of the utility function of the software development process based on the SPICE reference model]. Visnyk NTU "KhPI": zb. nauk. pr. Seriya: Sy’stemny’j analiz, upravlinnya ta informacijni texnologiyi. [Bulletin of NTU "KhPI". Series: System analysis, control and information technology]. Kharkiv, NTU "KhPI" Publ., 2022, no. 2 (8), pp. 81 – 86.
Saaty T. Fundamentals of Decision Making and Priority Theory with the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Pittsburgh, PA, RWS Publications, 2000. 477 p.
Salo A. A. On the measurement of preferences in the analytic hierarchy process. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. 1997, vol. 6, pp. 309–319.
Lootsдоma F. A. Conflict resolution via pairwise comparison of concessions. European Journal of Operational Research. 1989, vol. 40, pp. 109–116.
Ma D, Zheng X. 9/9-9/1 Scale Method of the AHP. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on the AHP. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh, 1991, vol. 1, pp. 197–202.
Elliott M. A. Selecting numerical scales for pairwise comparisons. Reliability Engineering and System Safety. 2010. Vol. 95. Pp. 750– 763.
Hodlevsʹkyy M. D., Brahynsʹkyy Y. L. Dynamichna modelʹ i alhorytm upravlinnya yakistyu protsesu rozrobky prohramnykh system na osnovi modeli zrelosti [A dynamic model and algorithm for quality control of the development process of software systems based on the maturity model]. Problemy ynformatsyonnykh tekhnolohyy. Kherson, OLDY Plyus Publ., 2012, pp. 6–13.
Hodlevsʹkyy M. D., Holoskokova A. A. Syntez statychnykh modeley planuvannya polipshennya yakosti protsesu rozrobky prohramnoho zabezpechennya [Synthesis of static planning models for improving the quality of the software development process]. Skhidno–Yevropeysʹkyy zhurnal peredovykh tekhnolohiy. Kharkiv, 2015, no. 3/2 (75), pp. 23–29.
Hodlevsʹkyy M. D., Holoskokova A. O., Burlakov H. O. Dynamichna modelʹ planuvannya rozvytku pidmnozhyny protsesiv etalonnoyi modeli zrilosti SPICE [A dynamic development planning model for a subset of processes of the SPICE Maturity Reference Model]. Visnyk NTU "KhPI": zb. nauk. pr. Seriya: Sy’stemny’j analiz, upravlinnya ta informacijni texnologiyi. [Bulletin of NTU "KhPI". Series: System analysis, control and information technology]. Kharkiv, NTU "KhPI" Publ., 2020, no. 2 (4), pp. 10–16.
Shekhovtsov V. A., Hodlevsʹkyy M. D., Brahynsʹkyy Y. L. Verbalʹnoe opysanye tekhnolohyy uluchshenyya kachestva protsessa razrabotky prohrammnoho obespechenyya [Verbal description of technology for improving the quality of the software development process]. Vestnik Nats. tekhn. un-ta "KhPI": sb. nauch. tr. Temat. vyp.: Sistemnyy analiz, upravlenie i informatsionnye tekhnologii [Bulletin of the National Technical University "KhPI": a collection of scientific papers. Thematic issue: System analysis, management and information technology]. Kharkov, NTU "KhPI" Publ., 2011, no. 29, pp. 54–59.
Katrenko A. V., Pasichnyk V. V. Pryynyattya rishenʹ: teoriya ta praktyka. [Decision making: theory and practice]. Lʹviv, Novyy Svit – 2000 Publ., 2013. 447 p.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
