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Cork Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Software Development – Award
(NFQ – Level 9)
January 2007
Software Quality
(Time: 2 Hours)
Answer Section A (15 marks) and THREE questions in Section B (15 marks for each question).
Indicate clearly the three questions to be assessed, otherwise only the first three questions marked by the examiner will be credited.
Show all work.
Examiners: Mr. P. Lucey Dr. J.F. Power Dr. B. Wu
Section A (answer all questions, i to xv)
i) Which of these is NOT a type of Peer Review: a. Fagan Inspection b. Gilb Inspection c. Code Walkthrough d. Management Review
ii) A role of a moderator in an inspection is to: a. Keep the inspections subjective. b. Encourage full participation by all members of the team. c. Maintain a focus on problem solution rather than problem identification d. All of the above
iii) Which metric can be used to best judge the effectiveness of an inspection? a. The correlation coefficient of the product being inspected b. The average number of major defects found per unit inspected c. The prep rate of the inspection moderator per unit inspected d. The average inspection effort plus one standard deviation on either side of the mean.
iv) Which of these is an example of a Product Metric a. Estimation Accuracy b. Phase Containment Effectiveness c. Phase Screening Effectiveness d. Defect Backlog
v) The FURPS Metrics technique refers to what: a. Functionality, Usability, Reliability, Performance, Supportability b. Feature, Usability, Responsiveness, Performance, Sustainability c. Fully Upgradeable Requirements Productivity Set d. Functional Requirements Product Scope
vi) If System Alpha has 4 instances of service disruption in a month, each lasting for 30 minutes, and System Omega has 1 instance of service disruption in a month, last for 2 hours, which of the following statements is true: a. System Alpha Availability > than System Omega Availability b. System Alpha MTBF > System Omega MTBF c. System Alpha MTTR < System Omega MTTR d. System Alpha Reliability = System Omega Reliability
vii) When presenting project quality status at a Quality Operations Review meeting, what is the recommended sequence of data to be presented? a. Management Commitment, Project Strategy, Customer Satisfaction b. Goal, Question, Metric c. Definition, Deployment, Compliance, Improvement d. Metric, Analysis, Action Plan
viii) According to the Kano model of Satisfaction, which attributes can result in a disproportionate improvement in customer Satisfaction? a. One-dimensional attributes b. Expected Attributes c. Unexpected attributes d. Hygiene Factors
ix) Which of these would you NOT expect to include in an Order-of-Magnitude Software Estimate? a. A schedule and plan to deliver b. A degree of uncertainty associated with the estimate c. Assumptions d. The effort and/or cost to deliver
x) This list contains three Estimation factors and one planning factor. Which is the planning factor? a. Nature of Requirements (new or modified functionality) b. Technical intricacy of modules impacted c. Human resource availability d. Number of Requirements
Section B (answer any 3 questions)
Q1. (a) A Defect Injection and Removal profile is provided below, broken out per phase of the software engineering process. What is the cumulative defect removal efficiency for the overall process? [7 marks]
(b) Analyse this data to prioritise which two phases of the lifecycle need to be improved, providing a justification for your choices. [3 marks]
(c) Which improvement actions do you suggest as most appropriate, based on your answer to question 1 b)? Represent these actions using a Quality Improvement Action Plan template. [5 marks]
Q2. (a) Describe the key elements of a Software Testing Specification [6 marks]
(b) Evaluate the relative merits of the following “Black-Box” testing methodologies, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each approach: Equivalence Partitioning Cause-Effect Graphing [4 marks]
(c) Describe how Software Reliability Engineering methods may be used to determine the “testing complete” milestone for a software release. [ marks]
(d) What is the key factor that needs to exist if SRE methods are to be a reliable leading indicator of software reliability as experienced by its customer base? [2 marks]
Phase Injection Rate Removal Efficiency Reqs 20 25% Hi-Level Design 45 50% Detailed design 35 60% Code 100 27% Unit Test 0 25% Feature Test 0 58% Final Test 0 69%
Q3. (a) Industry data suggests that the use of Peer Reviews on Software Work Products is a more cost-effective method of identifying errors in software than testing the software work products. Describe in detail what mechanisms should be put in place to institutionalize an effective Peer Review mechanism in a software organization. As part of your answer, address issues such as planning, specialized roles, human factors, coverage, training and metrics. [8 marks]
(b) Provide a detailed example of a Peer Review process infrastructure that would be assessed at a CMMI process capability of Level 4 (Quantitatively Managed). Your example should include a description of how a quantitative/statistical understanding of the performance of the Peer Review processes is derived, and of how to quantitatively manage quality of the product/project using quality and process performance objectives. As part of your answer, address issues such as containment effectiveness metrics, control metrics, and interface with the overall quality management system. [7 marks]
Q4. (a) Pareto Analysis and Ishikawa Analysis (Fishbone diagram) are commonly used analytical techniques. Briefly describe each technique, providing an example where the use of each technique is appropriate in a software environment [4 marks]
(b) Describe the characteristics of a typical company at level 1 as defined by the SW-CMM (Capability Maturity Model for Software). [1 mark]
(c) In the article “Software Risk Management: Principles and Practices” Barry Boehm describes how Risk Management activities apply to Software Projects. Describe in detail what mechanisms should be put in place to manage risks to project quality, including product quality, timeliness and cost. [ marks]
(d) Provide an example of a Risk Management Plan, demonstrating at least 4 different types of risks, with appropriate risk responses identified. [4 marks]
