Abstract
An important question in the developing process of software products is when to stop testing to make the gain in reliability justify the costs. In this paper, a software reliability-cost model is presented to determine the optimal release policies that maximize the expected net gain in reliability. Several software cost factors are considered in this study, such as the cost of removing detected errors and the risk cost due to software failure. The error removal cost is modeled based on a stochastic process. A software reliability model based on the non-homogeneous Poisson process is used. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the results.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ehrlich, W., B. Prasanna, J. Stampfel and J. Wu (1993), “Determining the Cost of a Stop-Testing Decision,” IEEE Software 10, 33–42.
Goel, A.L. and K. Okumoto (1979), “Time-Dependent Error-Detection Rate Model for Software and Other Performance Measures,” IEEE Transaction on Reliability 28, 206–211.
Kapur, P.K. and V.K. Bhalla (1992), “Optimal Release Policies for a Flexible Software Reliability Growth Model,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety Journal 35, 45–54.
Leung, Y.W. (1992), “Optimal Software Release Time with a Given Cost Budget,” Journal of Systems and Software 17, 233–242.
Misra, P.N. (1983), “Software Reliability Analysis,” IBM Systems Journal 22, 262–270.
Ohba, M. (1984), “Software Reliability Analysis Models,” IBM Journal of Research Development 28, 428–443.
Pham, H. (1991), “Cost Optimization of a Class of Non-Coherent Systems,” Mathematical and Computer Modeling 15,6, 1–7.
Pham, H. (1993), “Software Reliability Assessment: Imperfect Debugging and Multiple Failure Types in Software Development,” Technical Report EG&G-RAAM-10737, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Pham, H. (1995), Software Reliability and Testing, IEEE Computer Society Press.
Pham, H. (1996), “A Software Cost Model with Imperfect Debugging, Random Life Cycle and Penalty Cost,” International Journal of Systems Science 27,5, 455–463.
Pham, H. and X. Zhang (1997), “An NHPP Software Reliability Models and Its Comparison,” International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering 4,3, 269–282.
Wood, A. (1996), “Predicting Software Reliability,” IEEE Computer 29,11, 69–77.
Yamada, S. and S. Osaki (1985), “Software Reliability Growth Modeling: Models and Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 11, 1431–1437.
Yamada, S. and S. Osaki (1986), “Optimum Software Release Policies for a Non-homogeneous Software Error Detection Rate Model,” Micro-electronics and Reliability — An International Journal 26, 691–702.
Yang, M.C. and A. Chao (1995), “Reliability-Estimation & Stopping-Rules for Software Testing, Based on Repeated Appearances of Bugs,” IEEE Transaction on Reliability 44,2, 315–326.
Zhang, X. and H. Pham (1998), “A Software Cost Model with Error Removal Times and Risk Costs,” International Journal of Systems Science 29,4, 435–442.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pham, H., Zhang, X. Software release policies with gain in reliability justifying the costs. Annals of Software Engineering 8, 147–166 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018958810083
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018958810083