Prevention

Detection

Reliability

Embedded Systems Quality

Requirements Elicitation

Configuration Management

Capability Maturity Model

Conclusions

References

9. Conclusions

This revue has covered the main issues relating to software quality. Much of it originates from software engineering, some from project management, and a little from traditional quality management. The concept of Total Quality Management can be seen in what the Capability Maturity Model has to offer. This is based on using a holistic approach over the entire development organisation, making sure metrics are used to support the idea of continuous improvement.  

Areas of future development can be identified from this revue. Using Quality Function Deployment is an excellent way to get the customer requirements correct. The industry usually reverts to using traditional software engineering requirements elicitation. A combination of both could result in an improved framework for getting the requirements. 

Another possible area of research is in the development of automated code proofing software. If the tediousness of the manual approach is removed, and the concept can be integrated into compilers, this approach may become useful. 

In the process of evaluating the software quality for embedded systems, it seems that a revolution is currently taking place. Improved development tools, increasing speed and larger memories have reduced the quality problems normally associated with embedded programming. It would be of interest to investigate the relationship between cost, quality and time to market of a project making extensive use of 3^rd party algorithms, compared with one using a more traditional embedded development approach. 

In conclusion, a software development company or function needs to be aware of the quality of its product. By undertaking a method of process improvement, costs can be reduced and quality increased. In these times, it is almost a necessity to have a quality accreditation, such as a high CMM level, or ISO-9001 certification. Quality continues to be a significant area of focus for software, and only looks to become more important, as improved hardware pushes software to have increased functionality.

Previous | Home | Next