Determinants of software quality: A survey of information systems project managers (original) (raw)

Exploring perceived quality in software organizations

2011 FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH CHALLENGES IN INFORMATION SCIENCE, 2011

Software projects have four main objectives; produce required functionalities, with acceptable quality, in budget and in schedule. Usually these objectives are implemented by setting requirements for the software projects, and working towards achieving these requirements as well as possible. So how is the intended quality handled in this process of pursuing project goals? The objective of this study is to explore how organizations understand software quality and identify factors which seem to affect the quality outcome of the development process. The study applies two research approaches; a survey with 31 organizations and in-depth interviews with 36 software professional from 12 organizations for identifying concepts that affect quality. The study confirms that the quality in software organization is a complex, interconnected entity, and the definitions of desired and perceived quality fluctuate between different process stakeholders. Overall, in many cases the software organizations have identified the desired quality, but are not communicating it properly.

Influential Factors on IS Project Quality: A Total Quality Management Perspective

Proceedings of 36th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), 2015

Successful accomplishment of information system (IS) projects is a crucial challenge for researchers and practitioners. Agreement on influential factors, that is, success and failure factors, and on what constitutes success is lacking. Considering process and product quality an integral part of IS project success, we examine how project success and failure factors influence IS project quality. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 practitioners involved in IS projects and strategic decision making. This research-in-progress is based on total quality management (TQM), which facilitates continuous improvement of IS project quality. By applying an influential factor framework, we allow for a more detailed examination of success and failure factors not addressed in TQM. Our results suggest quality-specific themes, while acknowledging their context-dependency. By examining IS project quality and applying the influential factor framework, we expect to equip researchers and practitioners with an approach to examine specific dimensions of IS project success in detail.

Extending the Concept of Quality in Systems Development—Integrating Software and Information Quality

2010

The usefulness and value of an information system is directly related to its perceived quality. Quality is multidimensional concept, and includes an object of interest, the viewpoint on that object and the qualities attributed to the object. This suggests that there is no universal standard in systems development; quality is rather defined how well the information system meets the purpose and the goals of the organization it is used within. It is important that people involved in a particular systems development project have an agreed understanding of what the strive for quality means.

Software quality: Definitions and strategic issues

Staffordshire University, School of Computing Report, 1996

This paper contains two sections relating to software quality issues. First, the various definitions of software quality are examined and an alternative suggested. It continues with a review of the quality model as defined by McCall, Richards and Walters in 1977 and mentions the later model of Boëhm published in 1978. Each of McCall's quality factors is reviewed and the extent to which they still apply in the late 1990s is commented on. The factors include, integrity, reliability, usability, accuracy, efficiency, maintainability, testability, flexibility, interface facility (interoperability), re-usability and transferability (portability). They are subdivided into external and internal quality factors. Interrelationships between the different factors are shown in Perry's model. Issues of quality management and the prioritising of these factors are included. The second section examines the strategic impact of quality from both the supplier's and the purchaser's point of view. In particular product differentiation, tendering and estimating, system acquisition and employee productivity are considered. Product differentiation is mapped to Porter's generic business strategy. The COCOMO model for software costing and estimating is used to show that quality factors influence the cost of a product. As quality impacts on all classes of people in systems, human resources and the consequences for productivity are explored. Finally, system evaluation and selection techniques involve quantitative (weighting and rating) techniques and Robson's example and the influence of quality are examined.

The Impact of Organization, Project and Governance Variables on Software Quality and Project Success

2010 Agile Conference, 2010

In this paper we present a statistically tested evidence about how quality and success rate are correlated with variables reflecting the organization and aspects of its project's governance, namely retrospectives and metrics. The results presented in this paper are based on the Agile Projects Governance Survey that collected 129 responses. This paper discuss the deep analysis of this survey, and the main findings suggest that when applying agile software development, the quality of software improves as the organization measures customer satisfaction more frequently, and as the impact of retrospective increases. Project success improves as quality, frequency of measuring customer satisfaction, organization experience in agile development, retrospective impact, the team participation in retrospective and the team contribution to retrospective, increases.

An analysis of the factors determining software product quality: A comparative study

Computer Standards & Interfaces, 2016

There has been a great deal of research on software quality, but few studies have stressed the factors beyond the scope of software products that can influence the final product's quality. These factors can also determine project success. Objective: In this paper, a comparative study is conducted of the determinants of software quality, based on a prior study that only explored U.S. CIOs' (Chief Information Officers) perceptions of factors that could affect the final quality of software products. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of different users involved in the software development cycle and generate results that can be generalized and employed as an aid in the management of software project resources. Method: The study was conducted through an online survey to various users involved in the software development cycle in Brazil. The respondents analyzed the same 24 items proposed in the previous study, categorized into individual, technological, and organizational factors. Based on the 175 responses obtained, a factor analysis technique was applied, considering the statistical model of the main components in order to identify the factors determining the quality of software products. Results: After the factor analysis, it was identified that all 24 analyzed items displayed factor loadings greater than 0.5. Nine factors (9 eigenvalues greater than 1.0) were extracted from this analysis, with the value of the total variance equal to 72%. Conclusion: Based upon the comparison between the studies, it was concluded that the most relevant factor identified in both surveys presented an individual character. This factor related items such as competence, training, knowledge, and level of user involvement as well as resistance to change. It was also identified through factor analysis that technological aspects had the highest ratings due to the strong relationship of the items comprising these factors compared to organizational aspects.

The Investigation of Quality Attribute Effects on Software Projects in Sme

2016

Software is considered as a quality software or product if it meets customer satisfaction based on certain criteria or attributes as suggested in software quality assurance. This study aims to identify the current practice of software quality model adopted by software companies. Several quality attributes are identified in software quality model to determine the importance the attribute to the software project. This research used Internet-based questionnaire and purposive sampling in getting responses from SME Company providing software solution or services. The result of the study showed that specific quality attributes quality model and suggestion for potential improvement addressed by the practioners play an important role toward the success of quality software produced.

Towards a conceptualisation of quality in information technology projects

International Journal of Project Management, 2011

Purpose: Quality has been extensively studied in repetitive operations, but it remains un-der--researched in projects. The uncertainty and dynamics of projects challenge the princi-ples of quality models, and call for project--tailored solutions. This article explores what the attributes of quality in project contexts are.

Exploring the Perceived End-Product Quality in Software-Developing Organizations

International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design, 2012

Software projects have four main objectives; produce required functionalities, with acceptable quality, in budget and in schedule. These objectives are all important for software project to be successful, but how does the end-product quality fit to them? The objective of this study is to explore how organizations understand software quality and identify factors which seem to affect the quality outcome of the development process. The study applies three approaches; a survey with 31 organizations, in-depth interviews with 36 software professionals, and four workshops for identifying and prioritizing quality goals. The study revealed that quality in software organization is not a single, easily definable entity, but a complex, interconnected concept fluctuating between the stakeholders. Overall, it seems that there is no general consensus over the important quality characteristics in software organizations; in many cases software organizations could benefit from identifying the quality characteristics they consider important, and actively pursuing quality goals.