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Trade-Off Between Cost and Reliability During the Design Phase

Lookup NU author(s): Richie Burnett, Emeritus Professor Tom Anderson

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Abstract

This paper proposes a method for estimating the development cost of a software module, taking into account the target level of reliability for that module. Our objective is to establish a basis for a model to guide a primary trade-off between cost and reliability during the design phase of the development of a modular software system. The line of argument developed here is that the operational reliability of a software module can be linked to the effort spent during the testing phase-a higher level of desired reliability will require more testing effort and, consequently, will cost more. A decomposition technique is used to estimate the cost of development, based on an estimate of the number of faults to be found and fixed in order to achieve the required reliability, using data obtained from the requirement specification and historical data. The proposed model is easy to understand and suitable for use by project managers.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Burnett R, Anderson T

Publication type: Report

Publication status: Published

Series Title: Department of Computing Science Technical Report Series

Year: 1995

Pages: 20

Print publication date: 01/11/1995

Source Publication Date: November 1995

Report Number: 534

Institution: Department of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Place Published: Newcastle upon Tyne

URL: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/publications/trs/papers/534.pdf

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