The Evaluation of Software Quality

Software Quality comprises all characteristics and significant features of a product or an activity which relate to the satisfaction of given requirements. The totality of characteristics of a software product depends upon its ability to satisfy given needs: for example (a) the degree to which software possesses a desired attribute or combination of attributes. (b) The degree to which a customer or user perceives that software meets their expectations, (c) the characteristics of software that determine the degree to which the software in use will meet the customer expectation. This study has three objectives. The first objective is to identify the Software quality dimensions that are relevant from the user perspective. The second objective is to identify if the software quality dimensions behave differently across different user levels. The third objective is to find out the software quality dimensions that are relevant for different softwares and generate a model for these softwares. The data were collected for Novice and Expert users for MS WORD, MINITAB, MS OUTLOOK and GOOGLE SKETCH softwares. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis was performed on these data to find out the software quality dimensions that are relevant from the end users’ perspective and determine the relationship between the software quality dimensions and the dependent variable; overall software quality and Software rating. The ANOVA showed that consistency, maintainability, reliability, security, usability, and user interface (UI) aesthetics were significantly influenced by the user group. The regression analysis showed that, For MS Word software, Overall Software Quality (OSQ) was significantly affected by accessibility, security, interoperability, usability and stability. The OSQ was significantly affected by layout, security, interoperability, usability and stability, in case of Minitab software. In case of MS Outlook software, the OSQ was significantly affected by functionality, operability, user interface aesthetic, and maintainability. And For Google Sketch software, the OSQ was significantly affected by accessibility, maintainability, backward/forward convertibility (bfc), stability, operability, and precision. From this regression analysis, it is recommended that the above mentioned significant dimensions are the important dimensions to improve the respective softwares’ quality and software rating. Adviser: Ram R. Bish