Strategies for the identification and specification of embedded software quality

Focuses on strategies for the identification and specification of embedded software quality. Starting from business system characteristics, the quality characteristics of an embedded software product are identified and specified. A software quality specification provides engineers with a basis for the selection of appropriate measures during development, and it provides product evaluators with a basis for the selection of metrics. A software quality specification supports users or customers in developing an explicit definition of their quality needs and requirements. The two strategies presented in this paper are, respectively, a questionnaire-based strategy and a so-called multi-party chain strategy. Both strategies are based on the assumption that interrelations exist and can be determined between business system characteristics and embedded software quality characteristics and are validated in various case studies in practice. This paper discusses the major results of these case studies and, based on that, produces guidelines for the application of the two strategies in identifying and specifying embedded software quality.