Gray box risk assessment for telecommunications software modifications

A sophisticated gray box analysis method is used to perform in-process risk assessment of proposed software updates for a large digital switching system. Details and considerations for applying such a methodology are discussed. In addition, results are presented for the effectiveness of this approach in containing defective software updates. The dramatic performance of this approach in an existing mature and successful quality management environment indicates that it can substantially strengthen the core competencies needed to improve the quality of software updates to telecommunications software.