Evaluation, Selection and Ranking of Software Reliability Growth Models using Multi criteria Decision making Approach

The evaluation of Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs) is inherently complex because of the lack of objective measures. Since the evaluation of SRGMs may involve multiple selection criteria, this selection problem can be represented as a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. This research presents an MCDM-approach to rank a selection of various SRGMs in the domain of software reliability. An investigational study is designed to show the applicability of proposed method using Entropy Distance Based Approach (EDBA), sixteen SRGMs and seven selection criteria over a real time failure data set. The implementation of EDBA provides the comprehensive ranking of the alternatives i.e. SRGMs on the basis of their composite distance values. The result of the present study shows the effectiveness of the MCDM method in SRGMs evaluation process and depict that “Generalized Goel” model is ranked at the top position (Rank-l) having smallest composite distance value where as “Inflection S- Shaped “model is ranked at last position (Rank-16) due to having the largest composite distance value on the selected failure data set.