Integrating time domain and input domain analyses of software reliability using tree-based models

The paper examines two existing approaches to software reliability analysis, time domain reliability growth modeling and input domain reliability analysis, and presents a new approach that combines some of their individual strengths. An analysis method called tree-based modeling is used to build models based on the combined measurement data. This new approach can be used to assess the reliability of software systems, to track reliability change over time, and to identify problematic subparts characterized by certain input states or time periods. The results can also be used to guide various remedial actions aimed at reliability improvement. This approach has been demonstrated to be applicable and effective in the testing of several large commercial software systems developed in the IBM Software Solutions Toronto Laboratory.