Toward High Confidence Software.

Moving toward high confidence software that can meet ever increasing demands for critical DOD applications will require planning, specifying, selecting, and managing the necessary development and testing activities that will ensure the success of the software project. In order to trust the decisions being made, there must he evidence (i.e., an information base of data and facts) that techniques and tools being chosen for application on critical projects will perform as expected. Today, these expectations are mostly intuitive; there is little hard evidence available to guide acquisition managers and software developers in making necessary decisions. This paper brings into perspective how software measurements can affect the confidence and trust that the DOD can place in its software. The paper describes a management approach to achieving high confidence software, highlighting software reliability as a key factor in that confidence. The concepts are presented from a DOD perspective but are applicable to any organization interested in managing software reliability. A software reliability measurement methodology is described for 1) specifying software reliability goals and the processes needed to help achieve those goals, 2) predicting and tracking progress during development (leading to corrective action to improve the software), 3) estimating reliability based on testing effort and processes, and 4) assessing achieved software reliability during operational use. The concept for a workable set of software reliability measures is presented to support this methodology. Typical questions that face the DOD are posed, and it is shown how the methodology, once implemented, can help answer those questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]