Adjusting Software Failure Rates That Are Estimated From Test Data.

The article presents information on adjusting software failure rates that are estimated from test data. An estimate of the user-perceived failure rate of software is essential for deciding when to deploy the software while maintaining an appropriate balance between reliability, time-to-market, and development cost. Typically, software reliability models are applied to test data with the hope of obtaining a credible estimate of the software failure rate that will be observed in the field. This article extends an empirical calibration methodology for adjusting the failure rate estimate obtained from analysing test data.