Methods and systems for evaluating the compliance of software to a quality ...

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United States Patent

Kuester et al.

(io) Patent No.: (45) Date of Patent:

US 7,788,632 B2 Aug. 31, 2010

(54) METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR

EVALUATING THE COMPLIANCE OF
SOFTWARE TO A QUALITY BENCHMARK

(75) Inventors: Anthony E. Kuester, Vienna, VA (US);

Wanda L. Key, Haymarket, VA (US);
Lillian Zelinski, Alexandria, VA (US)

(73) Assignee: United States Postal Service,

Washington, DC (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 1002 days.

(21) Appl.No.: 11/445,201

(22) Filed: Jun. 2, 2006

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2007/0006161 Al Jan. 4, 2007

Related U.S. Application Data

(60) Provisional application No. 60/686,393, filed on Jun. 2, 2005.

(51) Int. CI.

G06F 9/44 (2006.01)
G06F9/45 (2006.01)

(52) U.S. CI 717/100; 717/101; 717/120

(58) Field of Classification Search 717/100 106,

717/120-124, 203-204 See application file for complete search history.

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

5,428,788 A * 6/1995 Schwanke 717/120

5,446,895 A * 8/1995 White et al 717/101

5,485,621 A * 1/1996 Schwanke 717/121

A method for evaluating the compliance of software to a standard quality process includes establishing a standard quality process that includes a plurality of stages, each of the plurality of stages corresponding to a software development process. A plurality of objective qualifiers associated with the standard quality process are defined, and a weighting factor is assigned to each of the plurality of objective qualifiers. The method also includes applying each of the plurality of objective qualifiers to a software application, and determining a field worthiness score corresponding to the correlation of the software application with each of the objective qualifiers.

39 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

7,627,855 B2 * 12/2009 Inoueetal 717/120

2003/0097308 Al 5/2003 Connors etal.

2004/0243968 Al 12/2004 Hecksel

2005/0015675 Al 1/2005 Kolawaetal.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Chang et al, "A case study of pattern based software framework to improve the quality of software development", ACM SAC, pp. 443447, 2009*

Sharma et al, "Estimation of quality for software components an emprical approach", ACM SIGSOFT, vo. 33, No. 6, pp. 1-10, 2008.*

Bachmann et al, :Software process data quality and characterstics a historical view on open and closed source projects, ACM IWPSE pp. 119-128,2009 *

Thurman, Dave, "What Gets Measured Gets Done," Hoosier Banker, Vol. 83, Issue 4 (Apr. 1999) (6 pages).

Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority mailed Sep. 4, 2007 in corresponding International Patent Application PCT/ US2006/21534, 4 pages.

International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Dec. 6, 2007 in corresponding International Patent Application PCT/US2006/ 21534, 5 pages.

International Search Report dated Sep. 4, 2007 in corresponding International Patent Application PCT/US2006/21534, 3 pages.

* cited by examiner