Software Quality Journal, 11, 219–242, 2003  2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands. Construction of a Systemic Quality Model for Evaluating a Software Product MARYOLY ORTEGA mortega@reacciun.ve Laboratorio de Computación, Universidad Ezequiel Zamora, Guanare. Edo. Portuguesa 3310, Venezuela MARÍA PÉREZ and TERESITA ROJAS {movalles;trojas}@usb.ve Departamento de Procesos y Sistemas—LISI, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas 89000, Venezuela Abstract. Quality is currently considered one of the main assets with which a firm can enhance its competitive global position. This is one reason why quality has become essential for ensuring that a company’s products and processes meet customers’ needs. A recent innovation in the systems area is the development of a set of mechanisms and models for evaluating quality. This article describes the design of a Quality Model with a systemic approach to software products that assesses a product’s efficiency and effectiveness. Different qual- ity models were studied: McCall, Boehm, FURPS, ISO 9126, Dromey, ISO 15504 in an attempt to identify the aspects present in these models that are deemed important in a Systemic Quality model. We designed a model prototype that reflects the essential attributes of quality. This model was evaluated using a method so it can be validated and also enhanced. The evaluation method consisted of: designing a survey, formulat- ing, validating and applying the measurement instruments; defining an algorithm to obtain the quality estimate and analyzing the results. The model prototype enabled the strengths and weaknesses of the software prod- ucts studied to be identified. When evaluating a software product using the model prototype, it was possible to ascertain its compliance with the standards and use the results to improve it. Since the evaluation was sys- temic, processes that affect certain characteristics of the product could be identified. Companies can benefit from the model proposed because it serves as a benchmark that allows their products to evolve and be competi- tive. Keywords: software product quality, quality model, systemic quality, metrics, ISO 9126, Dromey’s model 1. Introduction Certification is important to avoid purchasing software of questionable quality. A rea- sonable starting point for software certification might be to consider one of the existing approaches. These include certifying developers in order to demonstrate a set of spe- cific skills, assessing the behavior of software products and/or certifying that processes are properly followed. Voas (1999) refers to these approaches as the triangle of soft- ware quality certification, covering processes, products and personnel. Callaos and Callaos (1996) also stress the importance of this balance, referring to the product-process aspects of a system. In their proposal Callaos and Callaos link the elements of the series of local qualities identified, in order to obtain a “systemic quality” rather than just combining them, as in the case of the majority of total quality methodologies (Callaos and Callaos, 1996). According to them, the meaning of design includes: design as a product and design as a process. The system designed, the product, differs from the system of human activities, the process, through which the product is being designed. Hence four types