Research Article February 2017 © 2017, IJERMT All Rights Reserved Page | 28 International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology ISSN: 2278-9359 (Volume-6, Issue-2) Applying System Dynamics to Software Quality Management Vimla Devi Ramdoo * Dept. of IT, Charles Telfair Institute, Moka, Mauritius Oomesh Gukhool Dept. of Computer Science & Engg., Réduit, Mauritius Abstract— espite the significant evolution within the software industry, software quality remains a pertinent problem to many organisations today. This is because interactions between software project parameters in software development environment are complex and dynamic. Both management and developers have problems monitoring the fluctuations in quality that occur within the development process. This paper provides an insight on quality fluctuations that occur in a software project, using a quality index. The research focuses not only on changes on software project parameters that occur at the end but also throughout the software development process through dynamic modelling. The findings proved the ratio of 75-25 experienced to inexperienced staffs percentage to be the most practical combination. Likewise, the right balance of schedule pressure is determined and recommended so that it contributes to increasing the productivity during software development. Keywords— Software Quality, System Dynamics, Modelling, Software Projects, Quality Index I. INTRODUCTION Software is among the most widely used product in human history; and it also has one of the highest failure rates due to the lack of quality in the end-products. Literature shows that software projects frequently suffered from quality- related problems in recent past years (Austin, 2001; Charette, 2005; Devedzic, 2001; Land et al., 2005; Lindstrom and Jeffries, 2004; Meso and Jain, 2006; Molokken-Ostvold and Jorgensen, 2005; Rose, 2005; Wiegers, 2009). It is therefore of crucial importance to understand the element of quality when developing software. Software quality can no longer be considered insignificant or left unmeasured since there is too much financial and essential business value at stake. The aim of this paper is to formulate a dynamic model that will improve software quality management. For this purpose, surveys will be carried out in software development companies, and causal loop diagrams for quality models will be developed. Subsequently, a dynamic model will be formulated from the cause and effect diagrams using System Dynamics. The results of the model shall be calibrated, verified and validated with original data from 3 web-based software projects. Furthermore, the margin of error will be calculated to show the precision of the simulated output. II. DYNAMISM OF SOFTWARE PROJECT PARAMETERS Software project parameters are interrelated and form a complex and dynamic relationship. They basically consist of the software project’s cost (resources), scope and schedule that influence quality, also known as the Triple constraint. Managing the triple constraint requires making trade-offs between scope, schedule and cost. For example, the scope of the project might be reduced in order to meet schedule and cost goals. Alternatively the project’s budget might increase to meet the scope and schedule goals. In 2005, Rose stated that “a project manager should never ever trade-off quality during project implementation” as quality is key element in satisfying the customer. In 2010, Kathy explicitly mentioned that quality-related activities should be included into technical and resource planning since it is very critical and complex to control and monitor quality. It should however be noted that it is difficult to keep the triple constraints triangle balanced. Managers have many responsibilities and decisions regarding trade-offs during software development. These decisions impact the software project parameters than in turn influences software quality. An imminent challenge in software project management is the lack of reference methodology to measure the fluctuations of quality, which is the Quality Index within the software development process. With technological advancement in software development, such a measure will become a fundamental requirement to promote further innovation by allowing people to objectively measure and compare the quality of similar software projects. III. EXITING QUALITY FRAMEWORKS The commonly mentioned quality standards in literature are ITIL, CobiT, CMMI, and ISO 9001 (Cater-Steel et al., 2006; Gerke and Ridley, 2006; Vidal, 1998). Following Crosby’s work on TQM, maturity models have become popular and include quality management. CMMI, CobiT and ITIL acquire the process maturity framework. Increasing amount of information about ITIL and CobiT have increased awareness and adoption of ITIL and CobiT (Casson, 2005; Deloitte, 2003; Hochstein et al., 2005; Potgeiter et al., 2005). The SEI provides CMMI reports and advice on its web site. ISO 9001 appears in journals focusing on quality and magazines. Recent studies show that 60% of all corporate Six Sigma schemes fail to yield the expected outcomes (Chakravorty, 2010). Other frameworks gaining recent awareness are Balanced Scorecard, ISO 17799 (IT security techniques), PMBOK and Prince 2 (Cater-Steel et al., 2006). D