UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

MAY 2018

PROGRAMME MSc Software Project Management– Level 1

MODULE NAME Software Quality and Standards

DATE Saturday MODULE CODE CSE6095

05 May 2018

TIME 09.30 – 12.30 hrs DURATION 3 Hours

NO. OF 4 NO. OF QUESTIONS TO 4

QUESTIONS SET BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Answer ALL 4 questions.

All questions carry equal marks.

 CSE 6095- SOFTWARE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

Answer ALL 4 questions.

All questions carry equal marks.

Question 1

(a) Briefly provide a description on the following four causes of software errors:
(i) Faulty requirements definition
(ii) Shortcomings of the testing process
(iii) Non-compliance with documentation and coding instructions
(iv) Logical design errors
[4*1 marks]

(b) Currently you are working in a software company which does not have a
software quality assurance (SQA) system and you have been requested to set up
the SQA system.
(i) List down the categories of participants involved in the SQA framework
and give an example in each category.
[3 marks]

(ii) Explain, in details, the importance of setting up the SQA Engineering Sub
Units and SQA Infrastructure Tasks Sub Units.
[2*3 marks]

(iii) After setting up the SQA system, would you recommend the company to
undergo the IS0 9000 certification?
[4 marks]

(c) Explain why internal customers or in-house project clients should insist on some
form of contract at the start of the project?
[4 marks]

(d) Provide the benefits and drawbacks of Goal-Question-Metric Quality Model.

[4 marks]
(Total: 25 Marks)

(continued next page)

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 CSE 6095- SOFTWARE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

Question 2
Consider the following extract from: Ishikawa I. “Online Banking System Failure in a
Big Way.” Risk Digest 2002; 22(3)

Three of the twelve largest banks in Japan merged. The results were not pretty,
including “more than 30,000 transaction errors and 2.5 million delayed debits” and “2.5
million of the 3 million automatic debits scheduled to be processed on 1 April 2002,
including utility and credit card bills, couldn’t be made on that day.”

The problem was that each of the banks ran a different system (Hitachi, IBM, and
Fujitsu). They built some integration glue, but it did not work. About 30,000 incorrect
double withdrawals and about 5,000 double deposits were found and corrected.
According to the bank, “the overall accumulation of delayed transaction would need
the whole week to finish.”

(a) Suggest in which category of IT system the above case study is dealing with?
[1 mark]

(b) Provide three quality characteristics associated with the IT system’s category, as
identified in (a)?
[3 marks]
(c) From the case study, which main quality characteristic has been missed and
describe the impact/cost of missing this quality.
[1 + 4 marks]

(d) Propose a plan which could be adopted in order to prevent missing an important
quality requirement in future software and system development.
[5 marks]

(e) From the case study, one important aspect which has to be taken into
consideration is the risk management actions (RMA). RMA can be categorized
into three classes. Briefly describe those three classes of RMA.
[3*1 marks]

(f) Software Quality can be broken down into Technical quality parameters and
User quality parameters.
(i) List three user quality parameters.
(ii) For each user quality parameters identified in f (i), provide their direct
metric value.
[3+3 marks]
(g) Explain, by giving two reasons, as to why basic tools such as Run Charts and
Fishbone are used when analyzing a quality metric.
[2 marks]
(Total: 25 Marks)
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 CSE 6095- SOFTWARE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

Question 3

(a) Checklist and Templates are often considered as Defect Prevention Tools which
add to the quality of a software.
(i) Describe three contributions of templates to development teams.
[3*1 marks]

(ii) Provide two sources which can be used to update a template.

[2*1 marks]

(iii) Describe a problem associated with checklist.

[2 marks]

(b) To conduct a peer review (either walkthrough or inspection), specialized

professionals are required. For a walkthrough process, recommend with
justification, three specialized professionals.
[3*2 marks]

(c) Testing is one of the most important parts of software quality assurance and the
most performed activity. Testing is often associated with words Validation and
Verification.
(i) Write down one advantage of Validation and one advantage of
Verification.
[1+1 marks]

(ii) Verification techniques can be categorised as dynamic testing and static

testing. Differentiate between dynamic and static testing.
[4 marks]

(iii) Briefly elaborate on Random testing and Software fault injection

technique.
[2+2 marks]

(iv) Provide two advantages of Alpha and Beta Site tests.

[2 marks]
(Total: 25 Marks)

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CSE 6095- SOFTWARE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

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 CSE 6095- SOFTWARE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

Question 4

(a) Software Configuration Management (SCM) is viewed as a software quality

assurance activity which is carried throughout the whole software life cycle.
(i) Software Configuration Management provides cover against which types
of situations?
[2 marks]

(ii) When code is integrated into a larger system, problems may surface.
Describe, using examples, how SCM can be useful when handling such
problems.
[3 marks]

(iii) Explain the purpose a Change Control Authority in the assessment of a

change request.
[4 marks]

(b) A software company is currently on Capability Maturity Model Integration

(CMMI) level 1. Describe the role of process and measurement while advancing
through each of the CMMI levels.
[10 marks]

(c) The Six Sigma methodology is often referred to as the DMAIC method. Briefly
elaborate on the DMAIC method.
[3 marks]

(d) A company is only interested in using or investing in technology to achieve its

goal. The company decides to implement COBIT (Control Objectives for
Information and related Technology) as part of its Software Quality Assurance
system.
(i) Recommend one domain of responsibility which the company requires to
follow from COBIT.
(ii) Explain how the company will implement the domain identified in d (i).
[1 + 2 marks]
(Total: 25 Marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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