Software Metrics and

Reliability
 Reliability
• The most important dynamic characteristic
of software is its reliability.
• The reliability of a software system is a
measure of how well it provides the
services expected by its users.
 RELIABILITY ISSUES
Some of the contributing factors are given
below:
• Change in environment
• Change in infrastructure/technology
• Major change in requirements
• Increase in complexity
• Extremely difficult to maintain
 RELIABILITY METRICS
• Reliability metrics are used to
quantitatively express the reliability of a
software product.
• Some reliability metrics, which can be
used to quantify the reliability of a software
product are:
 MTTF (Mean Time to Failure). The MTTF is the
mean time for which a component is expected to
be operational.
• The MTTF is the average time between observed
system failures. An MTTF of 500 means that one
failure can be expected every 500 time units.
• The time units are totally dependent on the
system and it can even be specified in the
number of transactions, as is the case of
database query systems.
 MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) Once a
hardware component fails then the failure
is usually permanent
• so the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
reflects the time taken to repair or replace
the component.
 MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures).
• We can combine the MTTF and MTTR
metrics to get the MTBF metric:
MTBF=MTTF+MTTR
• Thus, a MTBF of 300 hours indicates that
once a failure occurs, the next failure is
expected to occur only after 300 hours.
 ROCOF (Rate of Occurrences of Failure).
• ROCOF is the frequency of occurrence
with which unexpected behavior is likely to
occur.
• A ROCOF of 2/100 means that two
failures are likely to occur in each 100
operational time units
• Ex: It is relevant for operating systems
and transaction-processing systems
• where the system has to process a large
number of similar requests that are
relatively frequent; for example, credit-card
processing systems, airline- booking
systems, etc.
• AVAIL (Availability). Availability is the
probability that the system is available for
use at a given time.
• An availability of 0.998 means that in
every 1000 time units, the system is likely
to be available for 998 of these.
 RELIABILITY GROWTH
MODELING
• A reliability growth model is a
mathematical model of how software
reliability improves as errors are detected
and repaired
 Step Function Model
• The simplest reliability growth model is a
step function model, where it is assumed
that the reliability increases by a constant
increment each time an error is detected
and repaired.
 Jelinski and Moranda Model
• In this model, it is realized that reliability
does not increase by a constant amount
each time an error is repaired.
• The improvement in reliability due to fixing
of an error is assumed to be proportional
to the number of errors remaining in the
system at that time.
 Definitions
• According to ANSI, “ Software Reliability is defined as the probability of failure – free
software operation for a specified period of time in a specified environment”.

• IEEE defines Reliability as “ The ability of a system or component to perform its

required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time”
 Software Reliability and Hardware
Reliability
• Software Reliability • Hardware Reliability

• It is not a direct function of time • It is a direct function of time.

Software Reliability
Integration and Testing

Useful life

obsolete

Integration Useful Life obsolete

and Testing
Hardware Reliability

Burn In

Useful Life

Wear Out

Burn In Useful Life Wear Out

 Faults and Failures

FAILURE

• It is the departure of the external results of program operation from

requirements
 FAULT

• A Fault is a defect in a program which arises when programmer

makes an error.

• It Causes Failure when executed under particular conditions

 Achieving Reliability

• Software Reliability can be achieved by using metrics at different stages of

software development cycle.
 Phases
• Requirement Phase

• Design and coding phase

• Testing phase
 Software Metrics For Reliability

• Requirements Reliability Metrics

• Design and Code Reliability Metrics

• Testing Reliability Metrics

Requirements Reliability Metrics

• A clear understanding between client and developer should exist.

• Must Contain valid Strucure
• Must be complete
• Ease to communicate
Design and Code Reliability Metrics
Quality Factors

• Complexity
• Size
 Testing Reliability Metrics

• First approach is “ensuring that the system is fully equipped with the
functions that are specified in the requirements”.

• Second approach is “Evaluating the code, Finding the errors and fixing
them”.
 Conclusion

• Software Reliability is the probability that the software will work without
failure for a specified period of time

• Achieving the software reliability is hard as the complexity of the software

tends to be high

• Software Reliability can be increased by applying metrics at different stages

of software development life cycle.
Thank You
Any Questions?