A software cost model with imperfect debugging, random life cycle and penalty cost
Hoang Pham · International Journal of Systems Science · 1996
The paper develops a cost model with an imperfect debugging and random life cycle as well as a penalty cost that is used to determine the optimal release policies for a software system. The software reliability model, based on the nonhomogeneous Poisson process, allows for three different error types: critical, major and minor errors. The model also allows for the introduction of any of these errors during the removal of an error. Using the software reliability model presented, the cost model with multiple error types and imperfect debugging is developed. This cost also considers the penalty cost due to delay for a scheduled delivery time and the length of the software life cycle is random with a known distribution. The optimal software release policies that minimize the expected software system costs (subject to the various constraints) or maximize the software reliability subject to a cost constraint, are then determined. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the results.