BCIT Computing and Information Technology

COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering

Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
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This assignment is intended to demonstrate an understanding of Attribute Specification, which is

applied to the same microprocessor-based bottle filling system functionally defined in the previous
Assignment 2. Each of the ten high-level quality requirements listed below are given a minimum
of three realistic attributes, with defined properties of scale, test, worst case, best case and
planned.

1. Usability ....................................................................................... page 2

2. Portability ....................................................................................... page 3

3. Reliability ....................................................................................... page 3

4. Maintainability ............................................................................. page 4

5. Availability ....................................................................................... page 5

6. Cost ................................................................................................ page 6

7. Schedule ....................................................................................... page 6

8. Accuracy ....................................................................................... page 7

9. Security ....................................................................................... page 8

10. Error Handling ............................................................................. page 9

Bibliography ....................................................................................... page 9

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 1 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________

1. Usability

Operational training time required for Line Operator

» scale: number of days
» test: after completion of training, quiz is given to confirm learning outcomes
» worst case: score of 80% on quiz after 2 days of training
» best case: score of 100% on quiz after 2 days of training
» planned: Line Operator scores 90% on quiz after 2 days of training

Preventive Maintenance training time required for Line Operator

» scale: number of days
» test: after completion of training, quiz is given to confirm learning outcomes
» worst case: score of 80% on quiz after 2 days of training
» best case: score of 100% on quiz after 2 days of training
» planned: Line Operator scores 90% on quiz after 2 days of training

Training time required for Supervisor

» scale: number of days
» test: after completion of training, quiz is given to confirm learning outcomes
» worst case: score of 80% on quiz after 7 days of training
» best case: score of 100% on quiz after 7 days of training
» planned: Supervisor scores 90% on quiz after 7 days of training

Customization time to support new bottle sizes

» scale: number of hours
» test: after customization of software, try new bottle size in all areas of system and compare
measurements to expected operational standards, and if not within tolerance, then continue with
additional customization and repeat
» worst case: 5 hours of software customization to get operational variances within 5% tolerance
levels
» best case: all operational variances within 5% tolerance levels after less than 2 hours of
software customization
» planned: after 2 hours of software customization, new bottle size can go through Bottle Release
Gate, go down Bottle Line Chute, sit on Bottle Line Scale, and be filled through Bottle Filling Valve
all within operational standards

Customization time to support any liquid having viscosity level below 0.8 Pa.s at 15˚C
» scale: number of hours
» test: after customization of software, try new liquid in all areas of system and compare
measurements to expected operational standards
» worst case: any excessive operational variances encountered in any component after 2 hours of
software customization
» best case: all operational variances within tolerance levels after less than 2 hours of software
customization

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 2 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
» planned: after 2 hours of software customization, new liquid can fill vat through Input Control
Valve, exit from vat through Bottle Filling Valve, fill bottles on Bottle Line Scale, and be read by
both pH Sensor and Level Sensor in the vat all within operational standards

2. Portability

Software porting time to run on new microprocessor CPU hardware

» scale: number of days
» test: compile and run software on new hardware, plus run all unit tests successfully
» worst case: 120 days of porting effort are required to get software to compile and run on new
hardware
» best case: all software modules compile, run and pass unit tests on new microprocessor CPU
hardware in less than 90 days
» planned: all software modules compile, run and pass unit tests on new microprocessor CPU
hardware in 90 days

Software porting time to run on new Linux-based operating system (“OS”)

» scale: number of days
» test: compile and run software on new OS, plus run all unit tests
» worst case: 120 days of porting effort are required to get software to compile and run on new
OS
» best case: all software modules compile, run and pass unit tests on new OS in less than 90 days
» planned: all software modules compile, run and pass unit tests on new OS in 90 days

Operation in temperate climate without requiring additional HVAC infrastructure

» scale: amount of HVAC infrastructure required
» test: measure quantity and/or cost of additional HVAC infrastructure that must be installed in
the plant/warehouse in order to operate filling system within spec
» worst case: minimal (10% of total system cost) HVAC infrastructure required to operate within
spec when outside temperature is between 5˚C and 25˚C
» best case: same as planned
» planned: no HVAC infrastructure required to operate within spec when outside temperature
range is between 5˚C and 25˚C

3. Reliability

Unexpected shut-downs from malfunction, assuming that preventive maintenance

schedule is followed
» scale: number of unexpected shut-downs from malfunction
» test: count number of unexpected shut-downs from malfunction
» worst case: 2 unexpected shut-down from malfunction per bottle line per month
» best case: no unexpected shut-downs from malfunction
» planned: 1 unexpected shut-down from malfunction per bottle line per month

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 3 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
Valve operation, assuming that preventive maintenance schedule is followed
» scale: number of valve openings and closings that are not to specification
» test: count number of valve openings and closings that are not within standard operational
variances
» worst case: 0.25% of automatic opening and closing of valves outside of standard operational
variances
» best case: all automatic opening and closing of valves is within standard operational variances
» planned: automatic opening and closing of valves 99.9% of the time within standard operational
variances

Bottle movement along Chute, assuming that preventive maintenance schedule is

followed
» scale: number of bottles moved that are not to specification
» test: count number of bottles moved from Release Gate along Chute to Scale that are not within
standard operational variances
» worst case: 2% of automatic movement of bottles outside of standard operational variances
» best case: all automatic movement of bottles is within standard operational variances
» planned: automatic movement of bottles 99% of the time within standard operational variances

Bottle filling, assuming that preventive maintenance schedule is followed

» scale: number of bottles filled with liquid that are not to specification
» test: count number of bottles filled that are not within standard operational variances
» worst case: 2% of automatic filling of bottles outside of standard operational variances
» best case: all automatic filling of bottles is within standard operational variances
» planned: automatic filling of bottles 99% of the time within standard operational variances

4. Maintainability

Bottle line hardware component repair

» scale: mean time to repair (“MTTR”) hours
» test: count number of hours to repair bottle line hardware components, and update MTTR for
each repair
» worst case: MTTR of 2 hours
» best case: MTTR of less than 1 hour
» planned: MTTR of 1 hour

Vat hardware component repair

» scale: mean time to repair (“MTTR”) hours
» test: count number of hours to repair vat hardware components, and update MTTR for each
repair
» worst case: MTTR of 6 hours
» best case: MTTR of less than 4 hours
» planned: MTTR of 4 hours

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 4 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
Software component repair
» scale: mean time to repair (“MTTR”) hours
» test: count number of hours to repair software components, and update MTTR for each repair
» worst case: MTTR of 12 hours
» best case: MTTR of less than 8 hours
» planned: MTTR of 8 hours

5. Availability

Vat filling start-up time

» scale: number of minutes until vat begins filling after system start-up
» test: count number of minutes from system start-up until vat starts to fill with liquid
» worst case: 6.5 minutes from system start-up
» best case: less than 5 minutes from system start-up
» planned: 5 minutes from system start-up

Vat filling elapsed time

» scale: number of minutes to finish filling vat after filling starts
» test: count number of elapsed minutes from start of liquid entering vat until vat is full
» worst case: 18 elapsed minutes
» best case: less than 16 elapsed minutes
» planned: 16 elapsed minutes

Vat preventive maintenance time

» scale: number of hours to complete preventive maintenance of vat
» test: count number of hours to do preventive maintenance of vat
» worst case: 5 hours
» best case: less than 4 hours
» planned: 4 hours

Bottle Line preventive maintenance time

» scale: number of hours to complete preventive maintenance of bottle line
» test: count number of hours to do preventive maintenance of bottle line
» worst case: 4 hours
» best case: less than 3 hours
» planned: 3 hours

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 5 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
6. Cost

Customer Return on Investment (“ROI”) compared to manual system

» scale: percentage of cost saving dollars per year
» test: calculate total purchase and implementation cost of (investment in) bottle filling system,
calculate total costs to operate manual bottle filling system, and calculate ROI as manual system
costs divided by investment
» worst case: 25%
» best case: more than 50%
» planned: 50%

Operational unit cost per bottle, assuming that preventive maintenance schedule is
followed
» scale: dollars per bottle filled
» test: when filling at least 15,000 bottles per month, calculate total cost of operating entire
system in terms of labour, energy, financing, etc. (but exclusive of raw material and fixed asset
costs) and divide this cost by the number of bottles filled
» worst case: $0.09 per bottle
» best case: less than $0.05 per bottle
» planned: $0.05 US per bottle

Annual software maintenance cost

» scale: percentage of annual maintenance cost compared to purchase price of system
» test: calculate cost of annual software maintenance as percentage of purchase price of system
» worst case: 25%
» best case: less than 20%
» planned: 20%

7. Schedule

Customer setup and implementation time

» scale: number of days
» test: count number of days after complete system delivery to a prepared warehouse/factory site
location until entire system is ready for use by customer
» worst case: 150 days
» best case: less than 120 days
» planned: 120 days

Step 1 delivery time

» scale: number of months
» test: count number of months after development work has begun on Step 1 until it is delivered
» worst case: 12 months
» best case: less than 10 months
» planned: 10 months

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 6 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
Integrity checks of hardware component readings by Supervisor Control module
» scale: interval hours between integrity checks
» test: calculate number of hours between recorded integrity check results in system log
» worst case: within 10% of 8 hour interval
» best case: 8 hour interval
» planned: within 2.5% of 8 hour interval

8. Accuracy

Measurement of vat pH level

» scale: percentage difference between pH sensor readings
» test: use two additional, standardized pH sensors to compare their pH readings with the pH
sensor in the vat, and assume that each of them is correct
» worst case: 90% accuracy
» best case: more than 95% accuracy
» planned: 95% accuracy

Measurement of vat quantity level

» scale: percentage difference between level sensor readings
» test: use two additional, standardized level sensors to compare their readings with the level
sensor in the vat, and assume that each of them is correct
» worst case: 95% accuracy
» best case: more than 98% accuracy
» planned: 98% accuracy

Measurement of bottle filling

» scale: percentage difference between sample fill measurements, over time
» test: take random samples of filled bottles and measure their “fill” level; accumulate history of
sample fill measurements to determine accuracy rate over time
» worst case: 90% accuracy 98% of the time
» best case: more than 95% accuracy 99% of the time
» planned: 95% accuracy 99% of the time

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 7 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
9. Security

Automatic validation and authentication of software

» scale: percentage of software files validated and authenticated each week
» test: automatic, intermittent, secure connection established to remote server controlled by, and
authenticated to, the software developers/owners to initiate comparison of portion of software file
versions and authentication signatures on local system owned by customer against standard
versions and signatures on remote server, with results recorded in system log, and with the
complete set of software files validated and authenticated each week
» worst case: 50% of software files validated and authenticated successfully each week
» best case: more than 95% of software files validated and authenticated successfully each week
» planned: 95% of software files validated and authenticated successfully each week

Automatic software updates

» scale: number of software update checks and required updates completed successfully each
week
» test: automatic, daily secure connection established to remote server controlled by, and
authenticated to, the software developers/owners to initiate comparison of current software
version on local system owned by customer against latest available version on remote server, and
to initiate update of local system files to latest available version if required, with results recorded
in system log
» worst case: 2 update checks, and all required updates completed each week
» best case: 7 update checks and all required updates completed each week
» planned: successful update checks once per day, and successful updates when required

Blocked access from removable media

» scale: number of accesses allowed from removable media
» test: record start of all file, socket and device access in system log and count them
» worst case: 2 file, socket or device accesses allowed per day from removable USB or optical
drive media
» best case: no file, socket or device access allowed to come from any removable USB or optical
drive media
» planned: 1 file, socket or device access allowed per day from removable USB or optical drive
media

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 8 of 9
BCIT Computing and Information Technology
COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering
Due Date: November 24, 2010
Author: Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie A00242330
Assignment 3: Attribute Definition (Final Version)
______________________________________________________________________________
10. Error Handling

Remote logging of error event messages

» scale: percentage of local error log entries recorded on remote server
» test: automatic remote logging of all Supervisor Control software module error event messages
over secure connection to remote server controlled by, and authenticated to, the software
developers/owners
» worst case: 95% of all Supervisor Control module error event messages transmitted to remote
logging server
» best case: all Supervisor Control module error event messages transmitted to remote logging
server
» planned: 99% of all Supervisor Control module error event messages transmitted to remote
logging server

Automatic shut-down of bottle line

» scale: elapsed seconds for bottle line shut-down
» test: each real-time reading from bottle line sent to Supervisor Control module is verified, and if
verification is unsuccessful, or differs from initial reading, then bottle line is automatically shut-
down within a few measured seconds
» worst case: bottle line is not shut-down within 15 seconds
» best case: shut-down of bottle line within 5 seconds
» planned: shut-down of bottle line in 10 seconds

Automatic component self-shut-down

» scale: elapsed seconds for component to shut-down itself
» test: every component performs a shut-down of itself within a few measured seconds if it is
unable to communicate with the Supervisor Control module
» worst case: component does not shut-down itself within 15 seconds
» best case: shut-down of component within 5 seconds
» planned: component shut-down of itself in 10 seconds

Bibliography

[1] Link, Bruce. BCIT COMP 8081 Management Issues in Software Engineering course notes and
slides. 2010.

[2] McConnell, Steve. Rapid Development. Redmond, WA, USA. Microsoft Press. 1996.

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Copyright © 2010. Arthur (Wesley) Kenzie. All Rights Reserved. Page 9 of 9