{"id":16796,"date":"2022-11-09T13:26:30","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T13:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/?p=16796"},"modified":"2023-07-12T18:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T18:12:59","slug":"software-quality-characteristics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/articles\/software-quality-characteristics\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Software Quality Characteristics: What Makes a Good Software Application?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Software quality characteristics are key determinants for building a functional software product. For an application to meet minimum performance criteria and prove viable, it must thus exhibit each of the essential quality characteristics. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In recent times, software quality has become a lever for enterprises to stay ahead of the curve. It is not just restricted to performance but has larger implications and reflects the business\u2019s brand identity and helps build positive user experiences.<\/p>\n A good software application is defined by a set of software quality standards and when an application depicts these characteristics, it scripts a success story for the enterprise. To infuse them into your product, QA in software development plays a vital role. Finally, the journey to germinating seeds of software quality begins when the application is in its concept phase.<\/p>\n Using our experience and expertise, here in this article, we will offer you a holistic idea of various software quality characteristics. You would be able to gather why your software application must always be characterized by each of these attributes. But before that let\u2019s take a snapshot of software quality and software quality characteristics.<\/p>\n An abstract concept, software quality explains if the product incorporates a standard set of features that assure performance consistency throughout the product\u2019s lifecycle. It measures the effectiveness of software applications and determines if they align with the specified functional requirements, and so is described as the \u2018fitness of purpose\u2019 of a software application.<\/p>\n Each stakeholder in the software development process, be it software agency<\/a> and it’s team or project owners, expects the software application to be characterized by different attributes, which are termed software quality characteristics. From a stakeholder viewpoint, some sample considerations include:<\/p>\n Here we decompose software quality into individual characteristics, and further into sub-characteristics.<\/p>\n These characteristics of software quality pertain to the functioning of software applications. Multiple operational characteristics of software quality include:<\/p>\n It is defined as the software application\u2019s capability to provide all targeted functions under specific conditions. The functional effectiveness of the product can be judged based on:<\/p>\n Usability is defined by the efficiency of the application to support its use. A measure of good usability is that software applications are user-friendly and allow seamless use by non-technical users. The following factors characterize the usability attribute of software quality<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is the capability of a software application to deliver expected performance with optimal resources. Efficiency elevates system performance and improves user experience. Quality assurance in software development is important to make the product efficient. This attribute comprises:<\/p>\n It\u2019s a measure of the system\u2019s capability to assure a high level of performance under specified conditions for a specified time duration. Mean time to failure (MTTF) and the system\u2019s expected life are two important software reliability metrics<\/a>. It is characterized by the following dimensions.<\/p>\n It measures the degree of the presence or absence of a certain attribute in a software application and indicates how much the application is consistent with the defined specification. Verification is ascertained by subjecting the application to a variety of tests. Quality assurance in software development is thus important and you must have a robust quality control plan for software development to ensure that the application passes verifiability tests.<\/p>\n A software system is linked to multiple elements, including data, code, hardware, and OS. While protecting its environment, a secured software application assures that internal and external features are protected from malicious attacks<\/p>\n Software quality framework is no more restricted to traditional quality parameters. A software application must be safe for its users as well as shouldn\u2019t be hazardous to the environment. While software systems may never directly affect the environment, they may take a toll on it through energy consumption.<\/p>\n These are the characteristics that deal with the adaptive or evolutionary character of software systems. We dig into them here, while also going into the sub-characteristics below.<\/p>\n Any software application must be capable of getting enhanced with new capabilities. It must be able to undergo evolution to adapt to changing requirements without affecting the user experience. Users should have assurance that they are getting good support through its features. The following parameters define maintainability.<\/p>\n It is always important to understand the degree to which a software system can cope with the needs of users in different environments. So, a versatile application comes with a range of features surrounding the application\u2019s ability from working in a cross-environment setup to supporting its extension. We understand versatility through the following parameters.<\/p>\n It allows software applications to exist as a collection of individual units or modules, each of which performs some specific function and are independent of the other. Combined, these modules combined form the entire product. Whenever a system encounters any failure, only affected modules have to be analyzed, tested, or modified.<\/p>\n While undergoing a series of standard testing procedures \u2013 Functional testing, Fault-finding testing, and Structural testing, amongst others \u2013 software applications should produce satisfactory performance results. Testing in software development must be carried out exhaustively to confirm that the application functions as per the predefined performance criteria.<\/p>\n A good software application continues to provide its functionalities even during cross-platform movement. This ability of a software system is defined by transitional characteristics which we discuss below.<\/p>\n An application must be capable of easily interacting and exchanging information with external systems. Likewise, different features of the system itself must seamlessly interact with each other for the entire system to function smoothly.<\/p>\n It defines how easily a software application can be transferred across platforms or environments. A portable application is characterized by the following dimensions.<\/p>\n It helps in constructing a new system from the existing components. It allows reengineering to build applications with added power. A reusable portion of software codes can be used to build applications to perform different functions.<\/p>\n Compliance is a software quality characteristic that transcends all the software quality attributes. In order to be fully compliant, a software application has to adhere to conventions and standards while supporting each of the above-discussed software quality dimensions.<\/p>\n Software quality measurement is a continuous process that must begin right from the first stage of software development and be used till the application\u2019s last phase in its lifecycle. Here is a stepwise process to measure software quality.<\/p>\n Quality is a focus area in software development. It regulates the application development process, affects delivery time, governs user experience, alters strategies, and impacts ROI. Since you cannot afford to miss any of the discussed qualities in your product, you need expert hands to build, test, and deploy the application.<\/p>\n With competition mounting and the realization of the importance of software quality, enterprises now know they need to build optimal-quality software applications equipped with innovative features to meet their unique needs. Not software development, but rather high-quality software development is thus the norm.<\/p>\n To build a high-quality software application with deft hands, you can choose to build your in-house team or hire an offshore software development company<\/a>. Our well-seasoned software development team will help you embrace the ethos of quality standards by building a quality-tested-validated-assured application for your custom needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Software quality characteristics are key determinants for building a functional software product. For an application to meet minimum performance criteria and prove viable, it must thus exhibit each of the essential quality characteristics. In recent times, software quality has become a lever for enterprises to stay ahead of the curve. It is not just restricted … Continue reading Top Software Quality Characteristics: What Makes a Good Software Application?<\/span> What is Software Quality<\/h2>\n
What are Software Quality Characteristics?<\/h2>\n
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What are the main software quality characteristics?<\/h2>\n
Operational Characteristics<\/h3>\n
Functionality<\/h4>\n
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Usability<\/h4>\n
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Efficiency<\/h4>\n
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Reliability<\/h4>\n
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Verifiability<\/h4>\n
Security<\/h4>\n
Safety<\/h4>\n
Revisional Characteristics<\/h3>\n
Maintainability<\/h4>\n
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Versatility<\/h4>\n
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Modularity<\/h4>\n
Testability<\/h4>\n
Transitional Characteristics<\/h3>\n
Interoperability<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Portability<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Reusability<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Compliance<\/h3>\n
How do you measure software quality?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Have a quality-assured application to surpass stakeholder expectations<\/h2>\n