Risk management in software quality assurance

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich BWL - Unternehmensführung, Management, Organisation, einseitig bedruckt, Note: 2,0, FOM Essen, Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gemeinnützige GmbH, Hochschulleitung Essen früher Fachhochschule, Veranstaltung: Risk & Contract Management, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In general, risk can be expressed as product of amount of damage and probability ofdamage. Due to the fact that software controls more and more aspects of life in modernindustrialised societies, software failures inherit risks for businesses, human health oreven human life. Software testing is a structured approach to minimise product risks ofsoftware systems. When the problem arises that, due to a given budget and timeframe, itis not possible to cover all parts of the software through testing, Risk-Based Testing is apossibility to test the most critical parts of the software first or more intensive. Whenusing this method, both amount of damage and probability of damage must bequantified. Quantifying the amount of damage must happen by considering the differentviewpoints of the software system s stakeholders, while quantifying the probability ofdamage can only happen indirectly, for example through quality indicators like thecomplexity of the software itself, the quality of the documentation etc. When havingderived quantitative values both for the amount of damage and the probability ofdamage, the priority of the test cases can be determined by using a risk matrix.Furthermore, these values can also be used for metrics.An extension of Risk-Based Testing is Risk and Requirement-Based Testing, whereproduct risks are linked to the requirements against which the software is tested in orderto gain an overview if the lists of requirements and risks defined for the software arecomplete.