Usable Software and Its Attributes: A Synthesis of Software Quality, European Community Law and Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Strategic managers and IS professionals who are responsible for specifying, acquiring and producing quality software products are not supported by the endless flow of new international standards, legislation and user requirements. In order to clarify the current situation for everybody concerned with software quality, and especially those interested in usability, there is a need for a new review and evaluation of the various strands that contribute to software quality. By way of review this paper recalls the original software quality factors which were defined twenty years ago by McCall et al. and presents a methodical analysis and synthesis of three modern strands which influence these factors. The three strands relate to software quality, statutory obligations and human-computer interaction. All three strands rely on well respected sources which include the European Council Directive on minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment, ISO/DIS 9241-10 (1993) and ISO/FDIS 9000-3 (1997). This synthesis produces a new set of quality factors, and the paper provides a new perspective of software usability by showing that the external quality factors in this new set are the usability attributes of a software product. New attributes like suitability, adaptability, functionality, installability and safety are identified and other attributes like usability and integrity are clarified within the three strands.

Integrated Software Quality Evaluation: A Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Approach

“…Some researchers only considered the total software quality from only one quality, namely maintainability [14], usability [15], and reliability [17]. O. Maryoly, et al gave a detailed analysis on only the quantification of functionality and accuracy [11].…”

“…They tried to evaluate the internal quality, which includes the characteristics -functionality, efficiency, maintainability and portability. I. Heitlager et al emphasized estimating software quality based on maintainability [14] and R. Fitzpatrick et al [15] and M.Bertoa et al [16] have tried to estimate the software quality by mainly emphasizing usability. J. R. Brown has tried to evaluate reliability [17] and O. Maryoly [11] has tried to evaluate functionality.…”

Using Hand Motions in Conceptual Shape Design: Theories, Methods and Tools

“…By reviewing the related literature and legislations, Fitzpatrick and Higgins (1998) have identified a set of usability factors, which have direct impact on the end-user. These factors are suitability, installability, functionability, adaptability, ease-of-use, learnability, interoperability, reliability, safety, security, correctness, and efficiency.…”

Evaluation and Measurement of Software Process Improvement—A Systematic Literature Review

“…Gathering information from customers, on the other hand, can provide insight how the improvement affects the quality of products or services as perceived by their respective users. This can be valuable to assess external quality characteristics, such as integrity, reliability, usability, correctness, efficiency and interoperability [39], which otherwise would be difficult to evaluate. The analysis of the improvement participants' feedback can be valuable if historical data for comparison is not available or if its quality / completeness limits the evaluability of the improvement.…”