OPTIMUM SOFTWARE RELEASE POLICY WITH RANDOM LIFE-CYCLE

A software release problem based on 4 software-reliability growth models (SRGMs) with random lifecycle length is studied. Test of the software system is terminated after time T, and released (sold) to the user at a price. The price of the software system and three cost components are considered and average total profit is used as a criterion. The optimal values of release times are shown to be finite and unique. Hence, the optimal solutions can be obtained numerically by, for example, a bisection method. Numerical example indicates that the optimal releasetime increases as: 1) the error rate in each model decreases, and 2) the difference between the error fixing cost during test phase and that during operational phase increases. The case of unknown model parameters is considered only for Jelinski-Moranda model because a Bayes model is not available for other SRGMs. The release decision depends on testing time; but other stopping rules, for example, based on number of corrected errors, can be considered. © 1990 IEEE