Automatic Collation of Software Inspection Defect Lists

Software inspection is well-known as an e ective means of defect detection. Recent research in inspection has considered the application of tool support, with the intention of further improving inspection e ciency. An expensive component of the inspection process is the group meeting, where individual defect lists are collated into a single master list. Performing this collation automatically could reduce the length of the group meeting, or replace it altogether, thereby reducing the cost of the inspection. This paper describes a means of automatically collating multiple defect lists into a single list, while removing duplicates. An experiment investigating the technique is also described, making use of defects lists generated by subjects in previous controlled experiments. This experiment has determined the parameters within which the system is most useful, and how well it performs. It is believed that factors such as spelling mistakes and inconsistent terminology had an adverse e ect on the outcome.