On the Evolution of Quality Conceptualization Techniques

We investigate the notion of software product quality from the point of view of its integration into the modeling activities on the same level of abstraction as traditional functional models (a conceptualization of quality). We pay special attention to the evolution of the approaches for obtaining this conceptualization through the history of conceptual modeling, propose their classification according to common attributes and outline their distinguishing features. Based on the proposed classification, we outline a way of establishing an evaluation framework for quality conceptualizations aiming at supporting the choice of a conceptualization solution best suited for the problem at hand.