Quality Models in Software Engineering Literature: An Analytical and Comparative Study

The quality of the software is critical and essential in different types of organizations. In some types of software, poor quality of the software product in sensitive systems (such as: real-time systems, control systems, etc.) may lead to loss of human life, permanent injury, mission failure, or financial loss. In software engineering literature, there are a number of quality models in which they contain a number of quality characteristics (or factors, as called in some models). These quality characteristics could be used to reflect the quality of the software product from the view of that characteristic. Selecting which one of the quality models to use is a real challenge. In this paper, we will discuss the contents of the following quality models: McCall’s quality model, Boehm’s quality model, Dromey's quality model, FURPS quality model and ISO 9126 quality model. In addition, we will focus on a comparison between these quality models, and find the key differences between them. [Journal of American Science 2010; 6(3):166-175]. (ISSN: 1545-1003).