Software Characteristics
Software Characteristics Definition
This is what we refer to as our Heath Factors (Robustness, Performance, Security, Changeability, and Transferability) and Size. CAST AIP measures the 5 standardized CISQ Software Characteristics: Robustness, Security, Efficiency (CAST AIP Performance), Maintainability (CAST AIP Changeability & Transferability), and Size.
Defining Characteristics of Software & Application Health Factors
The factors used to improve application development bring visibility into what the teams are delivering, and into the health and future ability of your applications.
These health factors are:
The factors used to improve application development bring visibility into what the teams are delivering, and into the health and future ability of your applications.
| Health factor | Description | Business Value |
|---|---|---|
| Transferability | Determines how easily a new team or team member can become productive when assigned to work on the application | Increase in transferability helps to prevent
resource lock-in
- Between internal resources - Between outsourcers Help in moving from the outsourcer to internal teams or from internal teams to the outsourcer |
| Changeability | Determines how easily and quickly an application can be modified | Increase in changeability will speed time-to-market providing the information needed to make deliveries more predictable |
| Robustness | Determines the risk of failures or defects that can result by changing an application | Increase in robustness will reduce risk of application failure or added defects when modifying an application |
| Performance | Determines the risk of performance issues of an application based on architectural designs | Increased performance ratings will reduce the risk of application performance issues once an application is deployed |
| Security | Determines the risk of security breaches for an application | Increased security ratings decrease the risk of security threats against the application |
| Maintainability Index | Determines the cost and difficulty/ease to maintain an application in the future | Increased maintainability index makes applications cheaper to maintain with more predictable results |
| Technical Size | Determines the technical size of the software as seen by its developers,its testers or its integrators (as opposed to its users). It is measured through Lines of Code, Number of Programs, Number of Forms, Number of Classes, Number of Function Points, Methods ... | Correlated with person-day information, and combined with other metrics, it is used not only to assess the amount of work produced by internal or outsourced teams but most importantly their productivity |
| Functional Weight | Determines the size of an application from the user stand-point. It estimates the number of “features” provided to the users. It is based on Lines of Code and/or on the application architecture related measures and application statistical metrics | This is yet another way to measure the productivity of an internal or outsourced team (combined with person-day information) |