Software Quality Requirements: A Systematic Mapping Study

Software quality requirements (SQR) play a central role in software quality (SQ) success. The importance of mastering SQR can be seen as obvious, however, when it comes to customer satisfaction, end-users are often dissatisfied with SQ. In this paper, a systematic mapping study aims to summarize SQR research by answering nine mapping questions. In total, 51 articles were selected and classified according to multiple criteria: publication source, publication year, research type, research approach, contribution type of SQR literature, requirements engineering activity, well-known SQ model, software artifact and SQR type. The results show an increased interest in SQR research in recent years and reveal that conferences are the main SQR publication target. Most SQR research has used case studies. The dominant contribution type of SQR research is method while specification is the main requirements engineering activity identified. SQ models need to be more used for SQR identification. Design module and requirements documentation are the principal artifacts reported in SQR literature. External and internal SQR were the main SQR types addressed in literature. Identifying empirical solutions to address SQR is a promising research direction for researchers.

I. Introduction

“Although quality is pursued in order to satisfy users, it is important to note that the quality desired by users is not universal but rather subject to constant change.” [1]. Developing a software product that responds to the customers' requirements, and offers high value to both the development company and the customer, increases the likelihood of market success. Therefore, software quality requirements (SQR) play a central role and can be seen as a key competitive advantage [2]. The international research standardization project SQuaRE (Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation) developed the ISO/IEC standard series 250nn for software product quality, evaluated from the users and stakeholder's point of view. The ISO/IEC 25010 standard [3], which has replaced the ISO/IEC 9126–1 [4], defines internal, external quality characteristics and quality in use characteristics. It should be noted that “user requirements and expectations are growing increasingly diverse, and the importance given to each quality characteristic varies with individual users (and stakeholders). In some cases, what is desirable to one user is not so to another” [1].