A control-theoretic approach to the management of the software system test phase

A quantitative, adaptive process control technique is described using an industrially validated model of the software system test phase (STP) as the concrete target to be controlled. The technique combines the use of parameter correction and Model Predictive Control to overcome the problems induced by modeling errors, parameter estimation errors, and limits on the resources available for productivity improvement.We present an example of the technique applied to data from the execution of the STP of a commercial software development effort at a large software manufacturer. The example shows that the control technique successfully achieves the schedule and quality objectives despite uncertainty in the estimation of the model parameters.