Software quality modeling experiences at an oil company

The concept of “software quality” is often hard to capture for an organization. Quality models aim at making the concept more operational by refining the “quality” of software development products and processes into sub-concepts down to the level of concrete metrics and indicators. In practice, it is difficult for an organization to come up with a reliable quality model because quality depends on numerous organizational context factors, and the model as well as the metrics and indicators need to be tailored to the specifics of the organization. This paper presents experiences in developing customtailored quality models for an organization, exemplified by Ecopetrol, a Colombian oil and gas company. The general approach taken is illustrated and excerpts from the initial model are presented.