A Quality Model for Spreadsheets

In this paper we present a quality model for spreadsheets based on the ISO/IEC 9126 standard that defines a generic quality model for software. To each of the software characteristics defined in the ISO/IEC 9126, we associate an equivalent spreadsheet characteristic. Then, we propose a set of spreadsheet specific metrics to assess the quality of a spreadsheet in each of the defined characteristics. To obtain the normal distribution of expected values for a spreadsheet in each of the proposed metrics, we have executed them in the widely used EUSES spreadsheet corpus. Then, we quantify each characteristic of our quality model after computing the values of our metrics, and we define quality scores for the different ranges of values. Finally, to automate the quality assessment of a given spreadsheet, according to our quality model, we have integrated the computation of the metrics it includes in both a batch and a web-based tool.

[1]  Diomidis Spinellis.  A tale of four kernels , 2008, 2008 ACM/IEEE 30th International Conference on Software Engineering.

[2]  Arie van Deursen,et al.  Measuring Spreadsheet Formula Understandability , 2012, ArXiv.

[3]  Forrest Shull,et al.  Using the ISO/IEC 9126 product quality model to classify defects: A controlled experiment , 2012, EASE.

[4]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  A Small Matter of Programming: Perspectives on End User Computing , 1993 .

[5]  Joost Visser,et al.  Benchmark-Based Aggregation of Metrics to Ratings , 2011, 2011 Joint Conference of the 21st International Workshop on Software Measurement and the 6th International Conference on Software Process and Product Measurement.

[6]  Andrej Bregar.  Complexity Metrics for Spreadsheet Models , 2008, ArXiv.

[7]  Angélica Caro,et al.  A Probabilistic Approach to Web Portal's Data Quality Evaluation , 2007 .

[8]  Joost Visser,et al.  A Practical Model for Measuring Maintainability , 2007, 6th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC 2007).

[9]  Miguel Alexandre Ferreira,et al.  Requirements for Automated Assessment of Spreadsheet Maintainability , 2011, ArXiv.

[10]  Gregg Rothermel,et al.  Testing Homogeneous Spreadsheet Grids with the "What You See Is What You Test" Methodology , 2002, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[11]  Peter Zoeteweij,et al.  A practical evaluation of spectrum-based fault localization , 2009, J. Syst. Softw..

[12]  Hugo Ribeiro,et al.  Towards a Catalog of Spreadsheet Smells , 2012, ICCSA.

[13]  Raymond R. Panko,et al.  Spreadsheet Errors: What We Know. What We Think We Can Do , 2008, ArXiv.

[14]  Martin Erwig,et al.  UCheck: A spreadsheet type checker for end users , 2007, J. Vis. Lang. Comput..

[15]  Gregg Rothermel,et al.  The EUSES spreadsheet corpus: a shared resource for supporting experimentation with spreadsheet dependability mechanisms , 2005, ACM SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes.

[16]  R. Likert.  “Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes, A” , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[17]  Martin Erwig,et al.  Visual specifications of correct spreadsheets , 2005, 2005 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC'05).

[18]  Jácome Cunha,et al.  MDSheet: A framework for model-driven spreadsheet engineering , 2012, 2012 34th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE).

[19]  Miguel Alexandre Ferreira,et al.  Measuring maintainability of spreadsheets in the wild , 2011, 2011 27th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM).

[20]  Martin Erwig,et al.  Header and Unit Inference for Spreadsheets Through Spatial Analyses , 2004, 2004 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages - Human Centric Computing.

[21]  Roland Mittermeir,et al.  Metrics-Based Spreadsheet Visualization: Support for Focused Maintenance , 2008, ArXiv.