ISO/IEC 25023:2016 defines quality measures for quantitatively evaluating system and software product quality in terms of characteristics and subcharacteristics defined in ISO/IEC 25010 and is intended to be used together with ISO/IEC 25010. It can be used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 2503n and the ISO/IEC 2504n standards or to more generally meet user needs with regard to software product or system quality.
ISO/IEC 25023:2016 contains the following:
- a basic set of quality measures for each characteristic and subcharacteristics;
- an explanation of how to apply software product and system quality measures.
It includes, as informative annexes, considerations for the use of quality measures (Annex A), QMEs used to define product or system quality measures (Annex B), and detailed explanation of measurement types (Annex C).
ISO/IEC 25023:2016 does not assign ranges of values of the measures to rated levels or to grades of compliance because these values are defined based on the nature of the system, product or a part of the product, and depending on factors such as category of the software, integrity level, and users' needs. Some attributes could have a desirable range of values, which does not depend on specific user needs but depends on generic factors; for example, human cognitive factors.
The proposed quality measures are primarily intended to be used for quality assurance and improvement of system and software products during or post the development life cycle process.
The main users of ISO/IEC 25023:2016 are people carrying out quality requirement specification and evaluation activities as part of the following:
- development: including requirements analysis, design specification, coding and testing through acceptance during the life cycle process;
- quality management: systematic examination of the software product or computer system, for example, when evaluating system or software product quality as part of quality assurance, quality control and quality certification;
- supply: a contract with the acquirer for the supply of a system, software product or software service under the terms of a contract, for example, when validating quality at qualification test;
- acquisition: including product selection and acceptance testing, when acquiring or procuring a system, software product or software service from a supplier;
- maintenance: improvement of the software product or system based on quality measurement.