Quality aspects of software product supply and support using the Internet

Abstract

This project explores the use of the Internet to supply and support software products within a quality management system. The Software Engineering Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at the University of the Witwatersrand is in the process of developing various software products that will be commercially distributed in the near future. The SEAL has chosen to use the Internet to supply and support these products. A system has been developed for this task and has been named the Internet System for the Supply and Support of Software (IS4). The SEAL is committed to developing and supplying software within a quality management system. Consequently an investigation was undertaken into the quality characteristics and requirements based on the ISO 9001 standard for quality assurance and the ISO/lEC JTG1/SC7 software engineering standards. The investigation focused on quality requirements for processes related to supplying and supporting software as well as on the quality characteristics of the IS4 and the IS4 development process. These quality concerns have been incorporated into the SEAL's quality management system, the design and development of the IS4 and the development process for SEAL products. Major technical issues that have influenced the design of the IS4 have been the control of the supply and licensing of the supplied products and the transaction processing of the on-line sales. To control the supply and licenSing of the supplied products, various issues such as unlock keys, Internet based registration, controlled access and hardware control have been investigated. The advantages and disadvantages of each have been investigated and a suitable lmplernentat'on has been used in the IS4. To process the on-line transactions the IS4 will be developed to be compliant with the recently released 'Secure Electronic Transactions' (SET) standard. The project has been managed in accordance with the SEAL's Quality Management System (QMS) which is ISO 9001 compliant. The system contains a Shopper Interface for purchasing of SEAL products and a Manager Interface for administration of the system. The Microsoft BackOffice® set of software has formed the foundation on which the system has been developed. One of the focuses of the project was maintainability of the IS4. Documentation and procedures have been developed to aid in administration and perfective maintenance in the future.