Overview
Metrics are how software quality can be measured, managed, improved, etc. They provide the visibility you need into the product or process you follow. You may use different metrics for different purposes. Some examples of Testing metrics are the number of defects found, the number of test cases written, etc.
Defect Metrics
A metric quantitatively measures how much a system or process has a specific attribute. It provides a quantitative approach to measuring the quality and effectiveness of software development and testing.
We can use many metrics to track the project’s progress and measure the quality. Every project should be measured for its schedule, cost, effort, and quality.
Defect metrics are included for defect triage. We will look at some of the defect metrics. Each metric has a different purpose.
- Defect Density
- Defect Removal Efficiency
Defect Density
The number of defects per KLOC or 1,000 lines of code. It is the ratio of the number of defects found vs. the total number of lines of code. This metric indicates the quality of the application under test.
Defect Density =
For example, if a module has 2000 LOC. If 4 defects are uncovered during the testing of the module. The defect density is :
The defect density of the module =
= 2
Note that = 2000 LOC = 2 KLOC.
Defect Removal Efficiency
This metric indicates the efficiency of defect removal methods used in the organization. It is the ratio of the number of defects removed per time unit. ( man hours or weeks ) . The total effort required for defect detection, resolution time, and retesting time of the defects removed.
Defect Removal Efficiency =
Benefits of Metrics
Some of the benefits of calculating metrics in a project are as follows:
- Monitoring and improving the current process can be achieved by tracking metrics.
- Metrics enhance product and service quality, leading to greater customer satisfaction.
- Monitoring different metric trends can help identify when a process is out of control.