US216

Answer Sheet for Multiple Choice Questions (1-20)

Candidate name: ________________________________________________________________

To indicate your answer, circle the appropriate letter for each question. If you make a mistake, cross out the letter
with a cross (X) and write the letter you want at the end of the row, for example:

Question 1

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Question 14

Question 15

Question 16

Question 17

Question 18

Question 19

Question 20

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Answer sheet for Section A to be provided

Two Hours

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CT210 Software Quality

For candidates taking:

BSc IN COMPUTATION
SECOND YEAR SESSIONAL

BSc IN COMPUTING SCIENCE

SECOND YEAR SESSIONAL

BSc IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

SECOND YEAR SESSIONAL

BSc IN PURE MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTATION

SECOND YEAR SESSIONAL

Friday 21 May 1999

9.30-11.30

Answer all the multiple choice questions in Section A

and one question from Section B
The answer sheet for use with Section A should be handed in at the end of the examination
The use of electronic calculators is NOT permitted

Note: Do not answer more than the required number of questions. Clearly
cross out anything you do not wish to be marked.

PTO
(2)

SECTION A: You must answer ALL questions in this section. Select the correct answer
and mark on the accompanying answer sheet.
1)

2)

Which type of risk factor is most likely to cause problems for a software project developing
a Management Information System?
(a)

Cost overruns

(b)

Requirements creep

(c)

Low productivity

(d)

Cancellation of project

Defect prevention is defined as:

(a)

Finding and fixing errors after insertion

(b)

Finding and fixing errors before release but after insertion

(c)

Finding and fixing errors after release

(d)

Avoiding defect insertion

3)

4)

Product quality is defined as:

(a)

Delivering a product with correct requirements

(b)

Delivering a product using correct development procedures

(c)

Delivering a product which is developed iteratively

(d)

Delivering a product using high quality procedures

Maturity level is defined as:

(a)

The speed at which software can be produced

(b)

A measure of the number of defects in a system

(c)

A set of actions which when performed meet a specific goal

(d)

A well-defined stage which characterises an organisations competence in delivering

software
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(3)

5)

The following diagram shows:

P ro b a b ility

Estimate

Size, Cost, Schedule etc

6)

(a)

An immature software organisation which generally delivers software on-time and

within a reasonable range of its initial estimates

(b)

An immature software organisation which generally fails to deliver software on-time

and within a reasonable range of its initial estimates

(c)

A mature software organisation which generally delivers software on-time and within
a reasonable range of its initial estimates

(d)

A mature software organisation which generally fails to deliver software on-time and
within a reasonable range of its initial estimates

Which maturity level is characterised by:

Basic project management processes established to track cost, schedule and functionality.
Has the necessary process discipline in place to repeat earlier successes on projects with
similar applications.
(a)

Level 2

(b)

Level 3

(c)

Level 4

(d)

Level 5

PTO
(4)
7)

The following House of Quality shows a set of customer requirements for a railway
ticketing system on the vertical axis and a series of system functions along the horizontal
axis.

Standard single/return tickets

Citizen charter refunds
Season tickets

Fare/refund Ticket
cal
cul
atio
n
9
7
5
1
7
7

Travelcards

Auditing
pri
ntin
g

&User
sec
urit
y

Customer
inte
rfac
e

trac
kin
g

3
7
3

1
5
9

0
3
7

Which observation is NOT correct:

(a)

The requirement Standard single/return tickets is the most important customer

requirement

(b)

The system function User interface makes the most significant contribution to the user
requirement Season tickets

(c)

The least amount of system functionality contributes to the user requirement Season
tickets

(d)

The least amount of system functionality contributes to the user requirement Standard
single/return tickets

8)

Using the House of Quality matrix in question 7, which observation is CORRECT:

(a)

The amount of system functionality contributing to the user requirement Standard

single/return tickets is about right

(b)

The amount of system functionality contributing to the user requirement Season

tickets is about right

(c)

The amount of system functionality contributing to the user requirement Travelcards

is about right

(d)

Citizen charter refunds is not a valid user requirement

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(5)
9)

Which type of risk factor is most likely to cause problems for a software project which has
Outsourced development?
(a)

Requirements creep

(b)

Legal expenses

(c)

Hidden errors

(d)

High maintenance costs

10) With respect to software metrics, which statement is NOT true:

(a)

A indirect measure focuses on attributes of a project which can be measured by

examining a process, product or resource

(b)

A direct measure focuses on attributes of a project which can be measured by

examining a process, product or resource

(c)

External attributes are always measured indirectly

(d)

Lines of code is a direct measurement

11) Measures for a project are given as:

Effort: 12
Cost: 24,000
Thousand lines of code: 600k
Defects: 120
What is the productivity of the project?
(a)

0.1

(b)

2000

(c)

(d)

50

PTO
(6)
12) The key process area Organisation Process Focus is about:
(a)

An organisation documenting all its software development procedures in order to

improve its overall process capability

(b)

An organisation taking responsibility for software process activities that improves its
overall process capability

(c)

An organisation examining its software development processes and trying to

streamline them and remove redundant processes

(d)

An organisation trying to improve its overall process capability by introducing a

testing programme

13) With respect to the following IDEF model, which statement is NOT true:
Unnormalised
structure

Remove repeating
fields

1NF structure

A1
Functional dependencies

Define functional
dependencies
A2

Functional
dependencies

Remove
dependencies on
partial key
Sample
data

2NF structure

A3
Remove
dependencies
between non-key
fields
A4

Domain
knowledge

2NF definition

3NF definition

(a)

Unnormalised structure is a data input to process A1

3NF structure

(b)

2NF definition is a mechanism used by process A3

(c)

Functional dependencies is a data input to processes A3 and A4

(d)

2NF structure is a data output from process A3 and a data input to process A4

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14) With respect to the following Role Activity Diagram, which statement is NOT true:
Purchaser
Require goods

Complete requisition

Purchasing Manager

Pass requisition

OK?

No

Yes

Agree change

Identify supplier

Supplier

Agree delivery date

Arrange
finance

Inform
warehouse

Manufacture
goods

Supply goods

(a)

A purchaser agrees change with a purchasing manager

(b)

A delivery date is agreed sometime after a requisition has been passed by a purchaser
and purchasing manager

(c)

Identifying a supplier involves a supplier and purchaser

(d)

Arranging finance and informing a warehouse must occur before goods are supplied

PTO
(8)
15) Intergroup Communication in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is primarily
concerned with:
(a)

Communication between developers and 3rd party supplier

(b)

Communication between the software engineering group and other stakeholders

(including customers)

(c)

Communication between marketing staff and customers

(d)

Communication between customers and alternative supplier

16) Formal Reviews seek to:

(a)

Identify system faults, but not to attribute blame or seek solutions

(b)

Identify system faults, attribute the source of errors, but not seek solutions

(c)

Identify system faults, attribute the source of errors and seek solutions

(d)

Identify system faults, seek solutions, but not to attribute blame

17) Using the following table for function point weightings:

Factors
Number of user inputs
Number of user outputs
Number of user inquiries
Number of files
Number of external interfaces

Simple
3
4
3
7
5

Weights
Average
4
5
4
10
7

A system being developed has the following characteristics:

Number of user inputs
10 (simple)
Number of user outputs
7 (simple)
Number of user inquiries
3 (average)
Number of files
6 (average)
Number of external interfaces 1 (complex)
The function point count for the system is:
(a)

27

Complex
6
7
6
15
10

(b)

31

(c)

58

(d)

140

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18) Which form of software development model is most suited to a system where all the
requirements are known at the start of a project, but not all the resources required to deliver
the project are available:
(a)

Waterfall model

(b)

Incremental model

(c)

Evolutionary model

(d)

Spiral model

19) Which maturity level is characterised by:

A focus on continuous process improvement, including defect prevention, technology
change management and process change management.
(a)

Level 2

(b)

Level 3

(c)

Level 4

(d)

Level 5

PTO
(10)
20) With respect to the following state transition diagram for a software product, which
statement is true:

Null

Completed

Program request

Program OK

Write program

Compilation errors

Under
development

Run-time errors

Rewrite program

Rewrite program

Tested
Program coded
Submit for compilation
Compilation OK
Test program

Compiled

(a)

The product can be completed immediately after being compiled

(b)

While the product is under development it can only next be submitted for compilation

(c)

While the product is being compiled, it can only next be rewritten and under
development

(d)

Once the product has been completed, it can be rewritten

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SECTION B: You must answer one question in this section

21) Answer all parts

(a)

Briefly outline the objectives of the Software Project Planning and the Software
Project Tracking and Oversight key process areas found in level 2 of the CMM
(Capability Maturity Model).
(6 marks)

(b)

Lines of code (LOC) and function point counts (FPC) are two measures of the size of
a system. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using these two metrics for
measuring systems.
(6 marks)

(c)

Produce a critical path network, showing the earliest start times and latest finish times
for each task, using the data in the table below. Write down the sequence of tasks on
the critical path.
Task code

Task name

PLAN
REQ
AGREE
DESIGN
CODE
ID
BUY
INTEG
INFRA
TRAIN
REL

Plan project
Capture requirements
Agree requirements with customer
Design system
Code system
Identify subcontractors
Buy-in subcontractor code
Integrate code and buy-in code
Prepare infrastructure
Train staff
Release system

Duration Starts after completion of task

number(s)
3
8
PLAN
2
REQ
10
AGREE
12
DESIGN
3
DESIGN
5
ID
6
CODE, BUY
7
AGREE
5
INFRA
4
INTEG, TRAIN

(13 marks)

PTO

(12)

22) Answer all parts

(a)

What are the main risk factors which may be encountered in the development of
software?
(8 marks)

(b)

Give a suitable definition of software quality and briefly describe the rationale for
your definition.
(6 marks)

(c)

Why should an organisation be concerned about software risk factors and software
quality?
(11 marks)

23) Answer all parts

(a)

Comment on the statement that Testing does not remove all errors from a software
product, explaining why testing alone is insufficient to ensure product quality.
Explain how the shortcomings of testing alone has lead to the development of the
process quality movement and what are the key issues addressed by this movement.
(10 marks)

(b)

Explain the main factors to be considered when organising a peer review of a software
deliverable.
(8 marks)

(c)

Give a reasoned explanation as to why peer review appears as a level 3 key process
area in the CCM (Capability Maturity Model) and not level 2.
(7 marks)

END OF PAPER