ISO IEC TR 9126-4-2004 PDF

Full title and description

ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004 — Software engineering — Product quality — Part 4: Quality in use metrics. A Technical Report that defines a basic set of quality-in-use metrics used to measure the effects of using a software product in its intended context (effectiveness, productivity, safety and satisfaction), guidance on applying metrics, and an example evaluation process with reporting formats.

Abstract

ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004 provides quality-in-use metrics that correspond to the quality-in-use characteristics defined in ISO/IEC 9126-1. The report presents a non-exhaustive set of candidate metrics for effectiveness, productivity, safety and satisfaction; guidance on selecting and applying metrics during the software lifecycle; and informative annexes describing a quality-in-use evaluation process and a reporting format. The metrics are intended for use by developers, evaluators, quality managers and acquirers to specify requirements, measure product performance in real usage conditions, and support evaluation and improvement activities.

General information

• Status: Withdrawn (superseded by later quality measurement standards).
• Publication date: April 2004.
• Publisher: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) / International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), JTC 1/SC 7.
• ICS / categories: 35.080 (Software engineering).
• Edition / version: Edition 1 (2004).
• Number of pages: 59 pages.

Scope

This Technical Report defines metrics for measuring quality in use of software products — i.e., the degree to which specified users can achieve specified goals with effectiveness, productivity, safety and satisfaction in a specified context of use. It explains how quality-in-use metrics relate to internal and external metrics (parts 2 and 3 of ISO/IEC 9126), gives a basic set of metrics for each quality-in-use characteristic, and provides guidance and examples for applying those metrics during the software product life cycle. The report is informative and non-prescriptive: the metric lists are illustrative and should be validated and adapted to specific application contexts.

Key topics and requirements

• Definition of quality-in-use characteristics: effectiveness, productivity, safety and satisfaction.
• Recommended quality-in-use metrics and measurement concepts (examples for each characteristic rather than an exhaustive set).
• Guidance on selecting, validating and applying metrics in realistic system and user contexts.
• Relationship and mapping between internal, external and quality-in-use metrics to support prediction and evaluation.
• Illustrative example of applying metrics through the software lifecycle (requirements, evaluation, monitoring).
• Informative annexes: a quality-in-use evaluation process and a standard reporting format for results.
• Recommendations to tailor and validate metrics for specific users, tasks and environments before operational use.

Typical use and users

Primary users include software developers, quality assurance and quality-management teams, independent evaluators and procurers/acquirers of software. Typical uses are: specifying measurable quality-in-use requirements; planning and conducting usability and user-centred evaluations; comparing product variants based on user-impact metrics; monitoring deployed software to detect quality regressions in real usage; and mapping internal development metrics to expected user outcomes.

Related standards

ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004 is part of the ISO/IEC 9126 family (parts 1–3 cover the quality model, external and internal metrics). It is related to usability and human-centred standards such as ISO 9241-11, and to software evaluation standards such as ISO/IEC 14598. Functional size and other measurement standards (for example ISO/IEC 14143) are complementary when more precise or domain-specific metrics are required. Note: ISO/IEC 9126 series concepts have been carried forward and revised in the ISO/IEC 25000 series; ISO/IEC 25022:2016 provides a newer definition for quality-in-use measures.

Keywords

quality in use; quality-in-use metrics; ISO/IEC 9126; software quality; effectiveness; productivity; safety; satisfaction; metrics validation; usability evaluation; software measurement; JTC 1/SC 7.

FAQ

Q: What is this standard?

A: ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004 is a Technical Report defining quality-in-use metrics for software products — metrics that quantify how well users can achieve goals when using software in real contexts.

Q: What does it cover?

A: It covers the quality-in-use characteristics (effectiveness, productivity, safety, satisfaction), provides example metrics for each characteristic, explains how to apply and validate metrics, and includes an illustrative evaluation process and reporting format. The metric lists are informative and intended to be adapted to specific contexts.

Q: Who typically uses it?

A: Developers, usability specialists, QA and quality managers, independent evaluators, and software acquirers use it to define requirements, plan and run user-centred evaluations, measure real-world user outcomes, and support procurement and acceptance testing.

Q: Is it current or superseded?

A: ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004 has been withdrawn as part of the reorganization and update of the 9126 series. Its quality-in-use concepts and metrics have been superseded and updated in the ISO/IEC 25000 (SQuaRE) series; ISO/IEC 25022:2016 provides the more recent quality-in-use measurement framework.

Q: Is it part of a series?

A: Yes. It is Part 4 of the ISO/IEC 9126 family (parts 1–3 cover the quality model, external metrics and internal metrics). The 9126 family has subsequently been incorporated into the ISO/IEC 25000 series (SQuaRE).

Q: What are the key keywords?

A: Key terms are quality in use, effectiveness, productivity, safety, satisfaction, metrics, software quality, usability, measurement, validation, and evaluation process.