A Visualization Technique for Metrics-Based Hierarchical Quality Models

Software quality is an impalpable concept, any quality goal set can prove to be elusive at best. A number of quality models have been proposed over the years that have tried to shed light on quality in a more systematic way. Even these quality models could be complex themselves and relationships among the various elements in the model could be tedious and cumbersome. This paper proposes a visualization technique for the metrics-based hierarchical quality model. The proposed technique relies on a proven visualization approach developed for viewing neural network models. It makes use of shapes, colors and line width to portray the relations among elements that simultaneously contribute to the targeted effective quality. An application case study is also presented to demonstrate its use.