Assessing the evidence from the use of SPC in monitoring, predicting & improving software quality

During recent years there has been a growing interest and debate in the application of Statistical Process Control for improving the quality of software products. Given the need for clarification about the role of Statistical Process Control in the debate surrounding software quality, we focus in this paper on discussing three of the published case studies of use in software development and maintenance. We find there is a need for greater awareness and analysis of the statistical characteristics of software quality data prior to the use of Statistical Process Control methods. In addition, a more widespread understanding of the inherent limitations of the basic Statistical Process Control methods as well as knowledge of the usable alternatives, needs to be fostered within the software engineering community. Where measurements are limited, the data intensive techniques of Statistical Process Control may not be applicable.