Optimal software release time incorporating fault correction

The "stopping rule" problem which involves determining an optimal release time for a software application at which costs justify the stop test decision has been addressed by several researchers. However, most of these research efforts assume instantaneous fault correction, an assumption that underlies many software reliability growth models, and hence provide optimistic predictions of both the cost at release and the release time. In this paper, we present an economic cost model which takes into consideration explicit fault correction in order to provide realistic predictions of release time and release cost. We also present a methodology to compute the failure rate of the software in the presence of fault correction, which is necessary in order to apply the cost model. We illustrate the utility of the cost model to provide realistic predictions of release time and cost with a case study.