End-of-year Examinations, 2020 SENG403-20S2 (C)

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Computer Science and Software Engineering For Examiner Use Only

Question Mark
EXAMINATION
End-of-year Examinations, 2020

SENG403-20S2 (C) Software Process and Product Quality

Examination Duration: 120 minutes

Exam Conditions:

Open Book exam: Students may bring in any written or printed materials.

No calculators are permitted.

Materials Permitted in the Exam Venue:

Open Book exam: Students may bring in any written or printed materials.

Materials to be Supplied to Students:

1 x Write-on question paper/answer book.

Instructions to Students:

No form of collaboration is permitted.

Answer all questions. In all answers be sure to provide clear and concise explanations of
your reasoning. No marks will be given for answers not directly relevant to the question.
Answers with illegible handwriting will not be marked. Answer all questions in the given
space below each question.

This item of assessment is worth a total of 100 marks. Check carefully the number of
marks allocated to each question. This suggests the degree of detail required in each
answer, and the amount of time you should spend on the question.

Total ________

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Questions Start on Page 3

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1. [15 marks for the whole question] You created a software process improvement (SPI) proposal for the
SENG302 development process. Considering the information that you gathered and the analysis you
performed, answer the following questions:

a. [1 mark] Based on your findings, what is the maturity level of the SENG302 development process?
Your answer must be based on a recognized and standardized model or assessment framework.
Your answer:

b. [2 marks] State the name and the scales of the model or assessment framework you used for
answering the previous question (1.a).
Your answer:

c. [4 marks] State and explain two reasons why you selected that particular maturity level.
Your answer:

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d. [8 marks] State two goals that would allow the SENG302 team to reach the next maturity level.
Your discussion should follow the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) paradigm. The three GQM
components should be clearly indicated in the answer you provide.
Your answer:

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2. [16 marks for the whole question] ISO/IEC 25010 standard classifies software quality attributes into eight
characteristics, which in turn are decomposed into sub-characteristics. In the following table, determine,
in the Quality Attribute column, which characteristic and sub-characteristic are associated with each
requirement. You should mention each characteristic once, and only one per requirement (i.e., each cell
in column “Quality Attribute” should only include one characteristic and its sub-characteristic, for
example: Security [Integrity]).

Requirement Quality Attribute

[2 marks] TACOS web application will be produced with the availability of assistance
for those with disabilities. This will include, but is not limited to, Alt text for images,
ability to navigate between menu and screens using keyboard only, magnification of
screen, scalable fonts, editable colour schemes (low and high contrast) and other
standard best practices to comply with WCAG 2.1 standards.
[2 marks] The solution must be available 99.9% of the time (3 Nines) excluding planned
outage This applies to the following components: TACOS, API, Unvalidated Data Feeds,
and Validated Data Feeds
[2 marks] The solution must return requested data within 30 seconds. Customer
requests are designed for no more than 31 days of data per request. If more than 31
days of data is requested, the response time will be increased, and a paginated
response is expected.
[2 marks] Defined and consistent delivery mechanism and payload encoding across
the APIs; All API’s will use identical approaches to the following areas:
• Pagination
• Response format
• Parameters
• Field labelling
• Date format.
[2 marks] Invoices will be provided in PDF format with supporting documentation.
Reports may be downloaded in any of the following formats: PDF, Excel, TXT, XML,
RTF and CSV.
[2 marks] All Create, Read, Update or Delete activities within TACOS require an audit
record to be created that captures the following information:
• User ID
• Date/Time
Activity Details that provide enough information to determine the action performed
by the user.
[2 marks] New versions of an API will be published without impact to the functionality
of previous versions of an API.
[2 marks] The application has the following minimum browser requirements:
Supported browser:
• Internet Explorer 11
• Microsoft Edge
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox.

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3. [20 marks for the whole question] You are in charge of improving the business process of a large IT
company, KripIT. The CEO of the company has given you a process map that models their incident
management process. This is shown below.

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a. [7 marks] Based on the process map above, determine if the following statements are true, false
or if the provided information is insufficient to know.
Your answer:

The process is defined for two types of customers: VIP and regular ones. _________

The Software developer participation is triggered by the 2nd level support agent. _________

Regardless of whether the issue is solved right now or in the next release, the VIP
customer always receives an explanation of the solution. _________

Every time the process is executed, only one of these events will occur: “Examine
problem” or “Insert into product backlog”. _________

If the Software developer requires a better description of the problem, they are able
to request more information from the VIP customer. _________

KripIT has a 24/7 support agents team. _________

The Software developer is in charge of inserting the issue into the product backlog. _________

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b. [13 marks] After a detailed analysis of the KripIT process, you have discovered that “Examine
problem” is a very complex task, so you decide to create a new diagram to model this task. Draw
a process map of the “Examine problem” task using the Business Process Model and Notation
(BPMN). Your process map must comply with the BPMN rules and include at least 10 elements
(activities, gateways, events, among others) in total. State and explain any assumptions you
make.
Your answer:

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4. [18 marks for the whole question] NZ COVID Tracer app allows you to create a digital diary of places you
visit by scanning QR codes. Being a responsible citizen, you have been using this app regularly, so you are
familiar with its features. Using the COSMIC FFP measurement method, you were asked to determine the
size of the following functional processes:
• Signing in into the NZ COVID tracer app. You have to provide your phone number and email.
• Completing your details. You have to add your full name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, your
address and National Health Index number (NHI).
• Recording a visit using a QR code.
• Recording a visit manually. It includes the name of the place, arrival date and time, and a
description.
• Viewing your diary (the list of places you have visited).
Include any assumptions you make.

a. [3 marks] Provide a diagram that identifies the relevant software layers and boundaries.
Your answer:

b. [3 marks] List the data groups you have identified.

Your answer:

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c. [10 marks] Provide a list of the functional processes and their associated data movement types.
You may use the COSMIC FFP template provided in Appendix A at the end of this booklet.
Your answer:

d. [1 mark] Provide the total functional size for each type (Entries, Exits, Reads and Writes).
Your answer:

e. [1 mark] Provide the aggregated functional size.

Your answer:

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5. [15 marks for the whole question] According to the IEEE definition of software quality assurance (SQA),
quality control (QC) is not the same as quality assurance (QA). However, several ill-informed professionals
are still confusing the terms. Read the job offer below and answer the following questions.

a. [9 marks] Indicate and explain three reasons why this job offer is conceptually inaccurate if
compared against the IEEE definition of SQA.
Your answer:

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b. [6 marks] Imagine that you are in charge of the IT department of the company above and you
realize that there is a need for a SQA specialist. Rewrite the “What You’ll Do” section to describe
six tasks that the SQA role should perform.
Your answer:

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6. [8 marks for the whole question] You have been elected as the New Zealand ISO/IEC representative. Next
month, you will attend the ISO/IEC Asia-Pacific meeting and have to propose two new quality sub-
characteristics for the ISO/IEC 25010. State the two new sub-characteristics you would like to propose
and write a brief definition for each.

Your answer:

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7. [8 marks for the whole question] Some quality attributes hold strong relationships between them; if you
improve one of them then another one could be affected. This trade-off is a continuous challenge for
developers and SQAs. A common example is Security and Performance Efficiency: the more secure your
application is, the less efficient it will be.
For this question, you have to find two examples of this kind of trade-off and for each of them:
• Mention the quality attributes (or sub-characteristics) that are involved in the trade-off.
• Justify the trade-off by providing two reasons.
• Give one example for each trade-off.
You are not allowed to use the Security – Performance Efficiency trade-off. However, you may refer to
the “moral homework” suggested in class on August 11, 2020.

Your answer:

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You can use this extra page for answering any exam questions that need extra space. State clearly which
question you are answering (print the number of the question).
Your answer to question ___:

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Appendix A. COSMIC FFP template.

NZ COVID Tracer Data groups

TOTAL

Entries

Writes
Reads
Exits
Functional processes

NZ COVID Tracer
totals
End of Examination

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