On a cost and availability analysis for software systems via phase type non-homogeneous Poisson process

Abstract

To build highly reliable software products, software testing is required. The software engineer has a problem determining whether to complete the testing process and when to release the software system to the market. As the focus on high software increases, project managers must consider the cost of testing, testing availability time, and release time strategy. This research article utilizes a phase type non-homogeneous Poisson process to investigate the cost analysis and operational availability of a software reliability model. The software failure inter-arrival time is considered to follow a phase type distribution. The phase type software reliability model is valuable in reducing the time and effort required to select the appropriate models for software reliability evaluation. An explicit expression for the expected, bi-criterion cost analysis and operational availability is derived using standard results of the renewal reward theorem. The optimal software release policy T* is obtained analytically. Numerical illustrations and sensitivity analysis have been presented to illustrate the cost and availability analysis’s efficiency and demonstrate conformity with the study’s observations.

KEYWORDS:

• Phase type distribution
• renewal reward theorem
• expected cost
• bi-criterion cost
• availability
• optimal replacement policy T*

2020 Mathematics Subject Classification:

• 60Gxx
• 60Jxx

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Editor and referees for their constructive comments and valuable suggestions, which have improved the original manuscript.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.