Setting maintenance quality objectives and prioritizing maintenance work by using quality metrics

Metrics that are collected and validated during development can be used during maintenance to control quality and prioritize maintenance work. Validity criteria are defined mathematically. The approach is based on validating selected metrics against related quality factors during development and using the validated metrics during maintenance to: establish initial quality objectives and quality control criteria and prioritize software components (e.g., module) and allocate resources to maintain them. The author illustrates both a case of passing a validation test (discriminative power) and failing a validation test (tracking).<>