ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses system evaluation and explains three significant performance criteria: reliability, productivity, and quality. Technical evaluation deals with the technology and the system design and considers such factors as reliability, productivity, quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. Operational evaluation focuses on such operational elements as system controls, interface design, and security design and considers such factors as integration, flexibility, compatibility, user friendliness, and system efficiency. Reliability is an extremely important performance criterion on most computer-based systems, and explicit reliability targets or requirements are often documented in the requirements specification. Less than acceptable system performance suggests a need for corrective maintenance and/or system enhancement. An evaluation of the causes of system failure can help to improve the reliability of future systems. Quality measures are sometimes implemented late in the system development life cycle, but they should be considered during the analysis stage, and specific quality requirements should be documented in the requirements specification.
