Development of a Mathematical Model for the Software Defect Rework Process to Optimize Defect Rework—A Six-Sigma Case Study

Abstract

The software development industry spends a staggering amount of resources on reworking the defects. The SMEs have limited resources; therefore, such enterprises look for cost-effective solutions. Past Six-Sigma studies in the software domain are limited to reducing defect generation opportunities. There is limited research that has dealt with the longer rework time and high cost during the rework phase. This work has attempted to fill into this niche by developing a mathematical model of defect rework-phase. This model is integrated with the DMAIC framework of Six-Sigma to formulate the defect rework process as a multi-objective problem between rework time and cost. Genetic algorithm was applied to obtain the non-dominated optimal solution. The proposed solution reduced the rework time by 31% at an optimum cost.