ISO/IEC 25010:2011

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 25010
First edition
2011-03-01
Systems and software engineering —
Systems and software Quality
Requirements and Evaluation
(SQuaRE) — System and software quality
models
Ingénierie des systèmes et du logiciel — Exigences de qualité et
évaluation des systèmes et du logiciel (SQuaRE) — Modèles de qualité
du système et du logiciel
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2011
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ii © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope.1
2 Conformance .2
3 Quality model framework.2
3.1 Quality models.2
3.2 Quality in use model .3
3.3 Product quality model.3
3.4 Targets of the quality models .4
3.5 Using a quality model .5
3.6 Quality from different stakeholder perspectives .5
3.7 Relationship between the models .7
4 Terms and definitions .8
4.1 Quality in use model .8
4.2 Product quality model.10
4.3 General .16
4.4 Terms and definitions from ISO/IEC 25000.18
Annex A (informative) Comparison with the quality model in ISO/IEC 9126-1.21
Annex B (informative) Example of mapping to dependability.24
Annex C (informative) Using the quality model for measurement.26
Bibliography.33

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 25010 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
This first edition of ISO/IEC 25010 cancels and replaces ISO/IEC 9126-1:2001, which has been technically
revised.
ISO/IEC 25010 is a part of the SQuaRE series of International Standards, which consists of the following
divisions:
• Quality Management Division (ISO/IEC 2500n),
• Quality Model Division (ISO/IEC 2501n),
• Quality Measurement Division (ISO/IEC 2502n),
• Quality Requirements Division (ISO/IEC 2503n),
• Quality Evaluation Division (ISO/IEC 2504n),
• SQuaRE Extension Division (ISO/IEC 25050 – ISO/IEC 25099).
iv © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

Introduction
Software products and software-intensive computer systems are increasingly used to perform a wide variety
of business and personal functions. Realization of goals and objectives for personal satisfaction, business
success and/or human safety relies on high-quality software and systems. High-quality software products and
software-intensive computer systems are essential to provide value, and avoid potential negative
consequences, for the stakeholders.
Software products and software-intensive computer systems have many stakeholders including those who
develop, acquire, use, or who are customers of businesses using software-intensive computer systems.
Comprehensive specification and evaluation of the quality of software and software-intensive computer
systems is a key factor in ensuring value to stakeholders. This can be achieved by defining the necessary and
desired quality characteristics associated with the stakeholders' goals and objectives for the system. This
includes quality characteristics related to the software system and data as well as the impact the system has
on its stakeholders. It is important that the quality characteristics are specified, measured, and evaluated
whenever possible using validated or widely accepted measures and measurement methods. The quality
models in this International Standard can be used to identify relevant quality characteristics that can be further
used to establish requirements, their criteria for satisfaction and the corresponding measures.
This International Standard is derived from ISO/IEC 9126:1991, Software engineering — Product quality,
which was developed to support these needs. It defined six quality characteristics and described a software
product evaluation process model.
ISO/IEC 9126:1991 was replaced by two related multipart standards: ISO/IEC 9126, Software engineering —
Product quality and ISO/IEC 14598, Software engineering — Product evaluation.
This International Standard revises ISO/IEC 9126-1:2001, and incorporates the same software quality
characteristics with some amendments.
• The scope of the quality models has been extended to include computer systems, and quality in use from
a system perspective.
• Context coverage has been added as a quality in use characteristic, with subcharacteristics context
completeness and flexibility.
• Security has been added as a characteristic, rather than a subcharacteristic of functionality, with
subcharacteristics confidentiality, integrity, non-repudiation, accountability and authenticity.
• Compatibility (including interoperability and co-existence) has been added as a characteristic.
• The following subcharacteristics have been added: functional completeness, capacity, user error
protection, accessibility, availability, modularity and reusability.
• The compliance subcharacteristics have been removed, as compliance with laws and regulations is part of
overall system requirements, rather than specifically part of quality.
• The internal and external quality models have been combined as the product quality model.
• When appropriate, generic definitions have been adopted, rather than using software-specific definitions.
• Several characteristics and subcharacteristics have been given more accurate names.
Full details of the changes are in Annex A.
This International Standard is intended to be used in conjunction with the other parts of the SQuaRE series of
International Standards (ISO/IEC 25000 to ISO/IEC 25099), and with ISO/IEC 14598 until superseded by the
ISO/IEC 2504n series of International Standards.
© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved v

Figure 1 (adapted from ISO/IEC 25000) illustrates the organization of the SQuaRE series representing
families of standards, further called divisions.

Figure 1 — Organization of SQuaRE series of International Standards
The divisions within the SQuaRE series are:
• ISO/IEC 2500n - Quality Management Division. The International Standards that form this division
define all common models, terms and definitions further referred to by all other International Standards
from the SQuaRE series. The division also provides requirements and guidance for a supporting function
that is responsible for the management of the requirements, specification and evaluation of software
product quality.
• ISO/IEC 2501n - Quality Model Division. The International Standards that form this division present
detailed quality models for computer systems and software products, quality in use, and data. Practical
guidance on the use of the quality models is also provided.
• ISO/IEC 2502n - Quality Measurement Division. The International Standards that form this division
include a software product quality measurement reference model, mathematical definitions of quality
measures, and practical guidance for their application. Examples are given of internal and external
measures for software quality, and measures for quality in use. Quality Measure Elements (QME) forming
foundations for these measures are defined and presented.
• ISO/IEC 2503n - Quality Requirements Division. The International Standards that form this division help
specify quality requirements, based on quality models and quality measures. These quality requirements
can be used in the process of quality requirements elicitation for a software product to be developed or as
input for an evaluation process.
• ISO/IEC 2504n - Quality Evaluation Division. The International Standards that form this division provide
requirements, recommendations and guidelines for software product evaluation, whether performed by
evaluators, acquirers or developers. The support for documenting a measure as an Evaluation Module is
also present.
vi © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

• ISO/IEC 25050 – 25099 SQuaRE Extension Division. These International Standards currently include
requirements for quality of Commercial Off-The-Shelf software and Common Industry Formats for usability
reports.
The quality models in this International Standard can be used in conjunction with ISO/IEC 12207 and
ISO/IEC 15288, particularly the processes associated with requirements definition, verification and validation
with a specific focus on the specification and evaluation of quality requirements. ISO/IEC 25030 describes
how the quality models can be used for software quality requirements, and ISO/IEC 25040 describes how the
quality models can be used for the software quality evaluation process.
This International Standard can also be used in conjunction with ISO/IEC 15504 (which is concerned with
software process assessment) to provide:
• a framework for software product quality definition in the customer-supplier process;
• support for review, verification and validation, and a framework for quantitative quality evaluation, in the
support process;
• support for setting organizational quality goals in the management process.
This International Standard can be used in conjunction with ISO 9001 (which is concerned with quality
assurance processes) to provide:
• support for setting quality goals;
• support for design review, verification and validation.

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved vii
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