Identifying Software Decays: A System Usage Perspective

Abstract

The value of a software product diminishes due to emerging new requirements and gradual changes in system usage patterns over its lifespan, including other direct or indirect impacts from the surrounding environment. Often new requirements or changes cannot be addressed instantly; therefore, the system becomes less effective with incompatible or unused features, gradually degrading the overall value of its services. We term this as software decay. In this paper, we attempt to discover this decay during earlier stages in the usage cycle; and measure it by quantifying its system value based on the access rates of its prime features that are necessary to perform its due services for the intended users.