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The purpose of this study is to propose a sustainable quality assessment approach (model) for the e-learning systems keeping software perspective under consideration. E-learning is becoming mainstream due to its accessibility, state-of-the-art learning, training ease and cost effectiveness. However, the poor quality of e-learning systems is one of the major causes of several failures reported. Moreover, this arena lacks well-defined quality assessment measures. Hence, it is quite difficult to measure the overall quality of an e-learning system effectively.

A pragmatic mixed-model philosophy was adopted for this study. A systematic literature review was performed to identify existing e-learning quality models and frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with e-learning experts following empirical investigations to identify the crucial quality characteristics of e-learning systems. Various statistical tests like principal component analysis, logistic regression, chi-square and analysis of means were applied to analyze the empirical data. These led to an adequate set of quality indicators that can be used by higher education institutions to assure the quality of e-learning systems.

A sustainable quality assessment model for the information delivery in e-learning systems in software perspective has been proposed by exploring the state-of-the-art quality assessment/evaluation models and frameworks proposed for the e-learning systems. The proposed model can be used to assess and improve the process of information discovery and delivery of e-learning.

The results obtained led to conclude that very limited attention is given to the quality of e-learning tools despite the importance of quality and its effect on e-learning system adoption and promotion. Moreover, the identified models and frameworks do not adequately address quality of e-learning systems from a software perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of an e‐learning software system to ensure its teaching and learning quality, contextual relevance and longer operational life to achieve economies of scale.

A Goal‐Question‐Metric (GQM) paradigm along with the ISO 9126 quality characteristics is proposed to assess performance of an in‐house e‐learning software system in terms of its functionality, usability, efficiency and effectiveness. The e‐learning software system was designed and implemented for teaching staff of developing countries attending the T&L “train the trainer” course at the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC), Manila, Philippines. The data were collected from the participants from 20 countries who attended the program over a period of three years.

The approach was very effective for assessing and evaluating various functions of the web‐based teaching and learning software system and assessing its suitability in teaching and learning, and interaction among the users. The findings were utilized to further improve the management and quality of the training program.

Commitment and participation of stakeholders/users is required to appropriately define the assessment goals, generate underlying questions that define those goals, and identify the metrics that provide answers to those questions. The research has limitations similar to any other questionnaire based subjective data collection method, much relying upon the respondent judgments. Therefore, a sound mechanism for data collection, validation and analysis needs to be employed to ensure internal consistency and accuracy.

Many e‐learning software systems are accessed across the globe and are utilized by a number of institutions simultaneously while crossing over national and geographical boundaries. Therefore, performance assessment based on different ethical and social values and language barriers, to meet the clientele requirements belonging to different social backgrounds, is essential. Also this research provides many guidelines to reduce the customization requirements for different nationalities, and therefore, makes overall implementation of the learning management system more efficient and cost effective.

Due to the generic nature of GQM approach, this framework can be applied to undertake performance assessment of an in‐house built, web‐based teaching and learning system using the selected ISO 9126 quality characteristics to ensure the appropriateness, longevity and sustainability of the learning system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of quality related to the context of software development using the ISO, TickIT and CMM frameworks. The paper also seeks to stress the fact that the different perspectives of those involved in software development will influence how quality is seen and measured. In the context of software engineering projects, quality takes on a broad meaning that refers not only to the way in which companies manage software engineering projects, but also to the software development process itself.

The approach and methodology adopted for this paper were a review of the literature and best practice in software engineering. It is argued that users of software systems are more interested in how easy the software is to use than in the underlying application code that is used to generate the system. Using the body of knowledge that is software quality the basic characteristics of software quality are described and compared in terms of quality standards such as ISO, TickIT and CMM. Each of these standards is decomposed further in order to clarify its usefulness.

The findings in the paper suggest that, whilst there are many differences in the quality standards used, there are a number of similar characteristics. In essence the underlying philosophies of ISO and CMM have at the core the same goals. Some academics see CMM as being technically over‐engineered; a CMM‐compliant quality system is in many respects far in advance of ISO.

This paper helps define the strengths and weaknesses within ISO, TickIT and CMM from a software engineering practitioner perspective.

The paper shows that software engineers need to pay more attention to the performance and conformance issues in software projects and to be proactive rather than reactive to quality issues.

It may be argued that the importance of this paper lies in the assertion that those engaged in the software engineering are in need of a multi‐perspective view on quality and, with that in mind, this paper should appeal to practitioners and members of the academic community with an interest in software quality.

Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) in developing countries require core banking Management Information Systems (MISs) to run their business, serve their clients and provide differentiated products and services to gain competitive advantage. Considering that SACCOs in Kenya lack the necessary resources to acquire the best information systems, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate MISs currently in use in the SACCO subsector to determine how well they are serving.

Using the ISO/IEC 25010 Software Product Quality Model, the quality of MISs operated by 215 Deposit-Taking SACCOs in the Kenya was evaluated to determine their level of performance.

The results indicated that the MISs currently in use by the SACCOs serve them well in terms of functionality, efficiency, reliability, ease of use and portability. However, vendor support, technical training and implementation process are a big concern to the SACCOs.

The SACCOs in Kenya need not look for other MISs as the ones in use satisfied the condition required by the ISO/IEC 25010 Software Product Quality Model. The areas that require attention are vendor support services by entering into contracts technical training and service level agreement; and good project management in software implementation.

The research addresses itself to one of the biggest setbacks faced by a fast growing subsector in adopting ICT with limited capacity and infrastructure.

The paper aims to present a conceptual framework that helps in incorporating sustainability into software projects, highlights the importance of project sustainability and provides an extensive review of recent relevant contributions across various fields.

The authors carried out a systematic bibliographic search on relevant published materials to analyse links between the two disciplines (sustainability and software projects). Furthermore, content analysis was applied to the final selected publications to identify and classify relevant triple bottom line (TBL) aspects to develop the framework.

The inclusion of TBL-related aspects is the most efficient and effective method used to incorporate sustainability into projects. Most of the relevant contributions in the software literature have focussed on either project product or project process or on one or two dimensions of sustainability rather than the three dimensions of the TBL theory. This study contributes by proposing a conceptual framework that encompasses TBL-related aspects for incorporating sustainability into processes and products of software projects.

Validating the proposed framework empirically could be an interesting research issue. In addition, future works may focus on different types of industries, such as information systems, telecommunications and service sectors, which have seldom been studied in the literature.

Software companies – or other relevant organisations – may use the proposed framework as a measurement tool to evaluate the environmental and social impacts of their current products and project management practices. Consequently, these organisations may pay more attention to incorporating sustainability into their project management practices.

The proposed framework may contribute towards a more sustainable orientation by providing a unique combination of TBL-related aspects that gives academics and practitioners a better understanding of how software projects can be managed sustainably.

This paper aims to present a model for the quality assurance of digital educational material that is appropriate for adult education. The proposed model adopts the software quality standard ISO/IEC 9126 and takes into account adult learning theories, Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives and two instructional design models: Kolb’s model (the learning cycle) and Gagne, Briggs and Wager’s model.

The structure of this paper is as follows: in the second section, the theory of “the learning cycle of Kolb” is discussed. The third section discusses the model of Gagne, Biggs & Wager. The fourth section discusses and categorizes the characteristics and sub-characteristics of the quality of digital educational material. The fifth section discusses and categorizes the quality attributes of digital educational material. Moreover, the correlation of the sub-characteristics of the material with the model of Gagne and that of Kolb are examined.

The authors developed a quality model that adopts the structure of ISO/IEC 9126 standard, using basic notions of theories of adult education to define its characteristics and sub-characteristics. The model has been successfully applied in the quality evaluation of educational material distributed to distance learning adult students.

The innovative combination of an established quality model with sound educational theories yields a comprehensive model that allows both a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the appropriateness of digital educational material. The applicability of the model is demonstrated by applying it to specific digital materials specially developed for adult education.

Distance learning has been widely researched the past few years, nevertheless the focus has been more on its technological dimension. Designing, developing and supporting a large scale e‐learning application for Higher Education is still a challenging task in many ways. E‐learning is data‐intensive, user‐driven, and has increasing needs for multiculturalism, efficiency, adaptivity and competiveness. Although the complexity of such systems has increased exponentially, the design process still lacks a systematic quality control procedure. In this work we address the increasing need for new methods that maximize usability, and thus end‐user satisfaction. We analyse the technological, managerial and economic factors that affect the design and deployment of a large e‐learning platform with advanced services and propose a set of new metrics for assessing its quality. The metrics are based on the four external quality characteristics (functionality, usability, efficiency and reliability) of the ISO9126 standard for software systems.

Begins by defining the quality of a software system in terms of its fitness for use, and goes on to outline the idea of dynamic quality management (DQM), which is based on a quality triangle. Describes a strategy of achieving software quality by using the software‐technical dimension and the organizational dimension. To take both dimensions into account, DQM suggests three dimensional links – quality principles, action programmes and measurement schemata. Demonstrates these ideas using a case study of a Swiss bank, and presents selected findings of the study.

Service supplier selection is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem assuming a strategic role for the competitiveness of high-tech manufacturing companies. Nevertheless, especially for service quality evaluation, there is little empirical evidence of the practical usefulness of MCDM methodologies. Aiming to cover this gap between theoretical approaches and empirical applications, the purpose of this paper is to propose a fuzzy extended analytic hierarchy process (FEAHP) approach for service supplier evaluation.

A hybrid approach which combines some of the strengths of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and of the fuzzy set theory is presented, as organized into five steps. A case study is used to evaluate the applicability in a real company context.

The usability of the approach is demonstrated in an aerospace company for solving the supplier selection problem of a business software whose applications are still in infancy: a Test Data Management System (TDMS). The illustrative application contains both “general” criteria to be used for other service supplier selection contexts as well as service-specific criteria related to software selection.

Even if the application regards the selection of a software supplier, the methodology can be generically extended to other services’ selection in complex manufacturing industries through the personalization of some criteria.

Implications can be derived both for business managers involved into the decision-making process and for suppliers identifying the most promising features of software quality.

The originality consists in the combination into a hybrid approach of the strong points of the AHP with the fuzzy set; the inclusion of multiple perspectives of decision criteria for service supplier selection, basically the “software product” and “supplier” ones; a real empirical application to test and demonstrate the efficacy and the practical utility of the proposed approach.

Quality assurance is more than mere compliance with customer requirements. It is to assure that product design, production and performance is soundly rooted in modern technology. This means that production is fully rationalised, costs are minimised, and customer satisfaction is maximised. In this article, we analyse the basic relationship of quality assurance and advancing technology in the creation of competitive products and services. The various impacts of modern technology on traditional inspection and quality control at the individual workplace and quality assurance of software will be included.