I would like to make available to CrossTalk readers a tool they can use at no cost. The successful software operation demands superior performance on the factory floor. Many organizations have made commitments to initiatives in SEI CMM, ISO 9000, or Six Sigma in order to deliver superior capability. Each of these initiatives has one thing in common, the practice of software inspections. Experienced software practitioners and managers understand that software development is a process of experimentation involving the continuous discovery of technical information associated with the function, form, and fit of the software product.
Peer reviews are an integral practice in the process of experimentation.
Software inspections are the most rigorous form of peer reviews and an important element in the process of software product verification. The NSQE contains software inspection results collected during 1992-2000 from dozens of organizations that have supplied thousands of core samples to this national database. This database serves as a calibrating benchmark for those wishing to reason about software inspections metrics. A presentation on the NSQE was made at the STC Conference 2000 and a CrossTalk web-article on this appeared in December 1998. The NSQE supplies the initial measurements and metrics needed by an organization to set its expectations.