Substantially all of the activities which constitute elements of a process of experimentation must relate to a new or improved function, performance, reliability, or quality. A process of experimentation is a process to evaluate more than one alternative designed to achieve a result where the means of achieving that result are uncertain at the outset. The essence of the process of experimentation test is that the way in which the Company will achieve its end result is not known at the beginning of the process. At the beginning of the process of experimentation there must be uncertainty about the ability to develop the software application in the scientific or laboratory sense. The process of experimentation test is aimed at eliminating uncertainty about the technical ability to develop the application.
Most software development is inherently a process of experimentation.
Certainly, in e-commerce, when software is truly innovative there are no established roadmaps. Documentation can be in the form of written notes, or comments included in the software source code. The requirement that taxpayers record the results of their scientific experiments is not intended to cause taxpayers to create records that otherwise would not be created. Rather, the recording of results is inherent in a process of experimentation to discover information that is technological in nature. Limiting the availability of the credit to taxpayers who record the results of their scientific experiments is not intended to change taxpayer behavior, but to identify taxpayers who engage in a bona fide process of experimentation and thus may be eligible for the credit.