Return on investment (ROI)-profit eXpert

Along with the ever more apparent importance and criticality of software systems for modern societies, arises the urgent need to deal efficiently with the quality assurance of these systems. Even though the necessity of investments into software quality should not be underestimated, it seems economically unwise to invest seemingly random amounts of money into quality assurance. The precise prediction of the costs and benefits of various software quality assurance techniques within a particular project allows for economically sound decision-making. This article explains the return on investment rate (ROI) of Software Process Improvement (SPI), and introduces practical metrics and models for the ROI of SPI.