2nd INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE QUALITY WEEK EUROPE (QWE'98) 9-13 November 1998, Brussels, BELGIUM GUIDED TOUR

HIGHLIGHTS [Back to Top]

The eleven Pre-Conference Tutorials include full day and half-day presentations by world-renowned speakers spread over two days.

Five Keynote Presentations give assessments of current technology, a view of government and industry efforts for Y2K and EURO, and unique perspective on the coming few years.

There is a Special Award Ceremony for Mr. Jim Clarke, winner of the QW'98 Best Paper Award.

And, we have put together a Special Panel Session: The Euro Conversion -- Myth versus Reality! moderated by Mr. Thomas Drake (Coastal Research & Technology, Inc.).

The General Technical Conference offers four parallel tracks of presentations: Technology, Tools & Solutions, Process & Management, and selected Vendor Technical Presentations.

TUTORIALS [Back to Top]

For starters, we have the well-known author and lecturer Dr. Boris Beizer (Analysis, Inc.) An Overview of Testing -- Unit, Integration, System (A1), sure to be an excellent introduction to the software quality field.

From the "before code" phase of the life cycle we have two speakers: Ms. Suzanne Robertson (The Atlantic Systems Guild) Making Requirements Testable (B1) (B2); and, Mrs. Dorothy G. Graham (Grove Consultants) Software Inspection (E1).

Metrics -- the underpinning of any engineering process -- are addressed by two speakers: Mr. Thomas Drake (Coastal Research & Technology, Inc.) Measuring Quality in Object-Oriented Software (C2); and, Dr. Linda Rosenberg & Mr. Ted Hammer (GSFC NASA / Unisys) Metrics for Quality Assurance and Risk Assessment (G1).

Modern methods, employing object-oriented and reliability methods, among others, are treated in: Mr. Robert V. Binder (RBSC Corporation) Modal Testing Strategies for Object-Oriented Systems (F1) (F2); and, Dr. Gualtiero Bazzana & Dr. E. Fagnoni (ONION s.r.l.) Testing Internet/Intranet Applications (C1).

Meanwhile, process issues are addressed in: Mr. Martin Pol (GITEK Software N.V.) Test Process Improvement (D1) (D2); and, Dr. John D. Musa (Consultant) More Reliable, Faster, Cheaper Testing with Software Reliability Engineering (G2).

Tools are the key to productivity, and you can learn from the experts with: Mr. Bart Broekman & Mr. Christiaan Hoos (IQUIP Informatica B.V.) Test Automation, Eternal Struggle or Lasting Benefits? (E2); and, Mr. Ed Kit (Software Development Technologies) Automating Software Testing and Reviews (H1) (H2).

Finally, addressing the Conference Theme Issue, there is a sterling presentation by Dr. Boris Beizer (Analysis, Inc.) Testing and Y2K (A2).

KEYNOTE TALKS [Back to Top]

Just how serious the EURO and Y2K problem really is can be learned from these two keynoters' talks: Mr. Malcolm Levitt (Barclays Bank) EMU: The Impact on Firms' Global Operations (K2); and, Mr. David Talbot (ESPIRIT) EC Commission Actions for Y2K and EURO (K4).

How technology can be brought to bear on EURO and Y2K conversion efforts is the subject of the keynotes by: Mrs. Dorothy G. Graham (Grove Consultants) Inspection: Myths and Misconceptions (K3); and, Dr. John D. Musa (Consultant) Applying Operational Profiles to Testing + ISSRE Results Summary (K1).

Lastly, in a futuristically oriented presentation, we hear from Dr. Boris Beizer (Analysis, Inc.) Nostradamus Redux (K5).

TECHNOLOGY TRACK [Back to Top]

Front-end design and development of tests are the subject for four technology papers: Mr. James Clarke (Lucent Technologies) Automated Test Generation From a Behaviorial Model (2T); and, Dr. Matthias Grochtmann & Mr. Joachim Wegener (Daimler-Benz AG) Evolutionary Testing of Temporal Correctness (11T).

Metrics aspects are treated in: Mr. Stacy J. Prowell (Q-Labs, Inc.) Impact of Sequence-Based Specification on Statistical Software Testing (10T); and, Dr. Linda Rosenberg, Mr. Ted Hammer & Ms. L. Hoffman (GSFC NASA / Unisys) Testing Metrics for Requirement Quality (5T).

The application of modern object oriented, path based, and data flow based ideas is seen in: Ms. Brigid Haworth (Bournemouth University) Adequacy Criteria for Object Testing (3T); and, Mr. Bill Bently & Mr. Robert V. Binder (mu-Research / RBSC Corporation) The Dynamic Information Flow Testing of Objects: When Path Testing Meets Object-Oriented Testing (4T).

Meanwhile, overall system data quality is dealt with in: Ms. Martina Marre, Ms. Monica Bobrowski & Mr. Daniel Yankelevich (Universidad de Buenos Aires) A Software Engineering View of Data Quality (12T); and, Mr. Rene Weichselbaum (Frequentis Nachrichtentechnik GesmbH) Software Test Automation (1T).

Long term issues of reliability are addressed by: Dr. Denise Woit & Prof. David Mason (Ryerson Polytechnic University) Component Independence for Software System Reliability (6T).

And, closing the feedback loop -- by analyzing reported defects and/or by trying to predict the number that will be detected -- is the subject of: Mr. Jon Huber (Hewlett Packard) Software Defect Analysis: Real World Testing Implications & A Simple Model for Test Process Defect Analysis (8T); and, Prof. Antonia Bertolino & Ms. E. Marchetti (CNR-IEI) A Simple Model to Predict How Many More Failures Will Appear in Testing (9T).

TOOLS & SOLUTIONS TRACK [Back to Top]

EURO and Y2K issues may become most -- and possibly first -- evident through the WWW, and these two papers provide a basis for thinking about validating Web-based applciations: Mr. Manuel Gonzalez (Hewlett Packard) System Test Server Through the Web (1S); and, Mr. Felix Silva (Hewlett Packard) Product Quality Profiling: A Practical Model to Capture the Experiences of Software Users (3S)

There's no question about it: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! (To be more precise, a milligram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure)! And early-on starts make a difference, as seen in these papers: Mr. Otto Vinter (Consultant) Improved Requirements Engineering Based On Defect Analysis (4S); Mr. Robert J. Poston (AONIX) Making Test Cases from Use Cases Automatically (5S); Mr. Avi Ziv & Dr. Shmuel Ur (IBM Research Lab in Haifa) Off-The-Shelf vs. Custom Made Coverage Models, Which Is The One For You? (6S); and, Mr. Howard Chorney (Process Software Corp.) A Practical Approach to Using Software Metrics (7S).

What about results from the field? Take a close look at these applications papers: Mr. Felix Silva (Hewlett Packard) Product Quality Profiling: A Practical Model to Capture the Experiences of Software Users (3S); and, Dr. Peter Liggesmeyer, Mr. Michael Rettelbach & Mr. Michael Greiner (Siemens AG) Prediction of Project Quality by applying Stochastical Techniques to Metrics based on Accounting Data: An Industrial Case Study (11S).

This thread continues with: Mr. Lionel Briand, Mr. Bernd G. Freimut, Mr. Oliver Laitenberger, Dr. Gunther Ruhe & Ms. Brigitte Klein (Fraunhofer IESE) Quality Assurance Technologies for the EURO Conversion -- Industrial Experience at Allianz Life Assurance (8S); and, Mr. Jakob-Lyng Petersen (ScanRail Consult) An Experience In Automatic Verification for Railway Interlocking Systems (9S).

And, for a refreshingly new approach of how to tackle the problem of managing risk rationally, be sure not to miss: Mr. Tom Gilb (Result Planning Limited) Risk Management Technology: A rich practical toolkit for identifying, documenting, analyzing and coping with project risks (10S)

Finally, from an organization that knows from experience, we hear: Mr. John Corden (CYRANO) Year 2000 -- Hidden Dangers (12S).

PROCESS & MANAGEMENT TRACK [Back to Top]

Well-managed projects surely turn out better, and the importance of taking an enlightened approach to the management side of the issue has never been more important than with the EURO and Y2K question. You shouldn't miss: Mr. Staale Amland (Avenir (UK) Ltd.) Risk Based Testing (4M); and, Mr. Leslie A. Little (Aztek Engineering) Requirements Management -- Simple Tools...Simple Processes (1M).

Even more specific to the EURO and Y2K question are: Mr. Juan Jaliff, Mr. Wolfgang Eixelsberger, Mr. Arne Iversen & Mr. Roland Revesjf (ABB) Making Industrial Plants Y2K-ready: Concept and Experience at ABB (3M); Mr. Graham Titterington (Ovum, Ltd.) A Comparison of the IT Implications of the Y2K and the EURO Issues (10M); and, Mr. L. Daniel Crowley (DENAB Systems) Cost of Quality -- The Bottom Line of Quality (6M).

New and novel methods have their place too, as seen in this pair of papers: Dr. Erik P. VanVeenendaal (Improve Quality Services) Questionnaire Based Usability Testing (7M); and, Mr. Gorka Benguria, Ms. Luisa Escalante, Ms. Elisa Gallo, Ms. Elixabete Ostolaza & Mr. Mikel Vergasa (European Software Institute) Staged Model for SPICE: How to Reduce Time to Market -- TTM (8M).

Enlightened technology transfer is a key to many successful infusions of new methodology, and these papers discuss three important areas: Mr. Mark Buenen (GITek Software n.v.) Introducing Structured Testing in a Dynamic, Low-Mature Organisation (11M); Ms. Elisa Gallo, Mr. Pablo Ferrer, Mr. Mikel Vergasa & Chema Saris (European Software Institute) SW CMM Level2: The Hidden Structure (12M); and, Mr. Antonio Cicu, Mr. Domenico Tappero Merlo, Mr. Francesco Bonelli, Mr. Fabrizio Conicella & Mr. Fabio Valle (QualityLab Consortium/MetriQs) Managing Customer's Requirements in a SME: A Process Improvement Initiative Using a IT-Based Methodology and Tool (9M).