Solving the next release problem by means of the fuzzy logic inference system with respect to the competitive market

ABSTRACT

A number of software programms are developed in several releases. Before developing any new release, a set of requirements is suggested for inclusion in the release. Having multiple constraints, it is impossible to develop all the requirements proposed in the next release. The presence of competing companies, replication of product ideas, shortening of the development time and lack of project funding will reduce the cost of developing a release. Developer teams should select a subset of the proposed requirements for development that would provide their clients with the highest amount of satisfaction despite the deadline limitations or cost constraints. The existence of conflicting goals and other constraints makes this choice very complicated. In this paper, an algorithm is introduced which is based on a fuzzy inference system to determine the suitability of each requirement for development in the next release. The proposed algorithm, rather than the developer team, takes the responsibility to select the optimal subset of requirements for the development of the next release. Experimental results of the proposed algorithm are then compared with the results of the genetic algorithm. The subset selected by the proposed algorithm provides much more satisfaction than the genetic algorithm.

KEYWORDS:

• Software requirements
• Next release problem
• Fuzzy Logic
• Fuzzy Inference System
• Competitive Market

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the associate editor for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.