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Case Studies

ODC has numerous published case studies. They offer a window into how the analysis is used to gain insight and make product or process corrections. We list a couple references to help you get started. Our training programs go through several case studies that are not pulished.

Test and Development Process Retrospective​

A Case Study using ODC Triggers, Ram Chillarege and Kothanda Ram Prasad, Proceedings, IEEE International Performance and Dependability Symposium, IPDS Washington DC June 2002. Full Text

This retrospective was peformed on identify the probable cause for the degree of blockage in test experienced by a startup company. It also illustrates how product stabilization could be seen in the data.

IBM Journal Paper​

Improving software testing via ODC: Three case studies, Bucher, Munro & Kratchmer, IBM Systems Journal, Vol 41, No 1, 2002.

  • "The first case study is a high-quality product with a goal of decreasing customer-reported defects in order to increase customer satisfaction while decreasing warranty costs."
  • "The second case study used defects found in function test and system test to improve their effectiveness."
  • "The third case study illustrates how a small team with few resources can benefit by identifying specific weaknesses in testing"

Training Case Study 29​

One of the unique abilites of ODC is not only identify cause --> effect, but build a model to simulate a trace back of Effect to Cause. We call this round-tripping. Once as particular consequence is root-cause-analzed to process causes, we can simulate "what-if-scenarios". For instance, explore what if we chose to enhance specific skills in this team? Would it make much difference to the end product? The figure below shows the round-tripping and how the simulations run.