14.8 & 14.9 Software

Welcome back! If we get moving and finish the last two topics in ICT 5, we will have a little more time to tweak and finalise ICT6. As Fatmax says, this is a pretty short topic, particularly if we consider that the second point (in the key points below) is largely ‘Software Evaluation’ covered in 14.2. Practically all of this topic is covered elsewhere in the specification as well. 

• Understand that there are different ways of providing software solutions to specialist applications, e.g. user written,  internal development team/department, external software house to specification.
•  Describe the possible criteria for selection of software solutions to specialist applications and the place within the corporate strategy.

Nevertheless, North Chadderton has a good set of notes, with some older exam questions at the end. Please find more up to date ones from the AQA website when revising this section.

On the topic of Software Reliability, which is really all about testing software – AQA expects that you cover the following:

• Describe methods of ensuring that software is reliable: α testing, β testing, agreements between software houses and purchaser for testing.
• Understand the reasons why fully-tested software may fail to operate successfully when implemented as part of an information technology system.
• Understand the need for maintenance release(s)

Again, good notes are available from North Chadderton – but please use other resources, including current past exam papers on the AQA website to refine this section.