Software Reliability Expert
The founder of Softrel, LLC is an internationally recognized software reliability expert. Ann Marie Neufelder performs software reliability predictions, assessments, SFMEAs or SFTAs as needed and to the level of detail that your project or contract requires:
- - Experienced working with both vendors and customers- procurement and development
- - Will review deliverables from your vendors and subcontractors
- - Will prepare and review deliverables to your customers
- - Available for short term or periodic effort
- - Typically more cost effective than hiring a full time employee for SRE
Professional Experience
Softrel,LLC - Owner, May 1992 to present. I started this company to provide hands on R&D services and products in software reliability prediction, software reliability benchmarking, software reliability assessment, Software Failure Modes Effects Analysis (SFMEA), software fault trees, software lifecycle cost management, software testing and software engineering management.
- Chairperson of the IEEE 1633 Recommended Practices for Software Reliability, 2016
- For more than 25 years I have been data mining software reliability practices in industry. My study currently includes practices from 100+ companies in space, semiconductor, defense, aerospace, medical devices and other industries.
- I have mathematically correlated more than 600 development characteristics to defect density. I have also correlated these characteristics to the probability of a late software delivery. This ongoing benchmarking allows me to know what works and what does not when it comes to software development practices.
- I have automated the above into a commercially deployed software package - Frestimate.
- I provide consulting and implementation of methods for improving the reliability of software within the constraints of cost and schedule. These methods include software defect and reliability predictions, metrics,scheduling, and software sensitviity analysis for planning reliability growth, test and maintenance staff.
- I have benchmarked software reliability over the decades and have measured the improvements my clients have made during and after employment of my services.
- I am a published author on the subject including an IEEE Recommended Practices, 2 books, 2 military guidebooks, and industry guidebook and numerous papers.
Major accomplishments
- Recipient of the EEE RS Lifetime Achievement Award in January, 2017
- United States patent - PStiMate, 1993 patent number #5,473,741 - Method for Determining the Time To Perform Raster Image Processing (RIP). I developed this software design and code jointly with a client.
- Patent pending for "A method to predict the number of defects in a software program prior to development or execution of that program"
- Co-Authored 4 industry standards on software reliability.
- Published "Ensuring Software Reliability" for Marcel Dekker Incorporated.
- Published "Effective Applications of Software Failure Modes Effects Analysis" for Quanterion Solutions.
- Chairperson of the IEEE 1633 Recommended Practices for Reliable Software Working Group
Previous Industry experience as Ann Marie Leone
- Baltimore, MD. November 1986 - April 1991. Westinghouse Defense Center - Senior Software Engineer responsible for development of avionics and electronic warfare software systems.
- Atlanta, GA. April 1984 - November 1986. Unisys Corporation. Product Assurance Engineer responsible for quality assurance, integration and test of financial systems.
- Atlanta, GA May 1983 - April 1984. Computer Sciences Corporation. Associate Engineer responsible for reliability, availability, maintainability of mass transit systems.
Education
- Georgia Tech, Bachelors of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 1983.
Patents
- PStiMate, 1993 patent number 5,473,741- Method for Determining the Time To Perform Raster Image Processing (RIP) Defects In A Computer Program
Computer Skills
- Development environments/COMs - C,C++,C#, Visual Basic 2013 and Visual Basic .Net, ASP, ASP.net, ADO.net, XSLT, XML, HTML, FORTRAN, Crystal reports
- Operating Systems - Windows, Mac, Unix, OS/2.
- Other - Postscript; Computer Automated Software Engineering tools such as Visual Test; PC-Metric;Code Analyzers and Formaters.
- Data mining environments - SPSS Clementine.