But here is the immediate truth: While we will discuss how to legally obtain the official ISO/IEC 25010 PDF, this article serves a greater purpose. We will break down the entire standard—every characteristic, sub-characteristic, and practical application. By the end, you won’t just have a file on your hard drive; you will understand how to implement the ISO/IEC 25010 quality model in your real-world projects.
: Measures the impact of the software on the end-user in specific contexts.
Tailor the nine characteristics to your project. A web app needs high usability; a medical device needs high safety and reliability.
: How easily can users achieve their goals with satisfaction? Reliability : Does it maintain its performance level over time? : How well does it protect information and data? Maintainability : How easy is it to modify or improve? Portability
At its core, ISO/IEC 25010 defines a structured set of quality characteristics for software products, grouped into two models:
The degree to which a software product mitigates potential risks to economic status, human life, health, or the environment.
| Feature | ISO/IEC 25010:2011 (First Edition) | ISO/IEC 25010:2023 (Second Edition) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Two distinct models: a product quality model (8 characteristics) and a quality in use model (5 characteristics). | One unified product quality model (9 characteristics). Quality in use is a broader concept reliant on product quality. | | Core Characteristics | 8 characteristics : Functional Suitability, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Usability, Security, Compatibility, Maintainability, Portability. | 9 characteristics : Adds "Security" as a full characteristic. | | Modularity | Less emphasis on the relationship with other SQuaRE standards for measurement. | Explicitly distinguishes between the "what" (quality characteristics) and the "how" (measurement, detailed in ISO/IEC 25023). | | Guidance & Examples | General guidance on application. | Significantly expanded. Includes an Annex C with detailed guidance on usage for measurement, plus a new Annex D providing an application example , such as applying the model to the cybersecurity of an EVSE charging station . | | Terminology | Terms defined for both models. | Focuses on product quality terms, aligning more closely with modern development contexts. | | Document Length | 34 pages . | 22 pages , reflecting a more concise presentation. | | Status | Withdrawn as of the publication of the 2023 edition. | Current and Active . |
During the sprint planning or product backlog grooming phase, product owners can utilize the 8 characteristics to define "Definition of Done" (DoD) criteria. For example, instead of a user story simply reading, "As a user, I want to checkout faster," the standard refines this into specific (Time Behavior) and Security (Confidentiality) metrics. Automated Testing Matrices
: Categorizes software attributes into nine main characteristics as of the 2023 update: Functional Suitability : Meeting stated and implied needs. Performance Efficiency : Resource utilization and timing. Compatibility : Sharing environments and exchanging info. Usability : Ease of use and learning. Reliability : Consistency under specified conditions. Security : Protection of information and data. Maintainability : Ease of modification or repair. Portability : Flexibility to move across environments.
The 2023 edition is a significant evolution from the original 2011 version. Here are the most important changes:
Modularity: Composed of discrete components such that a change to one has minimal impact on others. Reusability: Asset can be used in more than one system.
Analyzability: Ease of assessing the impact of an intended change or diagnosing deficiencies.