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Data Volume as a Quality Indicator

publish date: 2026/06/24 21:11:0.878235 UTC

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Why does the volume of data processed by a legacy system serve as a useful indicator for assessing its quality?

As data volume increases over time, inconsistencies and errors in that data tend to increase, and cleaning up old data is expensive and time-consuming

Systems with more data are automatically easier to replace than those with less data

Higher data volume always means the system was built using better software engineering practices

Data volume has no relationship whatsoever to system quality or maintenance cost

Correct Answer

As data volume increases over time, inconsistencies and errors in that data tend to increase, and cleaning up old data is expensive and time-consuming

Explanation

As the volume of data processed by a system increases over a long period of time, inconsistencies and errors in that data become inevitable. Cleaning up old, accumulated data is a very expensive and time-consuming process, making data volume a relevant factor in assessing overall system quality and maintenance cost.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 10th edition

Quizzes you can take where this question appears

Legacy System Assessment - Environment and Application Quality