The process of identifying the kinds of software failures that can occur and then quantifying how likely it is that they will actually occur is…

The process described is the definition of risk management, specifically the initial phases of risk identification and risk analysis. Risk management is a systematic discipline for identifying, analyzing, quantifying, and mitigating risks before they become problems. Identifying potential software failures is risk identification, while quantifying their likelihood of occurrence is a core component of risk analysis. These activities are fundamental to proactively managing potential negative outcomes in a software project.

A. Configuration Management: This process focuses on controlling and managing changes to software artifacts, such as code and documentation, not on identifying potential failures.

B. Contingency Planning: This is a component of risk management that deals with creating a plan for what to do after a risk materializes, not the initial identification and quantification.

D. Process Improvement: This involves analyzing and enhancing the software development lifecycle processes themselves, rather than identifying and managing specific product or project risks.

1. Bourque, P., & Fairley, R. E. (Eds.). (2014). Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK), Version 3.0. IEEE Computer Society. ISO/IEC TR 19759:2015.

Reference: In Chapter 8, "Software Engineering Management," Section 4.2, "Risk Management Process," states that the process begins with "risk identification" (identifying potential risks) and "risk analysis" (evaluating the likelihood and impact of risks). The question directly describes these two activities.

2. Boehm, B. W. (1991). Software Risk Management: Principles and Practices. IEEE Software, 8(1), 32–41.

Reference: On page 34, Figure 1 outlines the major steps in software risk management. The first step, "Risk Assessment," is broken down into "Risk identification," "Risk analysis," and "Risk prioritization," which perfectly aligns with the activities described in the question. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/52.62930)

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare. (2005). 16.355J Software Engineering Concepts, Fall 2005.

Reference: In the lecture notes for "Lecture 5: Risk Management," the process is defined as including "Risk Identification - What can go wrong?" and "Risk Analysis - What is the likelihood and impact of each risk?" This directly supports that the question is describing risk management.