Measuring Software Process: A Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Measurement is essential to reach predictable performance and high capability processes. It provides support for better understanding, evaluation, management, and control of the development process and project, as well as the resulting product. It also enables organizations to improve and predict its process’s performance, which places organizations in better positions to make appropriate decisions. Objective: This study aims to understand the measurement of the software development process, to identify studies, create a classification scheme based on the identified studies, and then to map such studies into the scheme to answer the research questions. Method: Systematic mapping is the selected research methodology for this study. Results: A total of 462 studies are included and classified into four topics with respect to their focus and into three groups based on the publishing date. Five abstractions and 64 attributes were identified, 25 methods/models and 17 contexts were distinguished. Conclusion: capability and performance were the most measured process attributes, while effort and performance were the most measured project attributes. Goal Question Metric and Capability Maturity Model Integration were the main methods and models used in the studies, whereas agile/lean development and small/medium-size enterprise were the most frequently identified research contexts.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2- RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

Process capability assessments in small development firms

[Abstract}: Assessment-based Software Process Improvement (SPI) programs such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Bootstrap, and SPICE (ISO/IEC 15504) are based on formal frameworks and promote the use of systematic processes and management practices for software development. These approaches identify best practices for the management of software development and when applied, enable organizations to understand, control and improve development processes. The purpose of a SPI assessment is to compare the current processes used in an organization with a list of recommended or ‘best’ practices. This research investigates the adoption of SPI initiatives by four small software development firms. These four firms participated in a process improvement program which was sponsored by Software Engineering Australia (SEA) (Queensland). The assessment method was based on SPICE (ISO/IEC 15504) and included an initial assessment, recommendations, and a follow-up meeting. For each firm, before and after snapshots are provided of the capability as assessed on eight processes. The discussion which follows summarizes the improvements realized and considers the critical success factors relating to SPI adoption for small firms

Literature Review of Software Process Assessment Methodology ISO/IEC 15504

An assessment method with the objective of process improvement adapted to small software company based on the standard ISO/IEC 15504 is being developed. This article describes the design, development, validation and results of a Process Assessment Model for assessing Technological and Business Competencies on Software Development. The model follows the ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) requirements for Process Assessment Models. A prime motivation for developing this standard has been the perceived need for an internationally recognized software process assessment framework that pulls together the existing public and proprietary models and methods. Assessment process has been adapted and refined in order to provide ready support. The methods includes an adapted and enhanced assessment model based on the ISO 15504 exemplar model

Products and prototypes: What’s the difference?

Prototypes are intended to demonstrate or test an idea. Commercial Off-The-Shelf products are intended for ongoing profitable sales. Their quality requirements are different: the former should be as cheap as possible whilst meeting the need for an adequate Proof-of-Concept or Demonstrator; the latter should be fit-for-purpose, cost-effective and an attractive, reliable solution to real world needs. Selling a prototype as a product risks customer dissatisfaction, com-plaints, legal challenges and reputation damage. Often the proto¬type has to be re-written to meet product quality-level expectations. This paper reviews the quality properties required of a product ready for delivery. This follows the ISO/IEC 25010 Quality Model, then adds important missing elements that lie “behind the scenes” in customer support, product management, legal aspects and defensive programming. It draws on a lifetime’s experience working on software products, products containing software and Software as a Service, providing facilities to end users

A software process assessment model and a tool for XP@SCRUM agile method

Text in English; Abstract: EnglishIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88)xi, 91 leavesIn today's fast and competitive world, Agile Methods has become popular by software producers because for their high-speed, flexibility and responding to change quickly. These methods have been criticized as undisciplined way of hacking. However, these methods are disciplined processes that incorporate good engineer and management practices, albeit with extreme implementations tailored to a specific kind of environment. [35] Mark Paulk showed that organizations applying XP can reach CMM Level 2 and Level3. These methods do not have improvement guide and capability determination. There might be differences between the organizations applying these methods. In this thesis, I will propose a software process assessment model and a tool for proposed model. My approach is selecting an assessment model as a guide and selecting an agile method as target method

A model of quality service management for information systems

Tese de mestrado. Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Área de especialização Tecnologias da Informação para Gestão Empresarial). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

An Investigation into quality assurance of the Open Source Software Development model

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThe Open Source Software Development (OSSD) model has launched products in rapid succession and with high quality, without following traditional quality practices of accepted software development models (Raymond 1999). Some OSSD projects challenge established quality assurance approaches, claiming to be successful through partial contrary techniques of standard software development. However, empirical studies of quality assurance practices for Open Source Software (OSS) are rare (Glass 2001). Therefore, further research is required to evaluate the quality assurance processes and methods within the OSSD model. The aim of this research is to improve the understanding of quality assurance practices under the OSSD model. The OSSD model is characterised by a collaborative, distributed development approach with public communication, free participation, free entry to the project for newcomers and unlimited access to the source code. The research examines applied quality assurance practices from a process view rather than from a product view. The research follows ideographic and nomothetic methodologies and adopts an antipositivist epistemological approach. An empirical research of applied quality assurance practices in OSS projects is conducted through the literature research. The survey research method is used to gain empirical evidence about applied practices. The findings are used to validate the theoretical knowledge and to obtain further expertise about practical approaches. The findings contribute to the development of a quality assurance framework for standard OSSD approaches. The result is an appropriate quality model with metrics that the requirements of the OSSD support. An ideographic approach with case studies is used to extend the body of knowledge and to assess the feasibility and applicability of the quality assurance framework. In conclusion, the study provides further understanding of the applied quality assurance processes under the OSSD model and shows how a quality assurance framework can support the development processes with guidelines and measurements

A Life Cycle Software Quality Model Using Bayesian Belief Networks

Software practitioners lack a consistent approach to assessing and predicting quality within their products. This research proposes a software quality model that accounts for the influences of development team skill/experience, process maturity, and problem complexity throughout the software engineering life cycle. The model is structured using Bayesian Belief Networks and, unlike previous efforts, uses widely-accepted software engineering standards and in-use industry techniques to quantify the indicators and measures of software quality. Data from 28 software engineering projects was acquired for this study, and was used for validation and comparison of the presented software quality models. Three Bayesian model structures are explored and the structure with the highest performance in terms of accuracy of fit and predictive validity is reported. In addition, the Bayesian Belief Networks are compared to both Least Squares Regression and Neural Networks in order to identify the technique is best suited to modeling software product quality. The results indicate that Bayesian Belief Networks outperform both Least Squares Regression and Neural Networks in terms of producing modeled software quality variables that fit the distribution of actual software quality values, and in accurately forecasting 25 different indicators of software quality. Between the Bayesian model structures, the simplest structure, which relates software quality variables to their correlated causal factors, was found to be the most effective in modeling software quality. In addition, the results reveal that the collective skill and experience of the development team, over process maturity or problem complexity, has the most significant impact on the quality of software products