Systematic Tool Supported Tailoring of Metrics

Documents

Thesis

Slides: Final Presentation Background Success in the software design demands transparency. To allow transparency, projects and pro-cesses must be quantifiable in some form. Metrics are a way to quantify projects and processes. They represent characteristic attributes of the measured entity. In order to conduct the measure, a measure specification must be available. Thus, the measure takes place either manually operat-ed or supported by some tool. Metrics will be used during all phases starting from software design up to quality assurance and estimations. The importance of metrics is reflected in industries best practices. A positive assessment in CMMI Level 3 for instance, requires organizationally wide defined metrics. For example, management level metrics and their measure requirements will most likely be organizationally wide defined. Although these metrics are applied throughout the organization, these metrics need to be adapted or adjusted to fit the specific project conditions. These changed metrics are called variations of the organizational wide metrics whereas the adjustment is called tailoring. Although this is performed in many organizations neither the methodology for the tailoring is understood, nor are sophisti-cated tools being used to assist it.

Assignment The aim of this master thesis is to develop a clear methodology for the tailoring of organizational wide metrics and provide a dedicated tool support. The methodology should include a method for variation point management in metrics. Furthermore it should include a meaningful metaphor regarding derivation from organizationally wide defined metrics to project specific metrics. Possi-ble guides could be the tailoring knowledge from software product line development and OO-Modeling techniques. The tool, that is supporting the tailoring, should be included in the MEDiC environment that is de-veloped at SWC. The development of the tool should focus on the following top level use cases:

Derivation of project specific variations of organizational wide defined metrics
Management of the different varieties of the project specific metrics
It should therefore include the following functionalities:
- Tailoring of organizationally wide defined metrics to project specific must be reasonable implemented, including:.
- Definition of the organizational wide metrics (including their variation points)
- Support of the tailoring
Variation Point Management, including:
- Definition of variation points in metrics
- Documentation of the variation points
- Associations between different varieties of metrics