Coordinator: Sheneui Sloan, California State University, Long Beach, scsloan@ucescsulb.edu

Over the decades, the increasing use of software has enabled construction and deployment of ever more capable computer-based systems. However, managing, controlling, developing, and assessing the development of software-intensive systems are complex and error-prone tasks that are made even more difficult by the lack of meaning ful data on key products and processes. Such data should provide visibility into the health and status of the evolving software system, assist in early identification of current and potential problem areas, and aid in predicting such software system characteristics as reliability, maintainability, cost, and schedule. Additionally, such data are essential to process improvement activities, since they provide a means for quantifying process characteristics and assessing changes - both improvements and degradations - in these characteristics.

To enable software system metrics to provide real data for the purposes mentioned above, comprehensive data collection and analysis methods which treat software as an integral part of a larger system are needed. This presentation introduces a software system metrics approach that has been developed for this purpose. The presentation discusses the utility of the approach, introduces a set of recommended metrics that covers both the system and the software throughout the life cycle, and provides some examples of these in the area of metrics for requirements. Next, key concepts and planning guidelines for metrics programs are highlighted and the relationship of metrics to process improvement is addressed. The presentation concludes by identifying some current topics in metrics and some sources of additional information.

Biography: Rita Costello Creel is an Engineering Specialist in the Software Engineering Subdivision at the Aerospace Corporation, where she supports acquisition and analysis activities for large, software-intensive systems. Prior to joining Aerospace, she worked in the Space and Technology Group at TRW, Inc., where she participated in and led full life-cycle software system development activities for communication and scientific satellite systems. She has a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and Computer Science and a Master's degree in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from California State University, Long Beach.

Biography: Sharon K. Hoting is the Director of the Software Acquisition and Analysis Department at the Aerospace Corporation. She has over 25 years of demonstrated success in software engineering organizations in the development/management/GSE&I of government software-intensive systems, both as a development contractor and as a government advisor. She is knowledgeable in software process, software products and their assessment, and the relationship of software to the systems engineering process and products. As a contractor, she was responsible for the development of proposals, functional management of software engineering personnel, project management of a variety of software development efforts, and technical development of many software systems and tools. She has a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Directions to meeting are available.

Next Meeting:

Date: Friday, April 24, 1998
Topic: The World of CMMs: Can They be Integrated?
Speaker: Rick Hefner, TRW
Coordinator: Debra A. Brodbeck, UC Irvine/IRUS

The Irvine Research Unit in Software wishes to thank its corporate sponsors:

Sustaining:

The Boeing Company * Boeing North American, Inc. * Northrop Grumman Corporation
Raytheon Company * Sun Microsystems Laboratories * TRW

Supporting:

Beckman Instruments * Continuus Software Corporation * FileNet Corporation * Lockheed Martin
Logicon Ultrasystems Space & Engineering Operations * Printronix, Inc.

For further information on SPIN or IRUS,