Arcadia Papers: ABSTRACT
"A Study in Software Process Capture and Analysis",
by Alexander L. Wolf and David S. Rosenblum in Proceedings of the
Second International Conference on the Software Process (ICSP2),
pages 115-124, Berlin, Germany, February 1993.
Abstract
Process data capture is the activity of obtaining information about an
existing software process. Process analysis is the manipulation of that
information for purposes of problem identification. Capture and analysis
are key elements in any strategy for software process improvement. We have
developed a model of the software process that is based on a notion of events
characterizing identifiable, instantaneous milestones in a process. We have
also developed capture and analysis techniques suited to that model. This
paper reports on a study that was undertaken to gain experience with both the
model and the capture and analysis techniques. In that study, we captured
event data on several actual enactments of the build process of a large,
complex software project within AT&T. We entered the captured event data
into a database and ran several queries against the data. The queries
implement a variety of analyses on the event data by examining relationships
among events, such as dependencies and time intervals. The output of the
queries are statistical data that can be used to guide the design of process
improvements. While the data we collected in the study are incomplete, our
initial results demonstrate the viability of this approach to capture and
analysis.
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Last modified: Mon Feb 27 11:34:25 1995