A checklist for the evaluation of software process line approaches

Abstract

A Software Process Line (SPrL) can help organisations to construct bespoke software development processes for specific project situations by reusing core assets. However, as there are diverse approaches for SPrL Engineering (SPrLE), this necessitates proper assistance to organisations in selecting the SPrL approach best suited to their needs. This paper aims to identify an evaluation checklist that can be used for evaluating SPrLs. The checklist was constructed in five stages: first, relevant aspects for managing process variability in the context of SPrLs were identified; based on these, research questions were then formed in the second stage. In the third stage, to answer the research questions, a literature review was conducted that focused on analysing 39 primary studies. In the fourth stage, the checklist was built by synthesising the literature results. In the fifth stage, the checklist was applied to two SPrL approaches as a proof of concept. The checklist includes seven main aspects, including the modelling language used, the type of the approach based on the number of artefacts produced, the language constructs provided for variability modelling, the process perspectives covered, the tool used for supporting the SPrL approach, the variability-specific features provided to support process variability throughout the SPrL lifecycle, and the empirical evaluation conducted to evaluate the approach. The checklist can be used by organisations to compare SPrLs and then select the most suitable SPrL approach; furthermore, it can be used by researchers to propose novel SPrL approaches that consider important aspects for variability management throughout the SPrL lifecycle. Although we have provided an example of the use of the checklist to compare SPrLs, an empirical evaluation of the checklist is required to get feedback from the organisations regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the checklist.