A WBS-Based Plan Changeability Measurement Model for Reducing Software Project Change Risk

Abstract

In software development process, it is necessary to face challenge for plan changes. In order to effectively reduce development risk, software project must overcome the impact of plan change. In plan change process, affected development documents and plan items should be effectively isolated and immediately modified to reduce software development risk. In software project management plan (SPMP), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a critical and necessary planning tool. For this, WBS-based plan must have high isolation capability and modification flexibility to reduce plan change risk. In this paper, in order to increase WBS-based plan change capability, changeability factors are discussed, and a WBS-based Plan Changeability Measurement (WBSPCM) model is proposed. Applied the quantification mechanism of WBSPCM model, WBS-based plan changeability problem and defect can be easily identified. Used rule-based correction and improvement manner, WBS-based plan can concretely increase changeability and reduce software development risk. The paper discusses and surveys WBS-based plan related characteristics and WBS-based plan changeability factors. In plan review activity, using inspection checklists help concretely collect WBS-based plan changeability quantified factors. Individual factor or measurement can only measure or evaluate the specific maintain quality characteristic (6). In order to improve and enhance WBS-based plan changeability, individual factor or measurement should make appropriate combination. Based on the metric combination model, in this paper presents a WBS-based Plan Changeability Measurement (WBSPCM) model. In WBSPCM model, planned documents quality, planned items modularity, work packages traceability and plan items re- estimation will be measured and combined. Applied the quantification mechanism of WBSPCM model, WBS-based plan changeability problems and defects can be easily identified. Used rule-based correction and improvement manner can concretely increase WBS-based plan changeability and reduce software development risk. In Section II, survey the relationship between the SPMP and WBS-based plan, and describe critical factors of software project failure. In Section III, changeability factors which affect WBS-based plan revision and adjustment capability are listed and discussed. In Section IV, propose a WBSPCM model, and present a rule-based changeability defects identification and improvement manner. In Section V, collect advantages of WBSPCM model and make a conclusion for the paper.