Software evolution management: a process-oriented perspective

Abstract

Recent surveys have indicated relatively low levels of software process maturity and managerial control in comparison with other engineering processes. However, such surveys and assessment mechanisms do not necessarily provide the route-map for improving the software process in practice. Software quality assurance initiatives assume that the software process is a key factor in governing software product quality attributes. Much of this quality assurance work and indeed actual process assessments focus on software development. However, the quality attributes are extant for the life of a product in which software maintenance is not only significant but pre-eminent. The evolution of a software product and its support throughout its entire life provides not only an opportunity for continued product quality improvement, but for incremental improvement to the software maintenance process and dissemination of better working practices. The continued enhancement and support of a product, aligned to the perceived quality or value to the customer, provides an opportunity by which to gauge the relative ‘fitness’ of the maintenance process and the management of change. Research at the Centre for Software Maintenance has led to the development of a generic model of ‘better-practice’. This model has been used to examine the fitness of existing maintenance processes to meet specific managerial objectives. The approach suggests that product and process evolution can be considered concurrently and managed in order to achieve organizational goals. This paper outlines an extended, industry-based Case Study in which process changes have been formulated and improvements implemented during two enactments of the maintenance process. Our work has demonstrated three specific uses for software process models, namely: to facilitate individual understanding and group communication, to support process improvement, and to support process management.