Software metrics program for risk assessment

Abstract

The Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC) has developed a software metrics program consisting of goals, attributes and metrics to support the assessment of project status, risk, and product quality throughout the life cycle. The objective of the software metrics program is to assess risk areas at each phase of the development life cycle and project them into the future. The software development goals in the metrics program are evaluated by a set of attributes that help to define and classify risks. The attributes must be “measurable” by a set of metrics. These metrics must be based on data that is collectable within the confines of the software development process and must also be relevant to the quality attributes and risk assessment. This paper discusses the SATC's software risk assessment metrics program which meets these needs and is currently being applied to software developed for NASA. At each phase of the software development life cycle, attributes will be identified and metrics defined. Project data is used to demonstrate how the metric analysis was applied at that phase for risk assessment, and how that information could be used by management to manage project risks.