Software process simulation modeling: Why? What? How?

Abstract

Software process simulation modeling is increasingly being used to address a variety of issues from the strategic management of software development, to supporting process improvements, to software project management training. The scope of software process simulation applications ranges from narrow focused portions of the life cycle to longer term product evolutionary models with broad organizational impacts. This article provides an overview of work being conducted in this field. It identifies the questions and issues that simulation can be used to address (`why'), the scope and variables that can be usefully simulated (`what'), and the modeling approaches and techniques that can be most productively employed (`how'). It includes a summary of the papers in this special issue of the Journal of Systems and Software, which were presented at the First International Silver Falls Workshop on Software Process Simulation Modeling (ProSim'98). It also provides a framework that helps characterize work in this field, and applies this new characterization scheme to many of the articles in this special issue. This paper concludes by offering some guidance in selecting a simulation modeling approach for practical application, and recommending some issues warranting additional research.