Software Project Management Using Effective Process Metrics: The CCPDS-R Experience

Abstract

Abstract : The paper captures the project management experience of using process metrics to measure the development of a large software system for the U.S. government. The Command Center Processing and Display System-Replacement (CCPDS- R) program is a development effort consisting of three subsystems and over 6000, 000 lines of Ada source code executing in a distributed Digital Equipment Corporation VAX VMS environment. The initial subsystem called the Command Subsystem, consists of over 3000,000 lines of Ada source code and is 2 years into development with a successful Critical Design Review (CDR) held at month 25 of the contract. Utilizing the new Ada process model, over 280,000 lines of Ada source code have been developed and integrated into a working demonstration on the operational hardware. This approach has permitted the validation of the software design, allowed early analysis and resolution of the software performance issues, and provided extensive insight into the usability and flexibility of the system for the user community. This first program use of the incremental, demonstration based process model with related software metrics has been totally successful. The technology now is being transferred to other projects within the company. The U.S. Government acquisition agency has designated CCPDS-R as its flagship program and is basing new acquisitions on the approach utilized by the CCPDS-R program.