Software Process Engineering

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Software Process Engineering

• Dr. Mohamed Fayad, Associate Professor
• Department of Computer Science Engineering
• University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• Ferguson Hall, P.O. Box 880115
• Lincoln, NE 68588-0115
• http//www.cse.unl.edu/fayad

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Lesson 2 Defining Documenting Software
Processes
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Lesson Objectives

• The Managers Roles and Responsibilities in
• Software Process
• Measure Processes Rather than People
• Five Top Excuses for No Process Documentation
• Where to Start and How?
• The Trouble with Process Assessment
• Process Improvement Models
• Problems with Assessment
• Process Paralysis
• How to Use Processes as a Baseline for
• Improvement

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Process Properties

• Specify who, what, when, how, and ignore the why?
• Practical
• Concrete Actions
• Measurable
• Tailorable
• Hierarchical
• Repeatable
• Simple

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The Managers Roles Responsibilities

• Management must
• support the move to process-oriented
  development.
• Show how processes will help achieve the overall
  goals of the organization.
• Show how each team and its members fit into the
  big picture.

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Measure Processes Rather than People

• Measuring processes is an excellent measure of
  management itself.

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Top Five Excuses for No Process Documentation
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Where to Start and How?

• In many organizations, especially those trying to
  conform to SEIs CMM, turning everything into a
  process has become goal in itself.
• Wrong, Why?

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Software Process Assessments - 1

• Software process improvement begin with an
  assessment.
• Gives an organization a sense of where it stands
  in terms of software production skills.
• The organization evaluates its development
  capability against a set of best practices that
  are supposed to be found in effective
  organizations

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Software Process Assessments - 2

• The number of practices, their mastery, and their
  level of integration into the development
  determine the organizations assessment score.
• Best known process improvement initiatives
• SEIs CMM
• SPICE
• DODs SDCE
• ISO 9000
• ISO/IEC 12207
• Some initiatives allow self-assessment while
  others require outside certification.

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Software Process Improvement Models

• SEIs CMM
• SPICE
• DODs SDCE
• ISO 9000
• ISO/IEC 12207

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SEIs CMM

• Best known and most widely discussed SPI model.
• Defines 5 level of organizational maturity, from
  initial or chaotic to optimizing.
• Starting with level 2 on, has associated with it
  a set of key process areas
• Level 2 requirements management and project
  planning
• Level 3 training and peer reviews
• Level 4 5 software quality management and
  defect prevention
• Each level includes the process areas of its
  lower levels

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SPICE

• Developed as an international metastandard under
  ISO/IEC.
• Doesnt aim to replace other standards.
• Provide a benchmark for current and future
  process improvement initiatives.
• Recognizes two categories of SE practices best
  practices (specific Process) and generic
  practices (any process)
• List five process areas customer-Supplier,
  engineering, project management, support, and
  organization
• Capability levels range from 0 (not performed) to
  5 (continuously improving)

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Defined Processes are Baseline for Improvements
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• Cant improve anything that you cant repeat

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Software Process Hierarchy
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General Processes Must be Tailored to Your
Projects
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Identifying Appropriate Process Details

• Too Much
• not cost effective
• typically too much why

• Cost effective range
• depends upon environment
• specifies who, what, when
• reference how

• Not Enough
• useless
• typically only what

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Discussion Questions

• What are the differences between
  macro-development process and mini-development
  process?
• What are the differences between mini-development
  process and micro-development process?
• T/F
• SPICE is software development lifecycles
• Process specifies who, when, what, and how and
  ignore the how.
• Define
• Process, Process assessment, SPI Models

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Questions for the Next Lecture

• Problem with assessments
• Process Paralysis
• How to document the processes
• How to tailor general processes to your project
• Recommendations for documenting S/W processes
• Process documentation

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Tasks for Next Lecture

• Task 1 Select your assignments on course web
  site. This is due on the Third week of the
  semester.
• Task 2 Select your team project on the course
  web site. This is due on the Third week of the
  semester.
• Task 3 Identify the team members of your team.
  E Mail me their names, e-mails, phone numbers.
• Task 4 Read chapter 13 Fayad Sections 6 to 7
• Please note that all deliverables must be
  submitted electronically as MS Word format.

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