THE FEASIBILITY OF CHIPR: A TOOL TO SUPPORT COMPUTER-AIDED CHANGE IMPACT PREDICTION IN SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION ITEMS

THE DIFFICULTY OF APPLYING SOUND CM TECHNIQUES IN AN ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE SUCH AS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE IS COMPOUNDED BY THE INHERENT COMPLEXITY AND EASE OF CHANGE OF SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION ITEMS. WE PROPOSE TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF AN INTERACTIVE COMPUTER-BASED TOOL THAT WILL SUPPORT THE CASUAL AND EXPERT USER IN THE PREDICTION OF THE IMPACT OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM UNDER MANAGEMENT. THE TOOL IS CALLED CHIPR (CHANGE IMPACT PREDICTOR). THE NAME IS PRONOUNCED "CHIPPER." CHIPR WILL USE STATISTICAL SEARCH TECHNIQUES, ON A FULL-TEXT, FREE-FORM INFORMATION BASES, TO PROVIDE COMPUTER-AIDED CHANGE IMPACT PREDICTIONS. A PROVEN, ADAPTIVE, USER-FRIENDLY INTERFACE WILL BE USED FOR CHIPR. THE FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION WILL USE A UNIX-BASED COMPUTER SYSTEM, STANDARD UNIX UTILITIES, AND OTHER AVAILABLE TOOLS TO EMULATE A FULL-TEXT INFORMATION BASE THAT CAN BE SEARCHED IN CONTEXT. STATISTICAL DATA AND RETRIEVED TEXT WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE USER FOR ADDITIONAL REFINEMENT OF THE SEARCH CRITERIA. REPORTS WILL BE GENERATED, PRESENTING COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION RELEVANT TO CHANGE IMPACT PREDICTION.