SBIR Phase I: Management Tool for Software Development Risk and Uncertainty

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project from Decision Science Associates (DSA) has the goal of developing a decision support tool that combines methods from software measurement, Bayesian statistics, and multiattribute utility theory (MAU). This tool will support a software manager's assessment and evaluation of risks and assist in making tradeoffs and decisions under uncertainty. Descision Scienct Associates' innovation addresses the following needs: software risk assessment methods; measures of the effectiveness of software development techniques and processes; and automated tools to support managing and developing software systems. The three technical objectives of Phase I are to: (1) develop methodologies to support a software manager's assessment and evaluation of risks and to assist him in making tradeoffs and decisions under uncertainty; (2) obtain preliminary evaluations of the methodologies from prospective customers; and (3) encode the methodologies in a Phase I prototype tool. These objectives will be pursued by conducting four tasks: (1) develop prototype user interfaces for the tool, MAUS-R (MultiAttribute Utility for Software, Risk); (2) seek feedback from prospective customers; (3) revise methods in response to the feedback from prospective customers; and (4) develop a revised Phase I prototype. The full-scale development and demonstration of the tool will occur in the next phase of the research. Decison Science Associates proffered technology, MAUS-R, is directed at any industry with an information technology (IT). It is particularly suited for industries with larger percentages of IT to total workers including: financial businesses like banks, investment companies, insurance companies; telecommunications businesses; transportation businesses, food and consumer goods companies; Point-of-Sale equipment manufacturers; pharmaceuticals; and the power and energy industry. Government agencies are also prospective customers; approximately 50% of the top US spenders on IT are state governments. The target market consists of software professionals at the group leader, supervisor, manager, or CIO level; software process standards professionals-those performing metrics collection, benchmarking, and the like; and software systems buyers. DSA has established a strategic alliance with PRICE Systems, the world-wide leader in Computer-Aided Parametric Estimating (CAPE) tools, to facilitate the commercialization of this proposed R&D)