A RECONFIGURABLE AUTOMATED SOFTWARE METRICS ENVIRONMENT (RASME)

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO TARGET THREE DISTINCT, YET RELATED CHALLENGES IN THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SOFTWARE METRICS TO MISSION CRITICAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS: (1) METRICS CYCLE TIME DELAYS; (2) METRICS DEPENDENCIES ON THE SOFTWARE PROCESS MODEL; AND (3) METRICS TAILORING TO THE MISSION DOMAIN. A ROBUST, YET HIGHLY ADAPTABLE AUTOMATED SOLUTION IS PROPOSED IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THESE CHALLENGES. THE PROPOSED RECONFIGURABLE AUTOMATED SOFTWARE METRICS ENVIRONMENT (RASME) PROVIDES AN INNOVATIVE, YET HIGHLY PRACTICAL PROCESS AND SUPPORTING TOOLSET FOR THE COST-EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT METRICS. RASME IS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF AN AUTOMATED TIE-IN TO THE DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT (SEE) USING LOW COST, HIGH YIELD DTA COLLECTION FILTERS. THESE FILTERS WILL ADDRESS THE CRITICAL NEED FOR TIMELY AND COST-EFFECTIVE METRICS DATA COLLECTION. RASME IS DYNAMICALLY RECONFIGURABLE IN THREE DIMENSIONS: THE METRICS, THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS MODEL, AND THE APPLICATION DOMAIN. A USER EXTENSIBLE KNOWLEDGE-BASE PROVIDES FOR ADAPTABILITY TO PROCESS MODEL EIFFERENCES AND APPLICATION DOMAIN SPECIFICS. RULES FOR METRIC ASSESSMENT/INTERPRETATION AND CORRECTIVE ACTION INSERTION ARE ALSO MAINTAINED IN THE KNWOEDGE-BASE. THIS RULE BASE IS ALSO USER EXTENSIBLE SO THAT NEW LESSONS LEARNED CAN BE ADDED IN SUPPORT OF ON- GOING PROCESS IMPROVEMENT.