Assessment of software measurement

Author:

Berry, Michael [claim]

Description:

Background and purpose. This thesis documents a program of five studies concerned with the assessment of software measurement. The goal of this program is to assist the software industry to improve the information support for managers, analysts and software engineers by providing evidence of where opportunities for improving measurement and analysis exist. Methods. The first study examined the assessment of software measurement frameworks using models of best practice based on performance/success factors. The software measurement frameworks of thirteen organisations were surveyed. The association between a factor and the outcome experienced with the organisations' frameworks was then evaluated. The subsequent studies were more info-centric and investigated using models of information quality to assess the support provided for software processes. For these studies, information quality models targeting specific software processes were developed using practitioner focus groups. The models were instantiated in survey instruments and the responses were analysed to identify opportunities to improve the information support provided. The final study compared the use of two different information quality models for the assessing and improving information support. Assessments of the same quantum of information were made using a targeted model and a generic model. The assessments were then evaluated by an expert panel in order to identify which information quality model was more effective for improvement purposes. Results. The study of performance factors for software measurement frameworks confirmed the association of some factors with success and quantified that association. In particular, it demonstrated the importance of evaluating contextual factors. The conclusion is that factor-based models may be appropriately used for risk analysis and for identifying constraints on measurement performance. Note, however, that a follow-up study showed that some initially successful frameworks subsequently failed. This implied an ...

Publisher:

UNSW, Sydney

Year of Publication:

2006

Document Type:

doctoral thesis ; http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06 ; [Doctoral and postdoctoral thesis]

Language:

Subjects:

Software Engineering ; Software Measurement ; Measurement and Analysis ; Software Metric ; Measurement Program ; Metrics Program ; Software Measurement Framework ; Information Quality ; Targeted Assessment

DDC:

650 Management & auxiliary services (computed)

Rights:

open access ; https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 ; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ ; free_to_read

Terms of Re-use:

CC-BY-NC-ND

Relations:

http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/25134 ; https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15092

URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/25134
https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/f7851fd0-44c4-482a-bb99-bbd27a297141/download
https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15092

Content Provider:

UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Flag of Australia