Specifying Process Views for a Measurement, Evaluation, and Improvement Strategy

Any organization that develops software strives to improve the quality of its products. To do this first requires an understanding of the quality of the current product version. Then, by iteratively making changes, the software can be improved with subsequent versions. But this must be done in a systematic and methodical way, and, for this purpose, we have developed a specific strategy called SIQinU (Strategy for understanding and Improving Quality in Use). SIQinU recognizes problems of quality in use through evaluation of a real system-in-use situation and proposes product improvements by understanding and making changes to the product's attributes. Then, reevaluating quality in use of the new version, improvement gains can be gauged along with the changes that led to those improvements. SIQinU aligns with GOCAME (Goal-Oriented Context-Aware Measurement and Evaluation), a multipurpose generic strategy previously developed formeasurement and evaluation, which utilizes a conceptual framework (with ontological base), a process, and methods and tools. Since defining SIQinU relies on numerous phase and activity definitions, in this paper, we model different process views, for example, taking into account activities, interdependencies, artifacts, and roles, while illustrating them with excerpts from a real-case study.

[1]  H. D. Rombach,et al.  The Goal Question Metric Approach , 1994 .

[2]  Luis Olsina,et al.  Assessing Web Applications Consistently: A Context Information Approach , 2008, 2008 Eighth International Conference on Web Engineering.

[3]  Pablo Becker,et al.  An integrated strategy to systematically understand and manage quality in use for web applications , 2011, Requirements Engineering.

[4]  Shari Lawrence Pfleeger,et al.  Software Metrics : A Rigorous and Practical Approach , 1998 .

[5]  Bill Curtis,et al.  Process modeling , 1992, CACM.

[6]  Gustavo Rossi,et al.  Measuring Web Application Quality with WebQEM , 2002, IEEE Multim..

[7]  Jürgen Münch,et al.  Software project control centers: concepts and approaches , 2004, J. Syst. Softw..

[8]  Emilia Mendes The Need for Empirical Web Engineering: An Introduction , 2008, Web Engineering.

[9]  Luis Olsina,et al.  Quality, Quality in Use, Actual Usability and User Experience as Key Drivers for Web Application Evaluation , 2010, ICWE.

[10]  Silvia T. Acuña,et al.  A Software Process Model Handbook for Incorporating People's Capabilities , 2005 .

[11]  D. Ross Jeffery,et al.  The use and effects of an electronic process guide and experience repository: a longitudinal study , 2006, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[12]  Aurora Vizcaíno,et al.  Process Management Tools , 2011, IEEE Software.

[13]  Luis Olsina,et al.  Assessing quality in use in a consistent way , 2006, ICWE '06.

[14]  Pablo Becker,et al.  Strategy to improve quality for software applications: a process view , 2011, ICSSP '11.

[15]  Matthew J. Fisher,et al.  Deriving Enterprise-Based Measures Using the Balanced Scorecard and Goal-Driven Measurement Techniques , 2003 .

[16]  Pablo Becker,et al.  Measurement and evaluation as a quality driver , 2010, Ingénierie des Systèmes d Inf..

[17]  L. A. Olsina Applying the Flexible Process model to build hypermedia products , 1997 .

[18]  Gustavo Rossi,et al.  Web Application Evaluation and Refactoring: A Quality-Oriented Improvement Approach , 2008, J. Web Eng..

[19]  Nigel Bevan,et al.  Extending Quality in Use to Provide a Framework for Usability Measurement , 2009, HCI.

[20]  Antonio de Amescua Seco,et al.  Integration of strategic management, process improvement and quantitative measurement for managing the competitiveness of software engineering organizations , 2010, Software Quality Journal.

[21]  Barbara A. Kitchenham,et al.  Modeling Software Measurement Data , 2001, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[22]  Mario Piattini,et al.  A Methodology for Continuos Quality Assessment of Software Artefacts , 2010, 2010 10th International Conference on Quality Software.

[23]  Natalia Juristo Juzgado,et al.  Framework for Integrating Usability Practices into the Software Process , 2005, PROFES.

[24]  Victor R. Basili,et al.  Linking Software Development and Business Strategy Through Measurement , 2010, Computer.

[25]  Luis Olsina,et al.  How to Measure and Evaluate Web Applications in a Consistent Way , 2008, Web Engineering.

[26]  W. Marsden I and J , 2012 .

[27]  Juha Kettunen,et al.  Integration of strategic management and quality assurance , 2008 .

[28]  Shari Lawrence Pfleeger,et al.  Software metrics (2nd ed.): a rigorous and practical approach , 1997 .

[29]  ISO / IEC 25010 : 2011 Systems and software engineering — Systems and software Quality Requirements and Evaluation ( SQuaRE ) — System and software quality models , 2013 .

[30]  David M. Nichols,et al.  Usability processes in open source projects , 2006, Softw. Process. Improv. Pract..