The effects of software process maturity on software development effort

A software product is often behind schedule, over budget, non-conforming to requirements and of poor quality. Controlling and improving the processes used to develop software has been proposed as a primary remedy to these problems. The Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University has published the Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) for use as a set of criteria to evaluate an organization's Process Maturity. The model is also used as a roadmap to improve a software development process's maturity. The premise of the CMM is that mature development processes deliver products on time, within budget, within requirements, and of high quality. This research examines the effects of Software Process Maturity, using the CMM, on software development effort. Effort is the primary determinant of software development cost and schedule. The technical challenge in this research is determining how much change in effort is due solely to changing Process Maturity when changing Process Maturity generally occurs concurrently with changes to other factors that also influence software development effort. The six mathematical models used in this research support the following conclusion: For the one hundred twelve projects in this sample, Software Process Maturity was a significant factor (t-values were 2.24 and above) affecting software development effort. After normalizing for the effects of other effort influences, a one-increment change in the rating of Process Maturity resulted in a 15% to 21% reduction in effort. The modeling approach used in this analysis can be used in other areas of Software Engineering as well.

[1]  S. B. Kiselev,et al.  The capability maturity model: guidelines for improving the software process , 1995 .

[2]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Cost models for future software life cycle processes: COCOMO 2.0 , 1995, Ann. Softw. Eng..

[3]  William E. Griffiths,et al.  Learning and Practicing Econometrics , 1993 .

[4]  Raymond J. Madachy.  System dynamics modeling of an inspection-based process , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE 18th International Conference on Software Engineering.

[5]  Bill Brykczynski,et al.  Policy Assessment for the Software Process Maturity Model , 1992 .

[6]  Hossein Saiedian,et al.  SEI Capability Maturity Model's Impact on Contractors , 1995, Computer.

[7]  James D. Herbsleb,et al.  Benefits of CMM-Based Software Process Improvement: Initial Results , 1994 .

[8]  Mark C. Paulk,et al.  The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process , 1994 .

[9]  A. Ambainis,et al.  1.1 Background , 1995 .

[10]  Watts S. Humphrey,et al.  A method for assessing the software engineering capability of contractors , 1987 .

[11]  Mark C. Paulk,et al.  How ISO 9001 Compares With The CMM , 1995, IEEE Softw..

[12]  Judith G. Brodman,et al.  Return on Investment (ROI) from Software Process Improvement as Measured by US Industry , 1995, Softw. Process. Improv. Pract..

[13]  Lawrence H. Putnam,et al.  A General Empirical Solution to the Macro Software Sizing and Estimating Problem , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[14]  P. Crosby.  Quality Without Tears , 1984 .

[15]  Mark C. Paulk,et al.  The Capability Maturity Model , 1991 .

[16]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Improving Software Productivity , 1987, Computer.

[17]  Chris F. Kemerer,et al.  An empirical validation of software cost estimation models , 1987, CACM.

[18]  Roger Bate,et al.  A Systems Engineering Capability Maturity Model, Version 1.0. , 1994 .

[19]  Matthew J. Fisher,et al.  Software Acquisition Capability Maturity Model (SA-CMM) Version 1.02 , 1999 .

[20]  Raymond Dion,et al.  Process improvement and the corporate balance sheet , 1993, IEEE Software.

[21]  H. E. Dunsmore,et al.  Software engineering metrics and models , 1986 .

[22]  R. C. Tausworthe,et al.  Deep space network software cost estimation model , 1981 .

[23]  G R McNichols,et al.  Software development cost models , 1986 .

[24]  Susan Rosenbaum,et al.  Schlumberger's Software Improvement Program , 1994, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[25]  James D. Herbsleb,et al.  Software quality and the Capability Maturity Model , 1997, CACM.

[26]  Watts S. Humphrey,et al.  Software process improvement at Hughes Aircraft , 1991, IEEE Software.