Onur Demirörs

Functional size measurement revisited

There are various approaches to software size measurement. Among these, the metrics and methods based on measuring the functionality attribute have become widely used since the original method was introduced in 1979. Although functional size measurement methods have gone a long way, they still provide challenges for software managers. This article identifies improvement opportunities based on empirical studies we performed on ongoing projects. We also compare our findings with the extended dataset provided by the International Software Benchmarking Standards Group (ISBSG).

Using software quality characteristics to measure business process quality

Organizations frequently use product based organizational perf-ormance models to measure the effects of information system (IS) on their organizations. This paper introduces a complementary process based approach that is founded on measuring business process quality attributes. These quality attributes are defined on the basis of ISO/IEC 9126 Software Product Quality Model. The new process quality attributes are applied in an experiment and results are discussed in the paper.

Utilization of statistical process control (SPC) in emergent software organizations: Pitfalls and suggestions

Common wisdom in the domain of software engineering tells us that companies should be mature enough to apply Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques. Since reaching high maturity levels (in CMM or similar models such as ISO 15504) usually takes 5–10 years, should software companies wait years to utilize Statistical Process Control techniques? To answer this question, we performed a case study of the application of SPC techniques using existing measurement data in an emergent software organization. Specifically, defect density, rework percentage and inspection performance metrics are analyzed. This paper provides a practical insight on the usability of SPC for the selected metrics in the specific processes and describes our observations on the difficulties and the benefits of applying SPC to an emergent software organization.

Conceptual Differences Among Functional Size Measurement Methods

Although functional size measurement (FSM) methods have gone a long way, they still provide challenges for software managers. A major challenge is related to the comparison of the well established FSM methods. This paper identifies the conceptual similarities and differences among Mkll FPA, COSMIC FFP and IFPUG FPA methods based on a case study, which involves implementation of the methods to measure the functional size of a military inventory management project integrated with a document management system.

An experimental study on the conversion between IFPUG and COSMIC functional size measurement units

The adoption of functional size measurement (FSM) methods in software organizations is growing. In particular, special attention is being paid to the COSMIC method, because of its novelties against 1st generation FSM methods such as IFPUG FPA. One of the main problems facing organizations wanting to use COSMIC is how to properly convert the software functional size of the projects in their portfolio measured by the previously adopted FSM method to the size measured by the new method. The objective of this paper is to find a sound mathematical basis for converting an IFPUG measurement to a COSMIC measurement. In the light of previously published researches, parallel measurements were performed to establish three new datasets (respectively composed by 21, 14 and 35 data points) and verified by an expert measurer, certified on both techniques. In order to obtain a more precise solution, the search for a mathematical relationship has been run using new nonlinear equation types. Results from the analysis confirmed an approximated conversion factor of 1:1, within a range between 0.9 and 1.1, but moving from a larger number of data points analyzed then in past studies. These results can be very useful for those companies starting to use their benchmarking databases populated in IFPUG FP units to projects measured in COSMIC FP.

A survey of software engineering practices in Turkey

Abstract Understanding the types of software engineering (SE) practices and techniques used in industry is important. There is a wide spectrum in terms of the types and maturity of SE practices conducted in industry. Turkey has a vibrant software industry and it is important to characterize and understand the state of its SE practices. Our objective is to characterize and grasp a high-level view on type of SE practices in the Turkish software industry. To achieve this objective, we systematically designed an online survey with 46 questions based on our past experience in the Canadian and Turkish contexts and using the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). Two hundred and two practicing software engineers from the Turkish software industry participated in the survey. The survey results reveal important and interesting findings about SE practices in Turkey and beyond. They also help track the profession of SE, and suggest areas for improved training, education and research. Among the findings are the followings: (1) The military and defense software sectors are quite prominent in Turkey, especially in the capital Ankara region, and many SE practitioners work for those companies. (2) 54% of the participants reported not using any software size measurement methods, while 33% mentioned that they have measured lines of code (LOC). (3) In terms of effort, after the development phase (on average, 31% of overall project effort), software testing, requirements, design and maintenance phases come next and have similar average values (14%, 12%, 12% and 11% respectively). (4) Respondents experience the most challenge in the requirements phase. (5) Waterfall, as a rather old but still widely used lifecycle model, is the model that more than half of the respondents (53%) use. The next most preferred lifecycle models are incremental and Agile/lean development models with usage rates of 38% and 34%, respectively. (6) The Waterfall and Agile methodologies have slight negative correlations, denoting that if one is used in a company, the other will less likely to be used. The results of our survey will be of interest to SE professionals both in Turkey and world-wide. It will also benefit researchers in observing the latest trends in SE industry identifying the areas of strength and weakness, which would then hopefully encourage further industry–academia collaborations in those areas.

Conceptual Association of Functional Size Measurement Methods

Functional size determines how much functionality software provides by measuring the aggregate amount of its cohesive execution sequences. Alan Albrecht first introduced the concept in 1979. Since he originally described the function point analysis (FPA) method, researchers and practitioners have developed variations of functional size metrics and methods. The authors discuss the conceptual similarities and differences between functional size measurement methods and introduce a model for unification.

Languages for the specification of software

Abstract A variety of specification languages exist that support one or more phases of software development. This article emphasizes languages that support the functional phase, i.e., languages that can be used to define the observable behavior of a system. The languages surveyed include Z, Prolog, SF, Clear, Larch, PAISLey, Spec, CSP, SEGRAS and BagL. The article divides the languages into four major categories based on the way the language specifies the external behavior of the system and on the ability of the language to specify concurrent systems. Each language section includes a discussion of the constructs of the language, a specification of a problem in the language, and an evaluation of the language. The article is intended to acquaint the reader with a wide range of functional specification languages.

Plural: A decentralized business process modeling method

Top-down and centralized approaches prevail in the design and improvement of business processes. However, centralized structures pose difficulties for organizations in adapting to a rapidly changing business environment. Here we present the Plural method which can be used to guide organizations in performing process modeling in a decentralized way. Instead of a centralized group of people understanding, modeling and improving processes, our method allows individuals to model and improve their own processes to help in fulfilling their roles in the organization. An individual model depicts a set of activities performed by a role, which together result in a cohesive service within the organization. These individual models are then integrated as necessary to show the way the organization works. We applied the Plural method in a case study of a small-size software organization. We describe the method and its underlying principles and then discuss the findings of our case study, lessons learned, and limitations. The study thus provided evidence of Plurals utility and showed how an organization might exploit its strengths.

Assessment of Agile Maturity Models: A Multiple Case Study

Agile methods are welcomed by software community in recent years. The move from traditional methods to agile methods is not straightforward. Software organizations need assistance to achieve transition from traditional software development approaches to agile approaches and to improve their agile capability. During the last few years several agile maturity models/frameworks are developed to guide organizations in agile process improvement and agile adoption. In this study, we assess the strengths and weaknesses of agile maturity models/frameworks from agile process assessment and agile process improvement perspectives. To assess the models we have applied the models in a selected software organization. We discuss the strengths and weakness of each model and provide suggestions for their utilization.