Software measuring process and product attributes

Classifying Software Measures In software

There are three such classes:

1. Process are collection of software related activities.
2. Products are any artifacts, deliverables or documents that result from a process activity.
3. Resources are entities required by a process activity.

Within each class of entity, we distinguish between internal and external attributes

• Internal attributes: can be measured by examining the product, process or resources on its own, separate from its behavior. For. Eg. Size, Structure, Complexity etc.
• External attributes: Here the behavior of the process, product or resource is important rather than the entity itself.
• For Eg. Quality, Productivity, Reliability, Usability etc. 

Processes:

1. We want to know how long it takes for a process to complete, cost, effective or efficient and compare with other processes.
2. These measure include

• The duration, effort associated and no. of incidents of a specified type arising during the process or one of its activities.

3. Cost is not the only process measure we can examine. Controllability, observability and stability are also important in managing large project. 

Products:

1. External product attributes: Since an external product attribute depends on both product behavior and environment, each attribute measure should take these characteristics into account. Usability, integrity, efficiency, testability, reusability, portability and interoperability are other external attributes that we can measure.
2. Internal product attributes: Internal product attributes are sometimes easy to measure. Eg: Determine size of product by measuring the number of pages. other internal product difficult to measure, because opinions differ
3. The importance of internal attributes: good internal structure leads to good external quality
4. Internal attributes and quality control and assurance: A major reason that developers want to use internal attributes to predict external ones is the need to monitor and control the products during development.
5. Validating composite measures “Quality” is frequently used by software engineers to describe an internal attribute of design or code. However, “quality” is multidimensional; it does not reflect a single aspect of particular product. For eg: economists want to control the economy and make a country more productive. 

Resources:

We measure resources to determine their magnitude, their cost and their quality. Poor quality software, too few people or people with wrong skills. Cost is often measure all types of resources, so that managers can see how the cost of the inputs affects the cost of outputs– Eg. Large investment in CASE tools yielding benefits in terms of more productive staff. Productivity is always important, and managers are enthusiastic not only to measure it but also to understand how to improve it. Business or markets are judged by comparing what goes in with what comes out. There are many other staff attributes that we can measure, whose values may have an influence on the process or product. We can also classify and analyze tools and methods. 

Frequently Asked Questions