Defect tracking is a critical component to a successful software quality effort. In fact, Robert Grady of Hewlett-Packard stated in 1996 that “software defect data is [the] most important available management information source for software process improvement decisions,” and that “ignoring defect data can lead to serious consequences for an organization’s Read More
CSIAC Reports
Understanding and Improving Technology Transfer in Software Engineering
This State-of-the-Art-Report summarizes the history of software engineering technology transfer and suggests ways to help us understand how to shorten the time between innovation and effective practice. It begins by examining earlier efforts to understand software-related technology transfer. Then we discuss the process of creating, evaluating, packaging and Read More
Modern Empirical Cost and Schedule Estimation Tools
Cost models were derived from the collection and analysis of large collections of project data. Modelers would fit a curve to the data and analyze those parameters that affected the curve. Early models applied to custom-developed software systems. New software development philosophies and technologies have emerged in the 1980s and 1990s to reduce development Read More
An Analysis of Two Formal Methods: VDM and Z
This paper compares and contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of the Vienna Development Method (VDM) and Z in the software design life cycle phase, and compares and contrasts VDM and Z to other formal models. Tool support, lessons learned, and technical and achieved business benefits are emphasized. Based on available data, this paper analyzes the Read More
Software Interoperability
This report summarizes basic interoperability principles and the different approaches that researchers have taken to provide Software Interoperability. In addition to surveying these methodologies, the report concludes with an outlook on the future of Software Interoperability and a novel means of integrating applications in an industrial environment. Read More
A History of Software Measurement at Rome Laboratory
This document describes software measurement activities conducted by Rome Laboratory (RL) from the early seventies to the present (measurement is a key element of the supporting technology required to implement a disciplined engineering approach to software development). This history is based mainly on the written record as reflected in RL Technical Reports, Read More
Software Engineering Baselines
The purpose of this report is to provide baseline information about a selected set of metrics, specifically productivity, complexity, and reliability. It is not a comprehensive treatment of metrics; indeed, that subject is treated in a number of texts and DoD initiatives. Some of these initiatives include the Joint Logistics Commanders' Practical Software Read More
Technology Transfer Across the Internet
This paper describes how the Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS), which has since been consolidated into the Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC), uses the World Wide Web and other Internet tools to acquire and disseminate scientific and technical information. Using the Internet enables us to acquire more data and Read More
Software Requirements: A Tutorial
Deciding precisely what to build and documenting the results is the goal of the requirements phase of software development. Experience suggests that requirements are the biggest software engineering problem for developers of large, complex systems. While there is considerable disagreement on how to solve the problem, few would disagree with Dr. Brooks‘ Read More
Electronic Publishing on the World Wide Web: An Engineering Approach
This CSIAC state-of-the-art report (SOAR) was developed from a handbook that provides guidelines to World Wide Web (WWW) information providers for disseminating information through the WWW. The handbook itself was originally developed as part of a Technical Area Task (TAT) for the Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS), one of the DoD IACs that has since Read More
