1. Page 1 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Tua Rahikkala VTT Electronics tua.rahikkala@vtt.fi Software Configuration Management Process Improvement within a Distributed Environment BLANKO ‘98 October 22-23, 1998

2. Page 2 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Background VISCOUNT ßEU/Esprit project 25754 ß1.9.1997-31.12.1999 ßThe objective of the VISCOUNT project is to develop a SCM tool and SCM methods for use in a geographically distributed environment ßMore VISCOUNT information: –http://www.baesema.co.uk/stg/viscount/index.htm –http://www.ele.vtt.fi/projects/viscount/vischome.html

3. Page 3 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Background SCM Questionnaire ßMade during 09-10/98 ßObjective was to investigate software development distribution and SCM improvement areas of industrial organisations ß38 answers (13.10.1998) ßQuestions: ßindustrial sector, company size, number of SW professionals ßsoftware development and distribution ßSCM tools ßSCM development areas (28 areas, score 1-5)

4. Page 4 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Industrial sectors

5. Page 5 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Number of personnel

6. Page 6 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire SW distribution ßDistribution including company offices, daughter companies and sub- contractors:

7. Page 7 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Software task distribution If software development has been distributed, what sub-tasks are most distributed? Prestudy/Idea Phase Requirements specification Technical design Implementation Module/unit testing Integration testing System testing Documentation Project Management Quality Assurance

8. Page 8 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Use of SCM tools

9. Page 9 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Main development areas

10. Page 10 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Questionnaire Main development areas/ SCM tool ClearCase, Continuus: ßquality assurance and audits ßcommunication ßSCM process improvement ßproduct conformity management PCMS/PVCS, Visual SourceSafe, others: ßSCM process improvement ßcommunication ßquality assurance and audits ßrelease/version building No SCM tool: ßSCM process improvement ßproduct conformity management ßmodule version management ßdocumentation version management

11. Page 11 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Improvement Framework àPr 2 imer (Practical Process Improvement for Embedded Real-Time Software) is an approach to process improvement and measurement developed at VTT Electronics. (http://www.ele.vtt.fi/projects/primer/primer.htm) àIn this work, the focus of the Pr 2 imer approach is on SCM. Therefore, we call our approach SCM- Pr 2 imer àGQM (Goal/Question/Metric) used as a part of SCM-Pr 2 imer àMetriFlame

12. Page 12 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM-Pr 2 imer

13. Page 13 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM-Pr 2 imer Phase 1: Analysis of the current SCM practices

14. Page 14 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Process

15. Page 15 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Current State Analysis at VAT ßVAT = Valmet Automation Oy ßPilot projects in the SCM-Pri 2 mer program: –1 Maintenance project –1 Development project –Logistics department àAnalysis steps –Analysis planning –Interviews –Feedback session I –Quantitative assessment (SCM-Pr 2 imer question list, BOOTSTRAP) –Feedback session II and planning of further work

16. Page 16 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Main Results from Current State Analysis/VAT ßVersion manufacturing process is not effective ßWhen working in distributed environment, VAT’s information sharing between project participants is not effective in all cases, and the practices vary depending on projects and individuals ßChanges are not always documented, and the documentation practices are not clear ßThe special requirements and properties of SCM within VAT’s distributed environment are not really known or identified.

17. Page 17 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM-Pr 2 imer Phase 2: Definition of Goals for New SCM Practices

18. Page 18 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM-Pr 2 imer: Phase 2 Tasks ßIdentify improvement objectives and goals for the SCM process ßEvaluate and select methods and tools for the improved SCM process ßIdentify and model the target state of the SCM process (Use case approach) ßDefinition of new methods and practices (SCM requirements)

19. Page 19 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Goal-oriented SCM process improvement

20. Page 20 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Examples of SCM goals àGoal 1: Analyse the version building process for the purpose of improving it with respect to effectiveness from the project team point of view in the context of distributed environment àGoal 2: Analyse the change control process for the purpose of improving it with respect to traceability of changes from the project team point of view in the context of distributed environment àGoal 3: Analyse the SCM training and support material for the purpose of improving and developing it with respect to learning from the project team point of view in the context of distributed environment

21. Page 21 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Example of GQM template

22. Page 22 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Use Case Description

23. Page 23 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 GQM-planning àGoals and use cases were refined to measurable questions and metrics by interviewing all involved persons for retrieving the required information àExamples: –What is the number of building errors? M_1.1: Number of times a release has to be built again/customer release M_1.2: Number of new source files/release –Why a release has to be built again? M_2.1: Number of changed source files/release M_2.2: Number of revisions of code rows/labelled file version –etc. àFeedback sessions!

24. Page 24 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Next steps SCM-Pr 2 imer: Phases 3-4 àPlan for Data Collection Manually collected metrics Automatically collected metrics (e.g. ClearCase - MetriFlame interface) Templates for data collection àTool Support for Metrics Collection MetriFlame (http://www.ele.vtt.fi) for SCM data collection and measurement process Calculation templates (rules for metrics calculation) à Result analysis and feedback sessions

25. Page 25 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Tool Support for Metrics Collection

26. Page 26 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Measurement process MetriFlame Data Importing Metrics definition MetriFlame Data Importing Metrics definition ClearCase SCM Data ClearCase SCM Data Convert the SCM measurement data with converter MetriFlame Result presentation MetriFlame Result presentation Calculate the metrics with MetriFlame (based on the measurement data) Metrics analysis during the feedback sessions (based on the analysis material) Metrics analysis during the feedback sessions (based on the analysis material) Graphs/ analysis material ( based on the calculated metrics) àData collection was planned to be done by using a specialised conversion tool and Clear Case scripts àGeneric format for data import both the scripts and the converter could be reused in the future improvement cycles

27. Page 27 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Example of a MetriFlame graph

28. Page 28 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Conclusions 1/3 àSCM process improvement within a distributed environment is an important development area –1. SCM Process improvement –2. Communication –3. Quality assurance and audits –4. Release/version building àSystematic SCM process improvement methods are needed

29. Page 29 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Conclusions 2/3 àProcess improvement should be based on the goals of the organisation and projects (commitment, resources, real-world problems) àExperiences from use cases are encouraging: –Increase understanding of specific process area (SCM) –tool for communication –test and education material –requirements analysis via use cases àFeedback sessions and commenting rounds are essential

30. Page 30 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Conclusions 3/3 àTool support for metrics collection is important àMeasurements increase visibility of the process and thus make process improvement more achievable and justified. àThe awareness of SCM and its influence on process and product quality increases inside the organisation due to the improvement activities.

31. Page 31 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 Questions?

32. Page 32 V T T E L E C T R O N I C S Tua Rahikkala October 23, 1998 SCM Concepts Used in this presentation… àSoftware Configuration Management (SCM) is a discipline for establishing and maintaining the integrity of the products of the software projects throughout the project’s lifecycle àThe basic concept of SCM is a Software Configuration Item (SCI), which can be a unit or a collection of lower-level items (source code, documentation, test data, executable code, specifications, etc.) àDuring software development and maintenance SCIs undergo changes i.e. series of versions. àA release is a particular version of a SCI that is made available for a specific purpose such as a customer delivery.