Efficiency of CAMEtools in softwarequality assurance

• Authors: Reiner R. Dumke;Heiko Grigoleit
• Venue: Software Quality Control
• Year: 1997

Our paper describes the requirements and possibilities of integration of metrics tools in the field of software quality assurance. Tools for the support of the measurement process are herein classified as Computer Assisted Software Measurement and Evaulation Tools (CAMETools). Software measurement regarded as a special type of metrics application provides a great amount of basic information for the evaluation of the software development process or the software product itself. Our paper examines the effectiveness and destination of software measurement in tool-based software development and is based on an analysis of more than 20 CAME tools in the Software Measurement Laboratory at the University of Magdeburg. CAMEtools are useable for the process, product, and resources evaluation in all phases of the software life cycle (including the problem definition) for different development paradigms. The efficiency of CAME tools is described on the basis of a general measurement framework. This framework includes all steps in the software measurement and evaulation process: metrics definition, selection of the evaluation criteria, tool-based modelling and measurement, value presentation and statistical analysis. The framework includes the main aspects of the process evaluation techniques (Capability Maturity Model, ISO 9000-3 etc.) and product evaluation (ISO 9126, etc.). It is not a disjointed set of aspects: our measurement framework represents an incremental technique for the application of quantification of quality aspects in a required quality assurance