A Software Evolution Experiment

This paper describes an ongoing experiment where the evolution of a legacy system developed by the Portuguese Navy and its maintenance process are analyzed. A framework used in the registering and analysis of software evolution requests, called RARE, is presented here. The problems related to data collection based on semiformal requests and to the “cultural adaptation” underway to gather more significant data, without significant overhead, are addressed. A system’s evolution is analyzed with the usage of a set of statistically significant product metrics obtained by means of data reduction techniques.
Process and product control and their role in the definition of predictive models based on software metrics are also discussed. Reliability analysis and statistical process control techniques were performed and used as a basis for future process improvements.