Software measurement in the U.S. Army

Many means for organizing software measures have been developed over the years. The Army has found that the larger the organization, the higher in the hierarchy the requirement for software measurement needs to be stated. The reason for this stems from the growing diversity of developers in larger organizations. Small organizations that have a well defined process for developing software, or a common set of software development tools, can require that specific data elements be collected, or specific measurements be taken. If larger organizations attempting to impose such specific requirements on developers are likely to meet some resistance, a tight policy does not allow for variation in development processes and development tools. With software development centers building air defense systems in Huntsville, Alabama; command and control systems in Monmouth, New Jersey; logistics systems in Petersburg, Virginia; personnel systems in Fairfax, Virginia; communications systems in Sierra Vista, Arizona; aviation systems in St. Louis, Missouri, armor systems in Picatinny, New Jersey and Detroit Michigan, and engineering systems at various locations throughout the US, the Army must have a policy for software measurement that puts in place flexible reporting requirements, yet provides training and support tailored to the needs of specific programs