A study in software process data capture and analysis

A model of the software process that is based on the notion of events characterizing identifiable, instantaneous milestones in a process was developed, along with capture and analysis techniques suited to that model. A study was undertaken to gain experience with both the model and the capture and analysis techniques. Event data on several enactments of the build process of a large, complex software project were captured and entered into a database, and several queries were run against the data. The queries implement a variety of analyses on the event data by examining relationships among events, such as dependencies and time intervals. The output of the queries is statistical data that can be used to guide the design of process improvements. While the data collected in the study are incomplete, the initial results demonstrate the viability of this approach to capture and analysis