On the impact of metric´s application in a large scale software maintenance environment

Experience with applying metrics in a large-scale software maintenance environment is described. Metrics about complexity and unstructured versions of programs are currently monitored, to verify the reduction of maintenance time and the improvement of software reliability, as investigated in other environments and in the experimental field. During the metrics control plan the amount of structured code programs went up; the time spent on maintenance of structured programs was lower; and the time of availability of programs (time between interventions) was higher, with respect to unstructured ones