Terminologies used in Software metrics
- Measure: Quantitative indication of the extent, amount, dimension, or size of some attribute of a product or process
- Metrics: The degree to which a system, component, or process possesses a given attribute.
- Indicators: A combination of metrics that provides insight into the software process, project or product
- Direct Metrics: Immediately measurable attributes (e.g. line of code, execution speed, defects reported)
- Indirect Metrics: Aspects that are not immediately quantifiable (e.g. functionality, quantity, reliability)
Faults:
- Errors: Faults found by the practitioners during software development
- Defects: Faults found by the customers after release
Metric Classification
- Processes
- Products
- Project
Process Metrics
- Process metrics are collected across all projects and over long periods of time. Their intent is to provide a set of process indicators that lead to long-term software process improvement.
- Focus on quality achieved as a consequence of a repeatable or managed process
- Strategic and Long term
- Statistical Software Process Improvement (SSPI).
Project Metrics
Project metrics enable a software project manager to assess the status of an ongoing project, track potential risks, uncover problem areas before they go “critical,” adjust work flow or tasks, and evaluate the project team’s ability to control quality of software work products
- Project metrics on most software projects occurs during estimation
- Metrics collected from past projects are used as a basis from which effort and time estimates are made for current software work
- Production rates represented in terms of models created, review hours, function points, and delivered source lines are measured
- These metrics are used to minimize the development schedule by making the adjustments necessary to avoid delays and mitigate potential problems and risks
Product Metrics
- Focus on the quality of deliverables
- Product metrics are combined across several projects to produce process metrics
- Metrics for the product:
- Measures of the Analysis Model
- Complexity of the Design Model
- Internal algorithmic complexity
- Architectural complexity
- Data flow complexity
- Code metrics