Using Simulation to Evaluate the Impact of New Requirements Analysis Tools

Summary form only given. Adopting new tools and technologies on a development process can be a risky endeavor. Will the project accept the new technology? What will be the impact? Far too often the project is asked to adopt the new technology without planning how it will be applied on the project or evaluating the technology's potential impact. In this paper we provide a case study evaluating one new technology. Specifically we assess the merits of an automated defect detection tool. Using process simulation, we find situations where the use of this new technology is useful and situations where the use of this new technology is useless for large-scale NASA projects that utilize a process similar to the IEEE 12207 systems development lifecycle. We also calculate the value of the tool when implementing at different point in the process. This can help project manager to decide whether it would be worthwhile to invest in this new tool. The method can be applied to assessing the impact (including Return on Investment), break even point and the over-all value of applying any tool on a project.