SPDW: A Software Development Process Performance Data Warehousing Environment

Metrics are essential in the assessment of the quality of software development processes (SDP). However, the adoption of a metrics program requires an information system for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating measures of software processes, products and services. This paper describes SPDW, an SPD Data Warehousing environment developed in the context of the metrics program of a leading software operation in Latin America, currently assessed as CMM Level 3. SDPW architecture encompasses: 1) automatic project data capturing, considering different types of heterogeneity present in the software development environment; 2) the representation of project metrics according to a standard organizational view; and 3) analytical functionality that supports process analysis. The paper also describes current implementations, and reports experiences on the use of SPDW by the organization.