Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The aim of this paper is to use process mining techniques to analyze the Change
Control Board (CCB) process based on real data. We attempt to find whether the real
executions of a CCB process in a particular organization deviate from the documented
process as the project progresses. Knowing the "real" process and its differences from
the documented process, we investigate what the possible implications are, and what
type of advices can be given on the basis of the results, with respect to software
process improvement.
2 Previous Research
During software development various kinds of data are recorded. Developers and
managers are making use of these data in order to estimate and predict the results of
the software development, to plan software development activities [8] and to steer the
development process. In this project, we try to use this data as input for process min-
ing techniques to get a better understanding what is really happening during software
development.
Process mining is strongly related to the more general field data mining. The main
difference between the two areas is the strong focus of process mining on processes.
Process mining has already been applied in several case studies in different profes-
sional domains, e.g. in energy supply companies[5]. Regarding the software industry
Cook et al. started to analyze the behavior of processes in software engineering from a
theoretical point of view[2]. In [3] process mining approaches and techniques are pre-
sented in a framework for software development processes. A complete overview of
recent research in the process mining area is beyond the scope of this paper, therefore
we refer to [6] and http://www.processmining.org for additional information on the
subject.
In a previous paper [4] we showed the possibility of applying process mining to a
software development process. The process models were derived from data on actual
'real-practice' activities that are taking place. The case study revealed that although
people tend to believe that specified and well-documented processes are followed, the
real practice is different. The main finding was that a particular process, as specified
in a Quality Manual, was not followed in 70% of the cases. In the case study in this
paper, we analyze the process further in order to understand common patterns or cir-
cumstances, under which the development team makes shortcuts in the CCB process.
More in particular we investigate the way the CCB process changes, i.e. deviates from
the 'standard', during the subsequent phases in the software development life cycle.
3 Case Study
Projects under study are middleware embedded-software projects of a company X in
the Netherlands. The company develops software components for consumer elec-
tronic devices. Over the past years the company reached level 3 of the Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)[1]. This means that the organization is capable
to define their software development processes and interrelated activities. As such, the
environment offers opportunities for the application of process mining techniques.
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