A system to monitor and control the development and documentation of a computer programming project

Abstract

The high costs of software development and maintenance have focused attention on the problems of the management of computer programming projects. Some of the problems identified are: 1) lack of planning 2) failure to write complete problem specifications 3) inability to monitor project status 4) subjective time and costs estimates 5) poor organization and communication channels 6) inadequate on-going documentation 7) personnel turnover. This dissertation describes a computer-based subsystem which gives a project manager the tools needed to solve these problems. The Documentation Monitor and Control (DOMONIC) System, developed under NASA Contracts NAS5-11911, NAS5-11988 and NAS5-20715, uses the power of the computer to produce documentation. It is being extended to monitor and control baseline specifications, programming standards and practices, personnel organization and work allocation, changes to baseline definitions and data and project development status. It will collect a wealth of information about program development for analysis and decision making. The procedure followed to design the monitor and control subsystems was to: 1) understand the software development process 2) design a model for the process 3) implement the model on a computer 4) use the model and the experience of implementing it to study the problems of software development 5) find solutions to the problems. The solution to the problems was the inclusion of extensive monitor and control functions as an integral part of the system. The development and implementation of DOMONIC were funded by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. An initial version of DOMONIC is currently installed at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and at the Data Processing Center at Texas A&M University. Future extensions will include the monitor subsystem.