Transcript Effective Software Configuration Management

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Criteria for Integrated CM/SCM Systems
Bob Ventimiglia
CM Evangelist
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Integrated Systems
Outline
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Principles and Characteristics of Effective CM/SCM
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Basic Criteria for Integrated CM/SCM Systems
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Differentiators between Integrated CM/SCM Systems
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The “List”
References:
Bob Ventimiglia, Dec 2001, “Software Configuration Management Tools”, Encyclopedia of Software Engineering, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons
Susan Dart, 1990, “Spectrum of Functionality of SCM Systems”, CMU/SEI-90-TR-11 ESD-90-TR-212
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Integrated Systems
What is CM/SCM? – A Good Definition
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“Configuration Management is a management tool that defines the
product and controls changes to that product.”
“Configuration Management is a way to communicate. …
– If we use configuration management properly, we should know what
we are supposed to build or produce and we should know at any point
in time what we are building or producing. And, once we finish, we
should know what we have produced or built. …
– The bottom line is – configuration management is an effective,
prudent, and logical function of project management with a set of
rules. …
– The goal is to set up the simplest system possible to achieve the
desired result of control. If you can make the system so it’s totally
automatic and transparent, then you have achieved a perfect
system.”
“Principles of Configuration Management”, M. A. Daniels, 1985
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Integrated Systems
BOBEV’s Definition of SCM, 2001
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Configuration Management/Software Configuration Management is:
A management tool that applies an engineering discipline to manage the
evolution of a system from concept through to system retirement. The
primary focus of this discipline is to ensure the repeatability, traceability, and
integrity of the system being developed and produced. So that everyone
knows what is supposed to be built, what is being built and what has been
built.
Watchwords of CM:
Repeatability, Traceability, and Integrity
Providing Information Everyone Needs to Manage Effectively
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Integrated Systems
Effective CM/SCM: The BOBEVism’s
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Development Team Executed
– Role based fine grained access control
– GUI Based
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The Watchwords
– Repeatability, Traceability, Integrity
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Follow the Files
– Electronic Repository of ALL Software Development Artifacts
– ALL Artifacts are versioned following specific lifecycles
– ALL Artifacts carry history logs
• Name, date, time stamp, status for every transaction
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Don’t Waste Money!: Electronic enforcement of business rules
– Rule Based Closed Loop Change Control
– Preventing the dumb from occurring
Simplify Answering: Where Am I?
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Integrated Systems
The Principles of Effective SCM
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Proactive:
– Technical: a system engineering function
– Define and Implement development process
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Flexible:
– Satisfies the needs of management and developers
– Follow the Files!
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Integrated:
– Integral & Unobtrusive
• 100% development team executed
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Visible:
– Embraces, facilitates and manages change(s)
– Manages evolving process model
Tool Based Software Lifecycle Management
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Integrated Systems
Criteria for an Integrated CM/SCM System
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Follows the Files:
– Repository contains versioned artifact history
• Name, date, time stamp, status/activity
– Generated as by product of process
– Role based access control (versus o/s security based)
• Role based file creation/edit
– Object type workflow definition.
• Different workflows for different types of objects for different projects
Development Team Execution
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Integrated Systems
Criteria for an Integrated CM/SCM System, Continued
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Electronic Enforcement of Business Rules:
– Prevents file check out/in unless electronically associated with a
change document (Work Authorization Process) that has been approved
for implementation.
– Prevents promotion/closure of a change document if electronically
associated files have not reached a defined level of maturity/status
within their workflows/process.
– Creates configurations/baselines by application of change requests to a
previous configuration.
– Captures Real-Time process execution data for all files, change
processes and baselines
Don’t Waste Money!
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Integrated Systems
Criteria for an Integrated CM/SCM System, continued
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Repeatability, Traceability, Integrity
– Provides Baseline/Configuration creation ability
• Prevents changes to baseline components
– Integrated Build Management
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Maintains as built information
Build from change requests, baselines
All builds, developer, engineering test, configured, executed the same way
Integrated: As built records retained only for configured builds
– Just-In-Time Status & Audit Trails
• Always ready – generated as by product of process execution
• Supported by both database queries, reports, and interactive display
– Provides Electronic Relationships/linkages between Object types/Change
Documents
• Activity based development
• Impact Analysis and navigation of relationships
• Real-Time, Just-in-Time value added information, e.g. “Status Accounting”
Provide Value Added Information
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Integrated Systems
Integrated CM/SCM System Feature/Function Differentiators-1
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Process Definition & Maintenance
– Fixed versus flexible
– “Think-it, Click-it, Do-it” versus “Think-it, Script-it, Test-it, Fix-it, Test-it,
Use-it, Script-it, Test-it,…”
– System improvement focused versus development/programming
focused
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Process definition terminology/Semantics
– Use of engineering terminology versus computer science terminology
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Step 1, step 2, instead of object relationship modeling
User Interface: Keep’em working!
– Native O/S Support
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File System Interface/Integration
E-mail Interface/integration
IDE Interface/integration
– Web browser access
– All user tasks executable from Tool Client GUI without requiring
command line/script writing
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Integrated CM/SCM System Feature/Function Differentiators-2
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Predefined Object type/classes
– Tool instead of tool kit
• Use them versus develop (define/create/maintain) them
– Engineering terminology versus computer science terminology
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Repository Capabilities
– Distributed Heterogeneous storage
• Storing files on native operating systems versus all files to single repository
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Geographically Distributed Development support
Server/Client Operating Systems
Granularity of Electronic Enforcement of business rules
– Object type by object type versus all or nothing
– Object Relationships
• Pre-Defined/fixed versus user defined/flexible
• Ease of impact analysis
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Integrated CM/SCM System Feature/Function Differentiators-3
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Reporting: Answering the “Where Am I?” Question
– Interactive display/filtering/queries
– Quality & Depth of Built in reports
– Ease of adding User Defined Reports
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Standards Support
– ANSI Structured Query Language (SQL)
– ODBC/JDBC
– Web DAV
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Administration
– Single versus multiple user id’s & databases
– Domain User ID Authentication versus tool unique User ID/Password
– Password encryption
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Database: Fixed versus ability to use what you own
Build/Make Support
– Integrated with tool versus external to tool
– Automated As built record capture
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Integrated Systems
Integrated CM/SCM Systems
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Fully Integrated
 Simulate Integration
(single database/account)
(multiple database/accounts)
AllChange - Intasoft
 Unified Change Management –
Rational
CM/Synergy - Telelogic Corp.
 Integrity Manager Suite - MKS
PVCS/Dimensions - Merant
CCC/Harvest - Computer Associates  Changeman DS/ALM/WCMSerena
Razor - Visible
True Change - McCabe
Enabler/Aqua – Softlab
Alchemist - Cybermation
StarTeam Elite 5.1 - Starbase Corp.
Xstream – Prosoft
Sablime – AT&T
Konfig-CM – Auto-Trol
SpectrumSCM – Spectrum Software
Quartet – SCM Labs
Accurev – Accurev (with trigger scripts enables)
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