Measurement

Measurement is the underlying basis for understanding the business and creating transparency in the organization, for managing and controlling projects, and for guiding improvement and optimization programs. Goal-oriented measurement based upon the popular GQM (Goal Question Metric) approach is the foundation for making sure that the “right” set of measurement data and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is collected and that the “right” conclusions can be drawn. Our services include:

• Analyzing and refactoring existing measurement and KPI systems (e.g., based upon ISO/IEC 15939)
• Designing and implementing goal-oriented measurement and KPI systems (e.g., on the basis of existing business intelligence tool sets or the Fraunhofer M-System)
• Designing and implementing data interpretation and visualization techniques (ranging from simple mechanisms to tailor-made visualization metaphors and complex dashboards).

IT/Business Alignment

IT/business alignment provides the foundations for aligning IT and business goals with strategies through measurement. GQM⁺Strategies® extends the classical GQM-oriented measurement model towards relationships with organizational goals and strategies. It supports organizations in measuring the success or failure of goals and strategies with the explicit consideration of relevant context characteristics and assumptions. It adds enterprise-wide support for determining actions on the basis of measurement results and for integrating measurement programs across all organizational units. In this sense it is a central basis for evidence-based governance of different aspects of an organization. Our services include:

• Performing gap analyses regarding the alignment of goals, strategies, and associated measurement data / KPI
• Creating alignment and measurement models for the organization
• Designing and implementing decision models for evaluating the success and failure of goals and strategies based on measurement data / KPI

Quality Estimation

Quality estimation enables managers to create more reliable plans and detect plan derivations as early as possible in the development process. Hybrid estimation techniques are applied, which make use of expert knowledge and experience as well as measurement data (e.g., from already completed projects). The focus is on analyzing the effectiveness of QA activities based upon custom-tailored defect classification frameworks (Defect Flow Model approach) and predicting development costs/effort (CoBRA approach) and remaining defects (HyDEEP approach) based on quantified causal models that capture expert knowledge and experience. Our services include:

• Analyzing your organization’s maturity regarding quality estimation
• Developing and introducing customer-specific estimation approaches for development cost/effort and quality (ranging from simple, purely expert-based approaches towards advanced estimation models)
• Enabling your organization to build up estimation databases
• Introducing the CoBRA cost estimation approach for effort-based benchmarking and risk assessment
• Introducing the HyDEEP defect prediction approach for analyzing the effectiveness of your QA activities and the defect density of your development artifacts
• Defining and rolling out defect analysis and management frameworks (Defect Flow Models) in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your QA activities

Quality Assessment and Benchmarking

Quality assessment and benchmarking enables rational decision-making by providing means for evaluating key properties of software products (such as maintainability or reliability) and processes (such as productivity or effectiveness). They are based on techniques for setting up and adapting evaluation models in a consistent and comprehensible way, decision-making techniques for obtaining justified results, and the identification, provision, and setup of suitable benchmarking databases. Our services include:

• Designing custom-tailored quality models in a goal-oriented way (e.g., based upon ISO/IEC 9126, 14598 or the 25000 series)
• Supporting the selection and application of decision-making techniques for the assessment of product and process qualities (e.g., based upon MCDA)
• Conducting productivity benchmarks based upon appropriate databases (such as the ISBSG benchmarking database).