A framework for software maintenance metrics

The authors introduce a software maintenance process model that emphasizes impact analysis and forms a framework for software maintenance metrics support. Schedule, resource, and other constraints frequently subvert efforts to build and maintain a software product. using direct graphs, the authors suggest traditional process and product metrics, as well as new impact analysis metrics that address software work-product traceability and inter-work-product dependencies. Management can use these and other metrics to understand and control the maintenance process dynamically. As changes are requested, measurements can be made, impact assessed, and implementation decisions made. Moreover, the more the impact is understood, the better the change can be controlled; hence risks are minimized