An object-oriented formal model for software project management

An object-oriented OOPM model for project management and control is proposed in this paper. It employs object-oriented features, together with utilizing extended Petri net techniques, to provide a sound specification of hierarchical structures of the software development process. In the model, object types specify the project activities and their accessed process components with a textual representation as well as a graphical representation; the generalization-specialization and whole-part features are utilized particularly in the hierarchical structure of object types to provide project managers at different levels with respective abstract levels of information about the project progress. With the specification of object types, an object model can be created which describes level by level the behaviors of activity objects and how they interact with component objects; an extended Petri net is used at the bottom level that specifies in more detail how activity objects access component objects. To be practical for its applications, the OOPM model supports sufficient formality such that project managers can easily comprehend and monitor the development process; automatic tools can also be generated to facilitate specifying and monitoring the project