Software Process Automation The Technology and Its Adoption

Process automation provides a means to integrate people in a software development organization with the development process and the tools supporting that development. This new technology may significantly improve software quality and development productivity. However, as yet there is little practical experience in its day-to-day use.
This book is for those who wish to explore the technology or are considering its adoption. The monograph discusses the underlying concepts, reviews in some detail two of the major process automation products, relates process automation to process improvement, and provides adoption guidelines. Special emphasis is on the process modeling language ProNet which is commercially available. The book is enriched by numerous examples, tables, and technical appendices.

1 Software Process Automation in Perspective.- 1.1 The Origins of Software Process Automation.- 1.2 Automation in a Process Improvement Context.- 1.3 A Process Development and Usage Scenario.- 2 Process Definition, Execution and Verification.- 2.1 Underlying Concepts.- 2.2 Process Definition and Executable Specification.- 2.3 The ProNet Graphical Modeling Language.- 2.4 Developing an Approach to Process Execution.- 2.5 Two Examples of Process Execution.- 2.6 Software Process Verification.- 2.7 Miscellaneous Issues.- 2.8 Summary.- 3 An Investigation into Process-Centered Environments.- 3.1 Setting a Context for PCEs.- 3.2 The Experimental Approach.- 3.3 The ProcessWeaver Experiment.- 3.4 The Synervision Experiment.- 3.5 End-User Role Plays.- 3.6 A Comparison of ProcessWeaver and Synervision.- 4 The Application of Process-Centered Environments.- 4.1 Why Use a Process-Centered Environment?.- 4.2 Issues Related to CASE and Process Improvement.- 4.3 Responses to Adopting New Technology.- 4.4 User-Oriented Issues with PCEs.- 4.5 A Transitioning Strategy.- 5 The Past, Present, and Future of Process Automation.- Appendix A The Process Enactment Program, ProSim.- A.1 The Process Controller Listing.- A.2 The codeDevel Process.- A3 The docUpdate Process.- Appendix B The Process Verification Program.- Appendix C Vendor Information on PCEs.- Appendix D Listing of SynerVision Experiment Script.- Appendix E Terminology and Concepts.- E.1 Basic Terminology.- E.2 Process-Related Concepts.- E.3 Relationship to the NIST/ECMA Reference Model.- Appendix F End-User Evaluation Materials.- References.