B.B. Chua (Australia)
Requirements change, effort rework, unexpected errors, weak characteristics and attributes, change request forms
Although software managers are generally good at estimation, their experience of scheduling reworks is poor. Inconsistent or incorrect effort estimation in turn increases the risk that the completion time for a project will ultimately become problematic. To continually alter software maintenance schedules while maintaining software projects is, in fact, a daunting task. Our proposed framework, validated in a case study, confirms that variables in requirements change suffer from weaknesses in coding, user involvement and user documentation. Our results clearly show that there is significant impact on rework as a result of unexpected errors found to correlate to 1) weak characteristics and attributes as described in the source lines of code, especially in data declaration and data statement, 2) lack of communication between developers and users on a change effect, and 3) unavailability of user documentation. To keep rework under control, new criteria in change request forms are proposed. These criteria are shown in the framework to need refining; thus, the more case studies that are validated, the more reliable the result will be in determining outcomes of effort rework effects.
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