Metrics for model driven requirements development

Abstract

The CMMI defines two process areas associated with requirements elicitation: Requirements Development (RD) and Requirements Management (REQM). The Measurements and Analysis process area (MA) requires measurements and quantitative objectives for RD and REQM, but nowhere does it state what those measurements are. Furthermore, in order to extract measurements and evaluate them, a process must enable or otherwise support the taking of measurements. It is especially difficult to do this during requirements development, as it is generally viewed as a writing activity that does not lend itself to quantitative measurements. This paper describes a CMMI compliant formal approach to measurement and analysis during a model-driven requirements development process. It presents a set of metrics that were used successfully on several Siemens projects, describing team dynamics, project size and staffing, how the metrics were captured and used, and lessons learned.