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Tracing Variability in Software Product Families

Tracing Variability in Software Product Families
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Author(s): Kannan Mohan (Georgia State University, USA)
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 3
Source title: Information Technology & Organizations: Trends, Issues, Challenges & Solutions
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-066-0.ch346
ISBN13: 9781616921248
EISBN13: 9781466665330

Abstract

Significant economic benefits can be achieved by software development organizations involved in customized software product development by adopting a product family approach. Managing variability, which refers to how members of a product family differ from each other, demands extensive process knowledge. Traceability, the capability to link various conceptual and physical artifacts, from requirements to other outputs of the development process, has been recognized as one of the prominent approaches that can be used to support knowledge intensive processes. A common problem in establishing traceability is identifying and capturing the relevant knowledge elements that will be useful in later phases of the development life cycle. Here, I investigate the use of traceability in managing variability in software product family development. This research focuses on the development of a traceability model for managing variability in product families. This model will identify the various knowledge elements that can be captured and that will be useful in managing variability. I adopt a three-phased approach in this dissertation. In the first phase, I use grounded theory method to develop a traceability model. In the second phase, I develop a prototype software system that is used to capture and use the knowledge represented by the traceability model. In the third phase, a laboratory experiment will be conducted to evaluate the usefulness of this traceability knowledge.

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