Quality Assurance Of CASE Tools: AMonitoring Perspective
J.F. Coxhead, E.A. Dodman · WIT transactions on information and communication technologies · 1970
Current methods of assuring the quality of software products concentrate on measurements of the quality of the end product and the management of the process by which the product is produced. However the achievement of quality is a complex matter dependent on many issues, for example the standard of the staff involved and the quality of the tools they use. Thus staff insufficiently trained will be unable to produce quality products even if good development tools are available. Conversely good staff will find it difficult to produce quality products if they do not have appropriate tools available. This is as relevant to an academic institution teaching and training software developers as it is for a commercial enterprise striving for Total Quality Management (TQM) At LJVIU we have installed a configurable Software Engineering Environment, based on meta-case technology, to use in the education and training of software engineers. The educational philosophy is that students are taught design principles and methods ( e.g. SSADM ) and put these into practice using the environment. The system has been used successfully with undergraduate and postgraduate students as evidenced by student enthusiasm and improved course work. We now intend to quantitatively monitor and evaluate the environment's fitness for purpose and to build up profiles of normal student usage and progress. In the short term these profiles will be used for the early detection of students who are experiencing difficulties. In the long term they may be used to provide automatic triggers to a number of aids such as feedback, extra advice and supportive tuition or on-line corrective training.