Identifying and measuring adherence to software development requirements

• US 8,180,659 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2008
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Atkin, Steven Edward, Moriarty, Michael Francis, Schultz, Dale Martin, Sullivan, William James, Williams, Susan Jane, Zapata, Luis
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US12/049,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20080163157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,522 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.11
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management

Abstract

An approach to identifying and measuring adherence to software development requirements is presented. A software agent provides a user with product and technical questions. In turn, the user provides product and technical answers, or attributes, which are stored in a repository. A globalization plan generator uses the product and technical attributes to generate a software development plan. In addition, a globalization verification test generator uses the globalization plan to generate a test plan and measure the success of the software product based upon the test plan.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing one or more product questions and one or more technical questions to a user, wherein the product questions and the technical questions correspond to a software product currently being developed by the user;

receiving, from the user, one or more product attributes corresponding to the product questions and one or more technical attributes corresponding to the technical questions, wherein the technical attributes include one or more specified development tools used by the user to develop the software product;

analyzing, by a processor, the product attributes and the technical attributes received from the user, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining if the specified development tools provide one or more required implementation techniques; and

generating a software development plan for the software product based upon the analysis, wherein the generating further comprises including a noncompliance remark in the software development plan in response to determining that the specified development tools do not provide the required implementation techniques.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing further comprises:

retrieving expert information from a data storage area; and

comparing the expert information with the product attributes and the technical attributes.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the product attributes include an international marketplace;

and

wherein the software development plan includes a globalization plan corresponding to the international marketplace.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

identifying language translation requirements corresponding to the international marketplace; and

including the language translation requirements in the globalization plan.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing the software development plan to a test generator; and

receiving, from the test generator, a software verification test plan based upon the software development plan.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

testing the software product using the software verification test plan; and

generating a scorecard based upon the testing.

7. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium, comprising computer program code that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions comprising:

providing one or more product questions and one or more technical questions to a user, wherein the product questions and the technical questions correspond to a software product currently being developed by the user;

receiving, from the user, one or more product attributes corresponding to the product questions and one or more technical attributes corresponding to the technical questions, wherein the technical attributes include one or more specified development tools used by the user to develop the software product;

analyzing the product attributes and the technical attributes received from the user, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining if the specified development tools provide one or more required implementation techniques; and

generating a software development plan for the software product based upon the analysis, wherein the generating further comprises including a noncompliance remark in the software development plan in response to determining that the specified development tools do not provide the required implementation techniques.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the actions further comprise:

retrieving expert information from a data storage area; and

comparing the expert information with the product attributes and the technical attributes.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the product attributes include an international marketplace;

and

wherein the software development plan includes a globalization plan corresponding to the international marketplace.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the actions further comprise:

identifying language translation requirements corresponding to the international marketplace; and

including the language translation requirements in the globalization plan.

11. The information handling system of claim 9 wherein the plan generation tool is further effective to:

identify language translation requirements corresponding to the international marketplace; and

include the language translation requirements in the globalization plan.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the actions further comprise:

providing the software development plan to a test generator; and

receiving, from the test generator, a software verification test plan based upon the software development plan.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the actions further comprise:

testing the software product using the software verification test plan; and

generating a scorecard based upon the testing.

14. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by the processors;

one or more nonvolatile storage devices accessible by the processors; and

a plan generation tool for generating a software development plan, the plan generation tool being effective to;

provide one or more product questions and one or more technical questions to a user over a computer network, wherein the product questions and the technical questions correspond to a software product currently being developed by the user;

receive, from the user, one or more product attributes corresponding to the product questions and one or more technical attributes corresponding to the technical questions, wherein the technical attributes include one or more specified development tools used by the user to develop the software product;

analyze, using one of the processors, the product attributes and the technical attributes received from the user, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining if the specified development tools provide one or more required implementation techniques; and

generate the software development plan for the software product based upon the analysis, wherein the generating further comprises including a noncompliance remark in the software development plan in response to determining that the specified development tools do not provide the required implementation techniques.

15. The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the plan generation tool is further effective to:

retrieve expert information from one of the nonvolatile storage areas; and

compare the expert information with the product attributes and the technical attributes.

16. The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the product attributes include an international marketplace;

and

wherein the software development plan includes a globalization plan corresponding to the international marketplace.

17. The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the plan generation tool is further effective to:

provide the software development plan to a test generator; and

receive, from the test generator, a software verification test plan based upon the software development plan.