Managing the Change: Software Configuration and Change Management: Software Best Practice 2

By Eric W. Olsen

C. Amting Directorate General Information Society, European Commission, Brussels th Under the 4 Framework of European Research, the European Systems and Soft- ware Initiative (ESSI) was part of the ESPRIT Programme. This initiative funded more than 470 projects in the area of software and system process improvements. The majority of these projects were process improvement experiments carrying out and taking up new development processes, methods and technology within the software development process of a company. In addition, nodes (centres of exper- tise), European networks (organisations managing local activities), training and dissemination actions complemented the process improvement experiments. ESSI aimed at improving the software development capabilities of European enterprises. It focused on best practice and helped European companies to develop world class skills and associated technologies to build the increasingly complex and varied systems needed to compete in the marketplace. The dissemination activities were designed to build a forum, at European level, to exchange information and knowledge gained within process improvement ex- periments. Their major objective was to spread the message and the results of experiments to a wider audience, through a variety ofdifferent channels. The European Experience Exchange (tUR X) project has been one ofthese dis- semination activities within the European Systems and Software Initiative. UR X has collected the results of practitioner reports from numerous workshops in Europe and presents, in this series of books, the results of Best Practice achieve- ments in European Companies over the last few years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3540417850
• ISBN13: 9783540417859
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

For advanced practitioners only - not a 'how to' book

This book is for advanced practitioners seeking ideas and best practices. It is not a 'how to' book, or even an overview of SCM and CM, but a collection of findings from the European Experience Exchange (EUREX) project. The book is divided into three parts:PART I covers how the topic relates to software process improvement,the European Systems and Software Initiative, and EUREX. Subjects covered include types of projects, stand alone assessments, and process improvement experiments (PIEs). These are aligned to EUXEX-specific approaches, which are the foundation of the book, and include: EUREX taxonomy, analysis and assessment of PIEs, and classification into problem domains.PART II, "Managing the Change: Configuration Management, Change Management", is the heart of the book. The main areas addressed include: domain overview, risks and benefits, process input-output-activities, process management, SCM plan, impact of configuration management, role of control boards in configuration management, resources for practitioners, and methods and tools. Most of this material is handled in less than a page per sub topic. The remainder of this part of the book goes deeper into details regarding the connection of SCM and CM to quality, which are directly related to various process improvement experiments.Part III is a collection of the Process Improvement Experiments in the form of report summaries. These are short and comprise over a third of the book.For those new to SCM and CM I recommend "Software Configuration Management" by Jessica Keyes (ISBN 0849319765) instead of this book because Keyes' book explains the nuts and bolts, and shows how to implement and manage SCM/CM. However, if your area of expertise is SCM (or CM) and you want to tap into the lessons learned and findings that are contained in this book, you're sure to find more than one topic that you can apply or incorporate into your methodology.