Project management for effective software process improvement must be achieved based on quantitative data. However, because data collection for measurement requires high costs and collaboration with developers, it is difficult to collect coherent, quantita

Table1.EPMdevelopmentprojectincreasetheaccountabilityfortheirmanagers.Otheroneisthatthegraphsgeneratedinrealtimemotivateddevelopersto xbugs,sincetheycouldbeawarethattherewerestillunresolvedissues.

Incontrasttotheseadvantages,someproblemsrelatedtotheusageofEPMhavebeenfound.Oneisthatvisual-izationsaretoocomplicatedtounderstandthestatusoftheprojectinsomecases.Forinstance,developerscouldnotdistinguishwhich leversionscorrespondedtowhichver-ticallinesinFigure3,sinceonedevelopercheckedinCVSforbackupofhis leseverydayandthereforeanumberofcheckinsoccurred.Inthiscase,developersmightneedtousetwoCVS(e.g.oneisforsoftwarereleaseandanotherisforbackup).

TheaboveresultsarestilltheinitialevaluationsforEPM.EPMwillbeintroducedinsomesoftwarecompaniesinthenearfuture.WeintendtoevaluatetheusefulnessofEPMwithrespectto(1)theeffectsonsoftwaredevelop-mentandprocessimprovementbyprovidingmeasurementresultsfrommultiplesoftwarerepositories,and(2)theben-e tofgivingthecapabilitytomanagemultipleprojects.

5ConclusionandFutureWork

ThegoalofthisresearchistoconstructanenvironmentforsupportingmeasurementbasedsoftwaredevelopmentaccordingtotheESEEframework.Inthispaper,weintro-ducedEmpiricalProjectMonitor(EPM)asapartialimple-mentationofESEE,whichhelpsdevelopers/managerskeepprojectsundercontrolbyprovidingvariousvisualizationsofmeasurementresultsrelatedtoprojectactivities.Nowa-days,wecangatherandanalyzemassivedataonsoftwaredevelopmentinalargescaleusingrapidlygrowinghard-warecapabilities.Byanalyzingsuchthehugedatacol-lectedfromthousandsofsoftwaredevelopmentprojects,wewouldliketoprovideusefulknowledgeandbene tnotonlytoindividualdevelopers/managersbutalsotoorganizations.Empiricalstudyonsoftwaredevelopmentisanactiveareainthe eldofEmpiricalSoftwareEngineering(ESE).ButtheapproachesofESEhavenotbeensuf cientlyap-pliedtosoftwaredevelopmentinsoftwareindustryalthoughcompaniesholdmanyproblems.Thedatarelatedtosoft-waredevelopmentfromtheindustrialworldhasseldom

beenprovidedwithuniversity’sresearch.Wearecollabo-ratingwithsomesoftwaredevelopmentcompaniesasthe

EASEproject.Therefore,itwouldbeastrongtriggerforgoingbeyondtheobstacleofthetechnicalprogressinsoft-wareengineering.

Acknowledgment

ThisworkissupportedbytheComprehensiveDe-velopmentofe-SocietyFoundationSoftwareprogramoftheMinistryofEducation,Culture,Sports,ScienceandTechnology.WethankSatoruIwamura,EijiOnoandTairaShinkaiforsupportingthedevelopmentofEmpiricalProjectMonitor.

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