Human Competency Assessment for Software Configuration Management

Late product delivery is a common problem in software projects. Late delivery can be attributed to software change especially in the development and maintenance phases, leading to more work than originally planned, thus increasing project completion time. One approach for managing software change is Software Configuration Management (SCM). SCM was first introduced in the 1970s to ensure the timely delivery of software products. To date, SCM implementation is supported by recognized standards, best practice, and countless commercial and proprietary tools. However, after more than 50 years, the issue of late software product delivery still prevails, questioning the practice of SCM in software organizations. One aspect of SCM that has received little focus in mainstream research is the human aspects. This study aims to identify how the competency of SCM practitioners can be assessed through the identification of SCM competency criteria and the development of a competency assessment framework. The framework was validated through expert reviews and case studies involving practitioners from the public sector, industry, institutes of higher learning and international organizations. Results confirmed the reliability of the SCM competency criteria and the plausibility of the competency assessment framework.

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Developing Software Configuration Management System for Digital Instrumentation and Control (DI&C) System of Nuclear Power Plant

18th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering: Volume 1 ◽

10.1115/icone18-29102 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

I-Hsin Chou ◽

Hsueh-Wei Hsiao ◽

Che-An Chang

Keyword(s):

Power Plant ◽

Nuclear Power Plant ◽

Management System ◽

Nuclear Power ◽

Configuration Management ◽

Software Configuration Management ◽

Software Products ◽

Software Configuration ◽

Digital Instrumentation ◽

And Control

As Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) adopted software-based Digital Instrumentation and Control (DI&C) System, the Software Configuration Management (SCM) is becoming more and more important for NPP. The main reason is the inherent changeability and invisibility which of software often causes unpredictable problems and results are difficult to manage. In addition, the DI&C system has always been constructed by multiple vendors and each vendor of the DI&C has its own development artifacts. Therefore, it is great challenge for NPP staff to maintain the consistency and integrity of software Configuration Items (CI) among multiple vendors. The software CIs include software products delivered to customers and items required to create the software products such as software design document, source code, database, test report, compiler, etc. In general, Software Configuration Management System (SCMS) is usually developed to support SCM activities, such as storing CI, controlling change, and accounting and auditing throughout the entire software lifecycle. However, most existing file-based SCMS typically deal with those artifacts of individual files without providing the more detailed configuration and change information among CIs. Based on the nuclear SCM related regulations, this paper proposes a developing SCMS for the DI&C system of a NPP. Its main goal is to meet the regulatory requirements, and enhance the visibility, tractability and integrate ability to manage the heterogeneous subsystems within the DI&C system. This paper provides the more detailed descriptions about regulation requirements analysis, system design and the development process. Finally, a prototype system is presented.

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