Software engineering process model: a case study

Recently a faction of software engineering researchers has focused their attention on studying the process by which software is produced, stimulating interest in models to specify, design, and implement software. A significant part of the practicing software industry must produce software that conforms to a documentation standard (military standard 2167A) for software products; it is intended to ensure that delivered software meets the documentation requirements. This paper is a case study of how a government software contractor might use models to define a process for designing and implementing a software product that complies with the documentation requirements. The intent of the paper is to apply business process modeling technology to the software engineering domain, thus exploring strengths and weaknesses of our evolving models of group collaboration. The case study illustrates an alternative way to design, analyze, and track software processes. It also attempts to illustrate how the model might “break down” as the basis of an enactment model if it were to be used to coordinate the work of a large number of software developers.