Software Engineering (21CS05203)

Unit-8
Software Configuration
Management

Prof. Rajkumar Gondaliya

Computer Engineering Department
Darshan University, Rajkot
[email protected]
+91-9723232741
 Outline
Looping
 Types of Software Maintenance
 Re-Engineering
 Reverse Engineering
 Forward Engineering
 The SCM Process
 Identification of Objects in the Software Configuration
 Version Control and Change Control
Types of Software Maintenance In a software lifetime, type of maintenance may vary based on its nature

 It may be just a routine maintenance tasks as some bug discovered by some user or it may be
a large event in itself based on maintenance size or nature
 Following are some types of maintenance based on their characteristics
Corrective Maintenance Adaptive Maintenance Perfective Maintenance Preventive Maintenance

Corrective Maintenance
 This includes modifications done in order to fix problems
 Corrective maintenance deals with the repair of defects found in day-to-day system
functions
Adaptive Maintenance
 This includes modifications applied to keep the software product up-to-date
 Adaptive maintenance is the implementation of changes in a part of the system, which has
been affected by a change that occurred in some other part of the system

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Types of Software Maintenance Cont.
Perfective Maintenance
 This includes modifications done in order to keep the software usable over long
period of time
 It includes new features, new user requirements for refining the software and
improve its reliability and performance.
 This includes changing the functionalities of as per the user’s changing needs
Preventive Maintenance
 Modifications to prevent future problems of software
 It aims to attend problems, which are not significant at this moment but may cause
serious issues in future
 It comprises documentation updating, code optimization and code restructuring.

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Re-Engineering
 When we need to update the software to keep it Forward Engineering
to the current market, without impacting its
functionality, it is called software re-
engineering
 It is a process where the design of software is
changed and programs are re-written
 Legacy software cannot keep tuning with the
latest technology available in the market
 For example, initially UNIX was developed in
assembly language. When language C came into
existence, UNIX was re-engineered in C, because
working in assembly language was difficult.
 Other than this, sometimes programmers notice
that few parts of software need more Reverse Engineering
maintenance than others and they also need re-
engineering
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Re-Engineering Cont. Reverse
Engineering
Obtain
 Decide what to re-engineer.
specifications
 Is it whole software or a part of it?
of existing
 Perform Reverse Engineering, in order to obtain software
specifications of existing software
 Restructure Program if required
Program
Restructuring
 For example, changing function-oriented programs Change
into object-oriented programs and re-structure data program
as required
and/or data
 Apply Forward engineering concepts in order to structure
get re-engineered software
Forward
Engineering
Get re-
engineered
software
developed
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Reverse Engineering Reverse engineering can
extract design
 The abstraction level of a reverse information from source
engineering process refers to the code
sophistication of the design information that
 As the abstraction level increases,
can be extracted from source code
information will allow easier
 Ideally, the abstraction level should be as understanding of the program
high as possible
 Interactivity refers to the degree to which
 The reverse engineering process should be the human is “integrated” with automated
capable of tools to create an effective reverse
 Deriving procedural design representations (a engineering process
low-level abstraction)
 Program and data structure information (a  In most cases, as the abstraction level
somewhat higher level of abstraction) increases, interactivity must increase
 Object models, data flow models (a relatively  The directionality of the reverse
high level of abstraction) engineering process is one-way, all
 Entity relationship models (a high level of
information extracted from the source
abstraction).
code is provided to the software engineer
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Forward engineering
 Forward engineering is a process of obtaining desired software from the specifications, which
were brought by reverse engineering
 Forward engineering is same as software engineering process with only one difference it is
carried out always after reverse engineering
 In most cases, forward engineering does not simply create a modern equivalent of an older
program
 Rather, new user and technology requirements are integrated into the reengineering effort
 The redeveloped program extends the capabilities of the older application

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Software Configuration Management
The SCM (Software Configuration Management) is a set of Layers of SCM Process
activities that have been developed to manage change
throughout the software life cycle

Purpose:
Systematically control changes to the configuration and maintain
the integrity and traceability of the configuration throughout the
system’s life cycle

Four primary objectives

• To identify all items that collectively define the software
configuration
• To manage changes to one or more of these items
• To facilitate the construction of different versions of an
application
• To ensure that software quality is maintained as the
Configuration evolves over time
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The SCM Process Identification Task
 Referring to the figure, SCM tasks can viewed as  Identification separately names each
concentric layers SCI and then organizes it in the SCM
 SCIs (Software Configuration Item) flow outward repository using an object-oriented
approach
through these layers throughout their useful life
 Objects start out as basic objects
 As an SCI moves through a layer, the actions implied
and are then grouped into aggregate
by each SCM task may or may not be applicable
objects.
 For example, when a new SCI is created, it must be
identified.  Each object has a set of distinct
 However, if no changes are requested for the SCI, the features that identify it.
change control layer does not apply  A name that is unambiguous to all
 The SCI is assigned to a specific version of the other objects
software (version control mechanisms come into  A description that contains the SCI
type, a project identifier, and change
play) and/or version information
 A record of the SCI (its name, creation date, version,  List of resources needed by the object
etc.) is maintained for configuration auditing  The object realization (i.e., the
purposes document, the file, the model, etc.)
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Change Control Cont.
 Change control is a procedural activity that ensures quality and consistency as changes are
made to a configuration object
 A change request is submitted to a configuration control authority, which is usually a change
control board (CCB).
 The request is evaluated for technical merit, potential side effects, overall impact on other configuration
objects and system functions, and projected cost in terms of money, time and resources
 An engineering change order (ECO) is issued for each approved change request
 Describes the change to be made, the constraints to follow and the criteria for review and audit
 The Base lined SCI is obtained from the SCM repository
 Access control governs which software engineers have the authority to access and modify a particular
configuration object
 Synchronization control helps to ensure that parallel changes performed by two different people don't
overwrite one another.

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Version Control
Version control is a set of procedures and tools for managing the creation and use of multiple
occurrences of objects in the SCM repository
 Version Control Capabilities
 An SCM repository that stores all relevant configuration objects
 A version management capability that stores all versions of a configuration object
 A make facility that enables the software engineer to collect all relevant configuration objects and
construct a specific version of the software
 Issues or bug tracking capability that enables the team to record and track the status of all outstanding
issues associated with each configuration object
 The SCM repository maintains a change set
 Serves as a collection of all changes made to a baseline configuration
 Used to create a specific version of the software
 Captures all changes to all files in the configuration along with the reason for changes and details of who
made the changes and when

Few version
control systems
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Configuration Audit
 Configuration auditing is an SQA activity that helps to ensure that quality is maintained as
changes are made.
 It complements the formal technical review and is conducted by the SQA group
 It addresses the following questions
 Has a formal technical review been conducted to assess technical correctness?
 Has the software process been followed and have software engineering standards been properly applied?
 Has the change been "highlighted" and "documented" in the SCI? Have the change data and change author
been specified? Do the attributes of the configuration object reflect the change?
 Have SCM procedures for noting the change, recording it and reporting it been followed?
 Have all related SCIs been properly updated?
 A configuration audit ensures that
 The correct SCIs (by version) have been incorporated into a specific build
 That all documentation is up-to-date and consistent with the version that has been built

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Status Reporting
 Configuration status reporting (CSR) is also called status accounting
 Provides information about each change to those personnel in an organization with a need to
know
 Answers what happened, who did it, when did it happen and what else will be affected?
 Sources of entries for configuration status reporting
 Each time a SCI is assigned new or updated information
 Each time a configuration audit is conducted
 The configuration status report
 Placed in an on-line database or on a website for software developers and maintainers to read
 Given to management and practitioners to keep them appraised of important changes to the project SCIs

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 Software Engineering (21CS05203)

Thank
You

Prof. Rajkumar Gondaliya

Computer Engineering Department
Darshan University, Rajkot
[email protected]
+91-9723232741