Managing non-invasive measurement tools

Software measures are of paramount importance to evaluate both processes and products. However, collecting such data requires a large effort and this activity produces benefits only in the long term. For these reasons, companies have to use automated tools able to collect data without affecting both the productivity and the process. This approach is useful to reduce the effort related to the metrics collection but managing the different tools required for a comprehensive acquisition is not an easy task and it requires a considerable effort. This paper presents some tools and techniques for managing large metrics collection projects based on the usage of the PROM metrics collection tool. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.