Measuring the Whole Software Process: A Simple Metric Data Exchange Format and Protocol

In the area of software measurement, tool support/integration and automation are considered key aspects of metric programs. While many tools exist to extract metrics from certain software artefacts, there is no single tool to cover metric data collection during the whole software process because of typically heterogeneous and ever-changing environments. To achieve full life-cycle coverage, instead of one tool a protocol is needed that allows metric tools to communicate and exchange data. This paper proposes a simple metric data exchange format and a data exchange protocol to communicate metric data, it defines responsibilities of metric data sources and metric data repositories, and proposes a metric hub to enable interoperability. The data exchange format is implemented using XML and XML schema validation, the protocol is based on SOAP, and the hub consists of a Web service interface to the metric data repository. The proposed protocol and components, successfully applied to industry-projects in the area of management information systems, provide for a simple and lightweight way of data exchange in highly variable environments .