6533b828fe1ef96bd1288c14

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Software Modernization Decision Criteria: An Empirical Study

Tero TilusJarmo J. AhonenHenna SivulaIrja KankaanpääJussi KoskinenHeikki Lintinen

subject

EngineeringSoftwareKnowledge managementSoftware modernizationEmpirical researchbusiness.industryInformation technologySoftware maintenanceSoftware prototypingMultiple-criteria decision analysisbusinessSoftware evolution

description

Decisions regarding software evolution strategies such as modernizations are economically important. We present results of our empirical study of the views of decision makers. We have asked their views of the relative importance of 49 software modernization decision criteria. We have gathered data from Finnish software industry. There were 26 experts from 8 organizations involved. They were mainly upper or middle level managers. Our study shows that there is a large set of criteria which should be taken into account, and that those studied by us provide a good coverage of the relevant ones. We list the top-20 criteria. We also performed a cluster analysis which produced two groups of subjects. Views of the decision makers in software user and software supplier organizations were different. We suggest that decision maker's work process could be enhanced by taking into account the received lessons.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2005-03-31Ninth European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering
https://doi.org/10.1109/csmr.2005.50