Software evolution
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 1
Objectives
To explain why change is inevitable if software systems are to remain useful To discuss software maintenance and maintenance cost factors To describe the processes involved in software evolution To discuss an approach to assessing evolution strategies for legacy systems
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 2
Topics covered
Program evolution dynamics Software maintenance Evolution processes Legacy system evolution
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 3
Software change
Software change is inevitable
New requirements emerge when the software is used; The business environment changes; Errors must be repaired; New computers and equipment is added to the system; The performance or reliability of the system may have to be improved.
A key problem for organisations is implementing and managing change to their existing software systems.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 4
Importance of evolution
Organisations have huge investments in their software systems - they are critical business assets. To maintain the value of these assets to the business, they must be changed and updated. The majority of the software budget in large companies is devoted to evolving existing software rather than developing new software.
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21 Slide 5
Ian Sommerville 2004
Spiral model of evolution
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 6
Program evolution dynamics
Program evolution dynamics is the study of the processes of system change. After major empirical studies, Lehman and Belady proposed that there were a number of laws which applied to all systems as they evolved. There are sensible observations rather than laws. They are applicable to large systems developed by large organisations. Perhaps less applicable in other cases.
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21 Slide 7
Ian Sommerville 2004
Lehmans laws
Law Continuing change Description A program that is used in a real-world environment necessarily must change or become progressively less useful in that environment. As an evolving program changes, its structure tends to become more complex. Extra resources must be devoted to preserving and simplifying the structure. Program evolution is a self-regulating process. System attributes such as size, time between releases and the number of reported errors is approximately invariant for each system release. Over a program s lifetime, its rate of development is approximately constant and independent of the resources devoted to system development. Over the lifetime of a system, the incremental change in each release is approximately constant. The functionality offered by systems has to continually increase to maintain user satisfaction. The quality of systems will appear to be declining unless they are adapted to changes in their operational environment. Evolution processes incorporate multi-agent, multi-loop feedback systems and you have to treat them as feedback systems to achieve significant product improvement.
Increasing complexity
Large program evolution
Organisational stability
Conservation of familiarity Continuing growth Declining quality Feedback system
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 8
Applicability of Lehmans laws
Lehmans laws seem to be generally applicable to large, tailored systems developed by large organisations.
Confirmed in more recent work by Lehman on the FEAST project (see further reading on book website). Shrink-wrapped software products; Systems that incorporate a significant number of COTS components; Small organisations; Medium sized systems.
It is not clear how they should be modified for
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 9
Software maintenance
Modifying a program after it has been put into use. Maintenance does not normally involve major changes to the systems architecture. Changes are implemented by modifying existing components and adding new components to the system.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 10
Maintenance is inevitable
The system requirements are likely to change while the system is being developed because the environment is changing. Therefore a delivered system won't meet its requirements! Systems are tightly coupled with their environment. When a system is installed in an environment it changes that environment and therefore changes the system requirements. Systems MUST be maintained therefore if they are to remain useful in an environment.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 11
Types of maintenance
Maintenance to repair software faults
Changing a system to correct deficiencies in the way meets its requirements.
Maintenance to adapt software to a different operating environment
Changing a system so that it operates in a different environment (computer, OS, etc.) from its initial implementation.
Maintenance to add to or modify the systems functionality
Modifying the system to satisfy new requirements.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 12
Distribution of maintenance effort
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 13
Maintenance costs
Usually greater than development costs (2* to 100* depending on the application). Affected by both technical and non-technical factors. Increases as software is maintained. Maintenance corrupts the software structure so makes further maintenance more difficult. Ageing software can have high support costs (e.g. old languages, compilers etc.).
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 14
Development/maintenance costs
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 15
Maintenance cost factors
Team stability
Maintenance costs are reduced if the same staff are involved with them for some time. The developers of a system may have no contractual responsibility for maintenance so there is no incentive to design for future change. Maintenance staff are often inexperienced and have limited domain knowledge. As programs age, their structure is degraded and they become harder to understand and change.
Contractual responsibility
Staff skills
Program age and structure
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 16
Maintenance prediction
Maintenance prediction is concerned with assessing which parts of the system may cause problems and have high maintenance costs
Change acceptance depends on the maintainability of the components affected by the change; Implementing changes degrades the system and reduces its maintainability; Maintenance costs depend on the number of changes and costs of change depend on maintainability.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 17
Maintenance prediction
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 18
Change prediction
Predicting the number of changes requires and understanding of the relationships between a system and its environment. Tightly coupled systems require changes whenever the environment is changed. Factors influencing this relationship are
Number and complexity of system interfaces; Number of inherently volatile system requirements; The business processes where the system is used.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 19
Complexity metrics
Predictions of maintainability can be made by assessing the complexity of system components. Studies have shown that most maintenance effort is spent on a relatively small number of system components. Complexity depends on
Complexity of control structures; Complexity of data structures; Object, method (procedure) and module size.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 20
Process metrics
Process measurements may be used to assess maintainability
Number of requests for corrective maintenance; Average time required for impact analysis; Average time taken to implement a change request; Number of outstanding change requests.
If any or all of these is increasing, this may indicate a decline in maintainability.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 21
Evolution processes
Evolution processes depend on
The type of software being maintained; The development processes used; The skills and experience of the people involved.
Proposals for change are the driver for system evolution. Change identification and evolution continue throughout the system lifetime.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 22
Change identification and evolution
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 23
The system evolution process
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 24
Change implementation
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 25
Urgent change requests
Urgent changes may have to be implemented without going through all stages of the software engineering process
If a serious system fault has to be repaired; If changes to the systems environment (e.g. an OS upgrade) have unexpected effects; If there are business changes that require a very rapid response (e.g. the release of a competing product).
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 26
Emergency repair
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 27
System re-engineering
Re-structuring or re-writing part or all of a legacy system without changing its functionality. Applicable where some but not all sub-systems of a larger system require frequent maintenance. Re-engineering involves adding effort to make them easier to maintain. The system may be restructured and re-documented.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 28
Advantages of reengineering
Reduced risk
There is a high risk in new software development. There may be development problems, staffing problems and specification problems. The cost of re-engineering is often significantly less than the costs of developing new software.
Reduced cost
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 29
Forward and re-engineering
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 30
The re-engineering process
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 31
Reengineering process activities
Source code translation
Convert code to a new language. Analyse the program to understand it; Restructure automatically for understandability; Reorganise the program structure; Clean-up and restructure system data.
Reverse engineering
Program structure improvement
Program modularisation
Data reengineering
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 32
Re-engineering approaches
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 33
Reengineering cost factors
The quality of the software to be reengineered. The tool support available for reengineering. The extent of the data conversion which is required. The availability of expert staff for reengineering.
This can be a problem with old systems based on technology that is no longer widely used.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 34
Legacy system evolution
Organisations that rely on legacy systems must choose a strategy for evolving these systems
Scrap the system completely and modify business processes so that it is no longer required; Continue maintaining the system; Transform the system by re-engineering to improve its maintainability; Replace the system with a new system.
The strategy chosen should depend on the system quality and its business value.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 35
System quality and business value
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 36
Legacy system categories
Low quality, low business value
These systems should be scrapped. These make an important business contribution but are expensive to maintain. Should be re-engineered or replaced if a suitable system is available. Replace with COTS, scrap completely or maintain. Continue in operation using normal system maintenance.
Low-quality, high-business value
High-quality, low-business value
High-quality, high business value
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 37
Business value assessment
Assessment should take different viewpoints into account
System end-users; Business customers; Line managers; IT managers; Senior managers.
Interview different stakeholders and collate results.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 38
System quality assessment
Business process assessment
How well does the business process support the current goals of the business? How effective is the systems environment and how expensive is it to maintain? What is the quality of the application software system?
Environment assessment
Application assessment
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 39
Business process assessment
Use a viewpoint-oriented approach and seek answers from system stakeholders
Is there a defined process model and is it followed? Do different parts of the organisation use different processes for the same function? How has the process been adapted? What are the relationships with other business processes and are these necessary? Is the process effectively supported by the legacy application software?
Example - a travel ordering system may have a low business value because of the widespread use of web-based ordering.
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21 Slide 40
Ian Sommerville 2004
Environment assessment 1
Factor Supplier stability Questions Is the supplier is still in existence? Is the supplier financially stable and likely to continue in existence? If the supplier is no longer in business, does someone else maintain the systems? Does the hardware have a high rate of reported failures? Does the support software crash and force system restarts? How old is the hardware and software? The older the hardware and support software, the more obsolete it will be. It may still function correctly but there could be significant economic and business benefits to moving to more modern systems.
Failure rate Age
Performance Is the performance of the system adequate? Do performance problems have a significant effect on system users?
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 41
Environment assessment 2
Support requirements Maintenance costs What local support is required by the hardware and software? If there are high costs associated with this support, it may be worth considering system replacement. What are the costs of hardware maintenance and support software licences? Older hardware may have higher maintenance costs than modern systems. Support software may have high annual licensing costs.
Interoperability Are there problems interfacing the system to other systems? Can compilers etc. be used with current versions of the operating system? Is hardware emulation required?
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 42
Application assessment 1
Factor Understandability Questions How difficult is it to understand the source code of the current system? How complex are the control structures that are used? Do variables have meaningful names that reflect their function? What system documentation is available? Is the documentation complete, consistent and up-to-date? Is there an explicit data model for the system? To what extent is data duplicated in different files? Is the data used by the system up-to-date and consistent? Is the performance of the application adequate? Do performance problems have a significant effect on system users?
Documentation Data
Performance
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 43
Application assessment 2
Programming language Configuration management Are modern compilers available for the programming language used to develop the system? Is the programming language still used for new system development? Are all versions of all parts of the system managed by a configuration management system? Is there an explicit description of the versions of components that are used in the current system? Does test data for the system exist? Is there a record of regression tests carried out when new features have been added to the system? Are there people available who have the skills to maintain the application? Are there only a limited number of people who understand the system?
Test data
Personnel skills
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 44
System measurement
You may collect quantitative data to make an assessment of the quality of the application system
The number of system change requests; The number of different user interfaces used by the system; The volume of data used by the system.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 45
Key points
Software development and evolution should be a single iterative process. Lehmans Laws describe a number of insights into system evolution. Three types of maintenance are bug fixing, modifying software for a new environment and implementing new requirements. For custom systems, maintenance costs usually exceed development costs.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 46
Key points
The process of evolution is driven by requests for changes from system stakeholders. Software re-engineering is concerned with restructuring and re-documenting software to make it easier to change. The business value of a legacy system and its quality should determine the evolution strategy that is used.
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 21
Slide 47
