Task: Develop Measurement Infrastructure
This task establishes the infrastructure in order for the multi-tiered measurement system to be active.
Disciplines: Project Management
Purpose
To provide the configuration and implementation for collecting and reporting on one or more measures.
Relationships
Main Description
Whether a measurement system is automated or manual there is associated hardware and software to create and configure.
Steps
Create the Measurement Infrastructure

Identify the mechanisms for capturing the desired data elements from the specified sources. For automated data collection and reporting, this involves using a measurement and reporting tool to:

  • Point to a data source containing the attributes for the measure
  • Read the attributes from in the source and place into the data warehouse
  • Establish calculations as necessary for the derived measure
  • Identify the reporting displays for the derived measure 
  • Identify the frequency of the collection and reporting

Some measurement collection and reporting tools are preloaded to collect many of the software development related measures. They will also allow users to configure measure collection and reporting for those not already defined in the tool. Using automated routines typically results in less cost associated with the establishment of a measure program and much more consistency than establishing manual efforts.

For manual data collection and reporting, the steps are:

  • Locate the data sources
  • Verify access for all data sources
  • Identify the structure within the data source and the attributes to read
  • Identify the file structure for storing the recorded data
  • Establish calculations as necessary for the derived measurements 
  • Create displays for the recorded data
  • Identify the frequency for recording the data

Manual data collection and reporting is very labor intensive. Before spending time doing manual collection and reporting, the amount of effort needed must be well understood along with the potential inconsistencies and inaccuracies from human intervention.

Configure the Measurement Infrastructure

Configuring the measurement infrastructure involves:

  • Sizing the storage areas for collected data
  • Establishing accounts to enable data collection
  • Setting privileges for the collection and reporting
  • Establish accounts for access to the metric information
  • Setting privileges for others to view the metric reports
  • Establishing the exact time the data collection and metric reporting will occur.
More Information