Search

What is of the greatest importance in war is speed. (1) --Sun Tzu Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics. (2) --General Robert H. Barrow, USMC TABLE OF CONTENTS [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.01.013 Byline: Richard D. Corbin (a), Christopher B. Dunbar (b), Qiuming Zhu (c) Keywords: Knowledge management; Software engineering process; Software system support; Technology innovation; Human and system interaction Abstract: To ensure smooth and successful transition of software innovations to enterprise systems, it is critical to maintain proper levels of knowledge about the system configuration, the operational environment, and the technology in both existing and new systems. We present a three-tier knowledge management scheme through a systematic planning of actions spanning the transition processes in levels from conceptual exploration to prototype development, experimentation, and product evaluation. The three-tier scheme is an integrated effort for bridging the development and operation communities, maintaining stability to the operational performance, and adapting swiftly to software technology innovations. The scheme combines experiences of academic researches and industrial practitioners to provide necessary technical expertise and qualifications for knowledge management in software engineering support (SES) processes. Author Affiliation: (a) Northrop Grumman, Defense Mission Systems, Bellevue, NE 68005, United States (b) FGM Inc., Omaha, NE 68142, United States (c) College of Information Science and Technology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, United States Article History: Received 9 September 2006; Revised 28 December 2006; Accepted 5 January 2007 Article Note: (footnote) [star] An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2006 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (CCRTS), San Diego, CA, June 20-22, 2006.

A mathematical model is presented to explain the reason why operational software designers produce a program with a fault content in conformance to Phillip's and Zipf's laws. Zupf's law, known as the Principle of Least Effort because of its statistical analogy to human behavior, is used as the basis for a proposed software reliability model. Its validity is verified via fitting of data in the literature on nine software systems.