Modeling Knowledge transfer in a software maintenance organization - An experience report and critical analysis

Abstract

Modeling notations have been introduced to help understand the why behind software processes. We ask how are these techniques being used in industrial practices? The first part of this paper reports on the experiences at an industrial software organization, Ericsson Marconi SpA, in applying imodeling to analyze knowledge transfer effectiveness for software maintenance. The modeling was done in-house without consultation with the iresearch community. In the second part of the paper, university researchers analyze the modeling experience in that organization, drawing a comparison with the usage of itypically envisaged by the research community. We found that the modeling approach used at the industry site employed smaller and simplified models, but were effective for highlighting key issues for the organization and communication. From the case study, we draw some conclusions for the future development of the imodeling approach. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.