Automatic Measurement at Nokia Mobile Phones: A Case of SDL Based Software Development

Software measurement forms a sound basis for monitoring software development process and software product quality. Implementing software measurement is, however, difficult and creates several challenges and possible pitfalls. These challenges include the establishment of measurement practices, effective metrics collection and the use of collected metrics to improve development practices or product. Automated software measurement can have a significant role when adopting software metrics for systematic use. This paper is based on the results of a measurement automation project at Nokia Mobile Phones during the years of 1999-2000. This paper describes the experiences from defining metrics for controlling new SDL based development practices. The process through which the automation was implemented is described in detail and implications of the findings are discussed.