Cradle MET

The Cradle-MET module allows projects to define and monitor project metrics, and to report these metrics whenever required to the web, Word or Excel.

Access to the metrics capability can be controlled, to ensure reliable metrics are produced in project-approved contexts.

Any number of metrics can be defined and re-used. Each metric is a set of queries to the database to retrieve item(s), and an analysis operation on these items.

Analyses include simple counts, and fully comprehensive coverage analysis of all item attributes.

This mechanism allows projects to monitor, for example, the completeness of their requirements sets, the completeness of their cross reference linkage, or the volume of data generated by specific project groups.

Specific metrics can be generated from any project baseline(s), allowing cumulative statistics to be developed as the project unfolds.

Metrics output is tabular, with full control over the format and layout of each table using reusable table formats.

Tables can be generated to a variety of formats such as HTML and RTF, for subsequent processing by Word or Excel, or for distribution through the web.

MET Applications

Metrics are used throughout systems and software development processes. They answer different questions, such as ‘how many.....’ or ‘what proportion of the ... items are ...’

Metrics are used in requirements management to analyse the completeness of the requirement definitions, and the maturity of the requirements sets. Metrics would be built for specific groups and subgroups to focus on the maturity of, for example, equipment level availability requirements.

Metrics are used during the test lifecycle to monitor the definition of verification objectives and the completeness of the mapping between verifications, tests and requirements.

Metrics are important for phase start and end gates. They measure the completeness of the information created and matured during a phase to help decide whether that phase is complete. Conversely, they assess the maturity of foregoing information to confirm that a phase can start.

Metrics are used throughout the project to collect statistics on the volume of information created, the time that this has taken, and the amount of effort expended. Heuristics can be accumulated to help with the estimation of the effort for later project phases, and to gather valuable data for use in later projects.