QualiPSo is a four-year project, co-funded by the EU Commission, whose objective is to foster and promote the adoption of Open Source in Industries, SMES, and Public administrations by means of new software, methods, mortars and bricks. In particular, the objective will be achieved by means of different research activities, ranging from the legal issues to the definition of quality measurements mechanisms, all integrated into next generation Factories. These results will be then used within QualiPSo Competence Centre, widespread all over the world.

1. QualiPSo - Quality of FlOSS
products and processes
Etiel Petrinja
Center for Applied Software Enginering
Free University of Bolzano/Bozen, Italy

2. Motivation
 Improve FlOSS quality and the perception
of FlOSS quality by users
 Improve the quality of FlOSS products
 Improving the quality of the FlOSS
development process
 Making FlOSS more appealing to
(software) industry
 Increasing the number of contributors to
FlOSS projects
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 2

3. Aims
 Provide:
 customizable quality models (based on
functional and nonfunctional factors)
 tools to assess the trustworthiness of
FlOSS (static and dynamic measures)
 fill the gap between theory (soundness)
and practice (practicality)
 understand the reasons and motivations
that lead software companies to adopt or
reject FlOSS, and software developers to
develop FlOSS
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 3

4. Framework of our research
 Part of the QualiPSo project; a four
years, EU funded project with 18
partners from Europe, China and Brazil
 Separate approaches to assess:
 the quality of the FlOSS product and (A5)
 the quality of the FlOSS development
process (A6)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 4

5. Assessment of FlOSS products
 Work done inside Activity 5 of the
QualiPSo project
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 5

6. Research sources
 Interviewed 48 “users” in addition to the
initial set of 103 (developers, integrators,
system administrators, product
managers, clearing house members, end
users, etc.)
 We asked the interviewees to rank the
factors they use when they select FlOSS
 We analyzed the interviews in a
statistically sound way to find the most
important factors
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 6

7. Objectives of activity 5 (product quality)
 Objectives:
 find out what kind of information is out
there to help “users” choose
 find out what kind of information is
missing
 check if there is a gap between “demand”
and “supply”
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 7

8. Product related factors (Product quality)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 8

9. Measurement tool for product quality (1/2)
 MACXIM
 measure Java code, UML models
 development language: Java
 stores measurement representations in
XML Database (eXist)
 web GUI
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 9

10. Measurement tool for product quality (2/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 10

11. Assessment of FlOSS development process
 Work done inside Activity 6 of the
QualiPSo project
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 11

12. Approaches to increase the quality of FlOSS
 Identification of best practices of the
software development process
 Proposal of standard approaches to be
used
 Measurement of the quality of FlOSS
 Standard measurement of the quality of
software
 The de facto standard for assessing the
process – The Capability Maturity
Model (CMM-I)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 12

13. Similar initiatives in the FlOSS area
 Assessment models focused mainly in the
“final product”
 Available models still lack thorough
testing on a large set of products
 The available models:
 Open Maturity Model by Cap Gemini
 Open Maturity Model by Navica
 Qualification and Selection of Open Source
Software
 Open Business Readiness Rating
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 13

14. Identification of Trustworthy elements -
TWE
 The key result of interviews and surveys
done on FlOSS users, integrators and
developers was the identification of
trustworthy elements (TWEs)
 We were interested in which aspects of
the FlOSS development process
increase subjects confidence in the
quality of the FlOSS development
process
 TWEs coincided often with key processes
identified during the literature research
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 14

15. Table: Trustworthy elements related to the FlOSS
development process
Answer Vote
Maintainability 7,6
Quality of the documentation 7,0
Following the test plan 6,9
(Open) standards used 6,8
Communication channels available 6,3
Quality of the test plan 6,3
Popularity of the product (number of users) 6,2
Number of commits (developers) 6,0
Use of tools, CVS, Bug tracking 6,0
Sponsoring companies and industry 5,9
People on the project 5,9
The license used, possible patents free 4,8
Number of bug reports 4,2
Road map respected 4,2
The development process followed 4,2
Independent institution that checks the development process 4,1
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 15

16. Leading ideas for defining the QualiPSo
OpenSource Maturity Model (OMM)
 The model should be designed having
incremental steps (three levels)
 It should allow a basic entrance level and
two improved levels.
 It should be aligned with CMMI in order
to facilitate its adoption by software
companies (FlOSS integrators)
 It should be easy to use in order to be
acceptable for FlOSS communities and
users
 It should be based on key TWEs identified
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 16

17. The OMM Structure
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 17

18. Use of OMM
 The OMM model can be first used as a list
of activities that FlOSS projects should
follow for improving its quality
 A second use case is based on the
assessment approach supporting the
measurement of fulfilling specific
activities
 Who can use OMM:
 FlOSS developers (communities),
 FlOSS integrators, and
 FlOSS product users
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 18

19. OMM tool (1/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 19

20. OMM tool (2/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 20

21. OMM tool – Spago4Q integration
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 21

22. Conclusions and further work
 Our goal was to make FlOSS more
appealing to: users, FlOSS
communities, industry
 OMM is intended to rise the quality of the
FlOSS development process
 It is different from available FlOSS
assessment models
 We are now testing and refining the
model (for product and process)
 More information available at:
www.qualipso.org
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 22

23. QualiPSo - Quality of FlOSS
products and processes
Etiel Petrinja
Center for Applied Software Enginering
Free University of Bolzano/Bozen, Italy

24. Motivation
 Improve FlOSS quality and the perception
of FlOSS quality by users
 Improve the quality of FlOSS products
 Improving the quality of the FlOSS
development process
 Making FlOSS more appealing to
(software) industry
 Increasing the number of contributors to
FlOSS projects
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 2

25. Aims
 Provide:
 customizable quality models (based on
functional and nonfunctional factors)
 tools to assess the trustworthiness of
FlOSS (static and dynamic measures)
 fill the gap between theory (soundness)
and practice (practicality)
 understand the reasons and motivations
that lead software companies to adopt or
reject FlOSS, and software developers to
develop FlOSS
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 3

26. Framework of our research
 Part of the QualiPSo project; a four
years, EU funded project with 18
partners from Europe, China and Brazil
 Separate approaches to assess:
 the quality of the FlOSS product and (A5)
 the quality of the FlOSS development
process (A6)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 4

27. Assessment of FlOSS products
 Work done inside Activity 5 of the
QualiPSo project
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 5

28. Research sources
 Interviewed 48 “users” in addition to the
initial set of 103 (developers, integrators,
system administrators, product
managers, clearing house members, end
users, etc.)
 We asked the interviewees to rank the
factors they use when they select FlOSS
 We analyzed the interviews in a
statistically sound way to find the most
important factors
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 6

29. Objectives of activity 5 (product quality)
 Objectives:
 find out what kind of information is out
there to help “users” choose
 find out what kind of information is
missing
 check if there is a gap between “demand”
and “supply”
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 7

30. Product related factors (Product quality)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 8

31. Measurement tool for product quality (1/2)
 MACXIM
 measure Java code, UML models
 development language: Java
 stores measurement representations in
XML Database (eXist)
 web GUI
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 9

32. Measurement tool for product quality (2/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 10

33. Assessment of FlOSS development process
 Work done inside Activity 6 of the
QualiPSo project
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 11

34. Approaches to increase the quality of FlOSS
 Identification of best practices of the
software development process
 Proposal of standard approaches to be
used
 Measurement of the quality of FlOSS
 Standard measurement of the quality of
software
 The de facto standard for assessing the
process – The Capability Maturity
Model (CMM-I)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 12

35. Similar initiatives in the FlOSS area
 Assessment models focused mainly in the
“final product”
 Available models still lack thorough
testing on a large set of products
 The available models:
 Open Maturity Model by Cap Gemini
 Open Maturity Model by Navica
 Qualification and Selection of Open Source
Software
 Open Business Readiness Rating
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 13

36. Identification of Trustworthy elements -
TWE
 The key result of interviews and surveys
done on FlOSS users, integrators and
developers was the identification of
trustworthy elements (TWEs)
 We were interested in which aspects of
the FlOSS development process
increase subjects confidence in the
quality of the FlOSS development
process
 TWEs coincided often with key processes
identified during the literature research
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 14

37. Table: Trustworthy elements related to the FlOSS
development process
 Click to add an outline
Answer Vote
Maintainability 7,6
Quality of the documentation 7,0
Following the test plan 6,9
(Open) standards used 6,8
Communication channels available 6,3
Quality of the test plan 6,3
Popularity of the product (number of users) 6,2
Number of commits (developers) 6,0
Use of tools, CVS, Bug tracking 6,0
Sponsoring companies and industry 5,9
People on the project 5,9
The license used, possible patents free 4,8
Number of bug reports 4,2
Road map respected 4,2
The development process followed 4,2
Independent institution that checks the development process 4,1
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 15

38. Leading ideas for defining the QualiPSo
OpenSource Maturity Model (OMM)
 The model should be designed having
incremental steps (three levels)
 It should allow a basic entrance level and
two improved levels.
 It should be aligned with CMMI in order
to facilitate its adoption by software
companies (FlOSS integrators)
 It should be easy to use in order to be
acceptable for FlOSS communities and
users
 It should be based on key TWEs identified
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 16

39. The OMM Structure
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 17

40. Use of OMM
 The OMM model can be first used as a list
of activities that FlOSS projects should
follow for improving its quality
 A second use case is based on the
assessment approach supporting the
measurement of fulfilling specific
activities
 Who can use OMM:
 FlOSS developers (communities),
 FlOSS integrators, and
 FlOSS product users
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 18

41. OMM tool (1/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 19

42. OMM tool (2/2)
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 20

43. OMM tool – Spago4Q integration
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 21

44. Conclusions and further work
 Our goal was to make FlOSS more
appealing to: users, FlOSS
communities, industry
 OMM is intended to rise the quality of the
FlOSS development process
 It is different from available FlOSS
assessment models
 We are now testing and refining the
model (for product and process)
 More information available at:
www.qualipso.org
Introducing the OpenSource Maturity Model 22