Essentialization of the RUP Control Changes to Software practice: Making practical the practice

Abstract

The application of good practices for the control of software changes allows saving costs, work effort and time. Also, it allows preserving the product integrity. In the software life cycle and regardless of the stage, changes occur frequently. To control these changes, in software engineering, various practices are proposed. One of the best-known practices is RUP Control Changes to Software practice. The software engineering community defines this practice in different ways. These definitions do not present a clear structure for the RUP Control Changes to Software practice, ergo, it is complex to identify and define the elements that constitute the practice. This fact creates difficulty in understanding, applying and evaluating the practice in real contexts. In this paper, the Model for the Definition of Practices in Software Engineering is applied to the RUP Control Changes to Software practice. From the application of the model, a well-formed and well-named practice is obtained, easy to understand, apply and evaluate. This process is called essentialization. An essentialized practice makes it easier for practitioners to understand, apply, and evaluate the practice. An essentialized practice has a defined structure with elements that are integrated in a systemic way. The essentialized RUP Control Changes to Software practice is validated through a case study that allows a real context to be simulated.