Software Process Integration Based on Design Structure Matrix

A software lifecycle is composed of many software processes which are not independent. In order to improve a process, the process should be integrated into a larger process context environment and the synchronization between processes should be insured. This paper introduces the concept of process modeling and the design structure matrix (DSM) describing complex process systems. By using software process integration as an example, the method of integrating software processes based on DSM is discussed. By analyzing and rearranging the DSM of the integrated process purposely, the process could be improved to reduce the iterative rework in the process and the whole process completion time could be shortened.