Leveraging Similarities and Defect Analysis Feedback in Migration Programs: FSP Approach

This paper reports a case study of a large migration program and the benefits of FSP approach to exploit the similarities among applications to be migrated and the defect analysis feedback loop. FSP approach is an acronym for- Fix the core issue-Fix Similar defects-Prevent occurrence of similar defects. The paper argues that there are substantial similarities in large migration programs and these could be exploited to expedite the causal analysis to reduce the time taken in inspection and fault detection and helps prevent faults thus reducing the effort and cost taken in migration. This paper modelled the FSP approach and simulated it with program data. Results validate the claim made by FSP approach with increasing similarity. Gains made by FSP approach in reducing the work with undetected faults and fault prevention are substantial. Effectiveness of FSP approach is dependent on degree of similarity among the applications being migrated. It appears from results FSP is essentially a quality assurance approach and reduction in effort and cost of migration are added benefits. FSP approach involves double loop learning.