(prepared for meeting of March 2006)
Report of Professional Practices Committee
Jim Moore, Chair
I'm new to the chair of the Professional Practices Committee, having taken over from
Steve McConnell. Steve has led the PPC and the Society to the admirable position where
we have a number of top-rank products available for professional software engineers.
During 2006, the committee will build on those products to develop a comprehensive,
integrated set of offerings for software practitioners.
1. Committee Members
Many of the members of last year's committee have agreed to rejoin. New members,
representing other stakeholders, will serve to provide a "whole Society" perspective to
PPC. The 2006 membership is: Jim Moore (chair and acting chair of the planning
committee), Steve McConnell (vice-chair), Steve Tockey (chair of certification
committee), Don Bagert (EAB and representative to IEEE licensing committee), Robert
Dupuis, Dennis Frailey, John Harauz (SAB), Fernando Naveda, Steve Seidman (TAB),
Linda Shafer (Pubs), Ann Sobel, Dick Thayer, and Peter Voldner. Finally, Leonard Tripp
remains with us as an emeritus member. We are delighted that Stacy Saul will continue to
provide staff support and welcome Peter Turner to assist with strategic and business
planning.
2. Integration Strategy
Past efforts of the PPC and other volunteers have provided the Society with a set of
individually excellent products addressing the needs of software practitioners. Having
been developed concurrently and keyed to the needs of different stakeholder groups, the
products are inevitably structured differently. The principal 2006 goal of CSDP is,
working with other Society groups, to rationalize the relationships of those products,
perform modest restructuring when appropriate, and integrate the products so that the
Society speaks with a single voice on the subject of practical software engineering. Upon
that foundation, we will be able to build value-added products that will address the needs
of practitioners and gain revenue for the Society. A major part of the March 2006
meeting will be devoted to a workshop to examine and improve a "straw man" strategy
for the integration and a business plan for its exploitation.
3. News Items
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Steve Tockey and Pierre Bourque have worked together to provide an in-depth
answer to a nagging question—what is the relationship between material covered
by CSDP and material covered by the SWEBOK Guide? We appreciate their hard
work—two solid days—and will exploit their results in our integration strategy.
Here is the brief version of Steve's report:
An effort has started in earnest to harmonize CSDP with the SWEBOK Guide. The first
substantial step in this activity occurred on January 26 and 27 in Montreal when Steve
Tockey (representing CSDP) met with Pierre Bourque (representing SWEBOK Guide) to
perform a gap analysis between the two. A more detailed report will be made available,
but the major conclusions from the effort include:
A. No major philosophical differences between breakdowns were noted though the
organizations are quite different at the CSDP domain vs. SWEBOK Guide knowledge
area level.
B. The PPC long-term goal of making CSDP consistent with the SWEBOK Guide is
not a major issue. It should also not be seen as a trivial activity.
C. Most of the scope differences are due to CSDP including topics that the SWEBOK
Guide considers to be "related disciplines"
D. It appears to be reasonable to broaden the CSDP test specification to include test
items for SWEBOK Guide topics not currently in the test specification.
E. A small number of adjustments to the SWEBOK Guide should be investigated
based on topics found in the CSDP test specification that are not in the SWEBOK
Guide.
F. The difference in treatment of references in both initiatives must be appropriately
investigated and resolved.
The next step for this activity should be to refine and validate the current mapping and
conclusions by tracing all CSDP test items to the SWEBOK Guide breakdown. To be
efficient, this should be done in workshop fashion by a team that is very knowledgeable
in the SWEBOK Guide accompanied by someone who is very knowledgeable in the
CSDP test items. This also implies having access to the test items.
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Jim Moore has been working with Computer Society staff and Prometrics to
develop a proposal for "incremental certification". Relevant material will be
distributed prior to the PPC meeting.
At the forthcoming CSEE&T conference, there will be a workshop on the
possibility of a certification exam for newly graduated software engineers. Don
Bagert and Mike Lutz proposed the workshop and are working with PPC to
ensure that workshop activity comprises a constructive contribution to the
Society's plans for an entry level certification.
The Texas Board for Professional Engineering is establishing a special task force
to look into the whole issue of how to provide an examination for software
engineering licensing and, in particular, to evaluate whether and how the CSDP
could be used as an interim examination. Dennis Frailey is organizing
representation from the PPC.
John Harauz is coordinating Computer Society representation in the annual oneday professional development conference conducted by Association of
Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta. As the
engineering regulatory group in Alberta, Canada, the organization provides
opportunities for the Society's software engineering products.
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Samsung and the Computer Society have reached agreement on using and
marketing the CSDP. Representatives from Samsung are expected to come to San
Francisco to sign the document during our March Administrative Meetings.
4. Status of Certified Software Development Professional
Program
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Fall Testing Window - 64 applications were approved. 61 people took the exam
and 48 passed—a 79 % pass rate.
Spring Testing Window – The application deadline for the 1 April – 30 June
testing window is 1 April.
Marketing - The third version of the a promotional CD has been developed.
Once again entitled “Resources for the Software Engineer”, it includes
promotional information on CSDP, articles from Software, Security and Privacy
and IT Pro, plus sample chapters from six new CS Press/ Wiley books. CSDP will
exhibit at SEPG and SSTC this spring.
Samsung Agreement – After much negotiation, Samsung and the Computer
Society’s legal departments have reached agreement on the MOU for marketing
and test discount. Representatives from Samsung are expected to come to San
Francisco to sign the document during our March Administrative Meetings.
Update of Distance Learning Course - As part of our contract renegotiations
with NETg in the Fall, the Computer Society received a credit to be used for
course development. The credit will be used to enhance the CSDP course,
Software Engineering Overview: Preparing for the CSDP Examination. NETg’s
instructional designers will provide advice on potential enhancements, which
could include a post test, end-of-module assessments or other learning objects.
The intention is to make the course less of an overview and more of an exam
preparation course.
Prometric Testing – CSDP has recently resigned an agreement with Thomson
Prometric to provide computer based testing services. Beginning in April, the
CSDP exam will be available in all Prometric Testing Centers worldwide, with
the exception of Korea. CSDP will be delivered at Prometrics APTC centers in
Korea.
Entry Level Exam – An agreement was signed with Thomson Prometric to
provide exam development for a new, as yet unnamed, entry level software
engineering credential. This credential will target recent college graduates. The
exam is targeted to be released during the fall 2007 testing window.
Agenda
1. Formal meeting (1:30 – 2:30)
1.1. Call to order
1.2. Approval of minutes
1.3. Schedule for future meetings (including telecons)
1.4. New Business:
1.4.1. Possible position regarding ABET Accreditation of CS (Naveda)
1.4.2. Moving SWE Code of Ethics to Computer Society web site and exploiting
the Code (Frailey)
1.4.3. CSDP Online Learning Course, Status and Plans (Saul)
1.4.4. CSDP Jr workshop at CSEET (Bagert)
1.4.5. APEGGA participation (Harauz)
1.4.6. Reconciling SWEBOK with SE2004 (Sobel)
1.5. Review Agreements
2. Technical Strategy workshop (2:30 – 4:30)
2.1. Brief Reports
2.1.1. Results of Reconciling SWEBOK Guide and CSDP (Tockey)
2.1.2. Possibilities for Encompassing Frameworks, SFIA, ICT (Seidman)
2.1.3. Prometrics Proposal for Updating CSDP (Saul)
2.1.4. Incremental Testing (Moore)
2.2. Technical Strategy Development
3. Business Strategy workshop (4:30 – 5:30) (Turner)
3.1. Possible Partners / Customers
3.2. Marketing Plans
3.3. Corporate Advisory Board
3.4. Recognition schemes for books, curricula, courses, instructors, etc.