Using annotations in an electronic process handbook to systematically incorporate experience into processes

Knowledge and experience are key assets in software process improvement. An instrument to communicate software process knowledge to the people performing the process are process handbooks in printed or file-based form. However, even in the electronic form, these handbooks still lack adequate support to incorporate experience gained during process execution. This paper presents the concept of an electronic process handbook that allows users to incorporate their experience into the process handbooks by making annotations to the process handbooks. These annotations are integrated into the process, thus incorporating experience and allowing users to learn from experience previously gained. The concept is implemented as an extension to the tool set pearmint/EPG.