UML Ninja: Automatic Assessment of Documentation and UML Practices in Open Source Projects

Abstract

Assessment of software documentation practices in open source projects is important because, besides the source code, information regarding the open source project is in the documentation. Quality of documentation can help in determining the quality of the project. Goal: The goal of this paper is to automate the process of assessing the quality of documentation and UML in open source projects. Method: We conduct a design science research study and evaluate the outcome based on 14 interviews with researchers and practitioners. Result: The result of this paper is UML-Ninja, which is a web tool to automatically assesses quality of documentation in open source projects based on indicators. Conclusion: Both researchers and practitioners found the approach of UML-Ninja tool good and appropriate.