AN APPROACH FOR THE EVALUATION OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENTS IN MEDICINE

This article examines several criteria for the evaluation of software engineering environments (SEE) in medicine. The study is restricted to the evaluation of the SEE itself, not of its by-products which are th e medical applications developed with the SEE. Basic principles for an evaluation methodology are presented. They consist in determining the evaluation objectives and judging a SEE according to criteria which a re grouped into three broad categories-functional, generic and environ mental. Each category reflects a particular domain of evaluation of th e SEE. Methods of measurement and questions highlighting these specifi c areas are mentioned. Criteria are extracted from the list of objecti ves that follows the HELIOS European AIM project of the Commission of the European Communities. Special emphasis is drawn on the criteria fo r which the medical specificity and usefulness of a SEE can be approac hed. For this purpose a method of measurement of such appropriateness is proposed.