A code provenance management tool for IP-aware software development

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a code provenance management tool which can track the provenance of source code and generate provenance reports to facilitate best practices for managing intellectual property (IP) throughout the software development lifecycle. We present the IP-aware process supported by the tool and explain how it reduces both the cost and the risk of code IP management. Results from three pilots are analyzed to illustrate the effectiveness of cost and risk reduction.