Software Companies Research Articles

P063 Beyond the clinical trials: real-world retention rate and use of digital interventions in patients with inflammatory arthritis

Abstract Background/Aims The use of digital tools to deliver healthcare interventions has increased rapidly. Inadequate engagement and retention are two major barriers to widespread and long-term adoption of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) for monitoring in clinical practice. Whilst retention rates are high in research studies, these are often short-term (<12months) and not representative of routine clinical practice. The reasons for variable engagement remain unclear. We present an analysis of engagement and retention of digital intervention in a routine rheumatology setting. The research aims to explore determinants of long-term sustainability of app-based intervention to collect ePROs in patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA). Methods This is a secondary analysis of real-world data obtained in clinical settings from IA patients who attended routine appointments in the rheumatology clinic at North Bristol NHS Trust between 2018 and 2022. Patients were invited to use a smartphone-based symptom diary (Living With) between appointments to track disease course by reporting RAPID3, HAQ-DI, or self-assessing joint pain/swelling. Statistical tests were performed using Stata16.1. Maximum elapsed days of the app use, number, and time between reports were explored as explanatory variables. Associations between demographic and disease parameters in different user subpopulations were explored by Poisson and tobit regression models. Results were stratified post-hoc by gender, age, diagnosis, and baseline disease activity. The research has ethical approval. Results 673 patients provided ≥1 report of any ePROs. 68% were female, mean age 53.7±13.9 years. 60% had rheumatoid arthritis; 24% - psoriatic arthritis and 17% - other IA. 613(91%) patients provided a RAPID3 measure of disease activity. Among them, 82(12%) participants reported only baseline RAPID3 and were classified as “lost to follow-up”. 531(79%) were identified as “follow-up” users. No difference between these subpopulations considering gender, age, IA type, and baseline arthritis activity was identified in the adjusted Poisson regression model. Retention rates reduced most in the first six months from a baseline of 91% to 38% at month 6 and subsequently to 24% at month 12, whereafter plateaued, highlighting a group of long-term users. Older patients (aged 60-69) were more likely to be long-term users compared to younger age (≤50) participants, demonstrating longer app engagement 379 [169; 645] vs 256 [90; 515] days, p < 0.006. Patients aged 60-69 and ≥70 provided more reports (18 [7; 46] and 25 [8; 62]) compared to younger users (8 [4;18], p < 0.0001). There was no association between the length or frequency of digital tool use and gender, baseline arthritis activity, and disability. Conclusion This analysis offers insights into what might be expected regarding engagement and the long-term sustainability of app-based interventions in routine clinical settings. Understanding the real-world performance and factors that could potentially improve user retention or dropout rates is critical to realizing the promise of digital interventions. Disclosure I. Biliavska: None. E. Lenguerrand: None. J. Tobias: None. P. Hamann: Consultancies; provided consultancy for Living With Ltd Software Company. Royalties; has limited royalty agreement with Living With Ltd Software Company for the development of the smartphone app LivingWith. Honoraria; have received honoraria from Gilead and AbbVie Pharmaceuticals for the production of training materials on remote monitoring for patients with arthritis..

The impact of entrepreneurial leadership on the project success: the mediating role of knowledge-oriented dynamic capabilities

PurposeThrough the lens of resource-based view (RBV), knowledge-based view (KBV) and DCV, this paper aims to investigate the relationship of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on the project success (PS) and further examines the mediating effect of knowledge infrastructure capability (KIC), knowledge-based dynamic capability (KBDC) and Big data analytic capability (BDAC).Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 467 employees working on project in software companies. The data were evaluated using SMART-PLS, a structural equation modeling (SEM) tool.FindingsThe study revealed a significant impact of EL on the PS, the study also found the significant mediation role of KIC, KBDC and BDAC on the EL and PS relationship.Originality/valueThe research gives valuable insight into the effective role of EL as a contemporary leadership style in project-based firms. Also, this research is one of the first to examine knowledge-oriented dynamic capabilities (DC) as a knowledge fulcrum in project execution. These DC have been empirically proven to facilitate EL in achieving PS and support the firm in competing in an uncertain environment.

How ChatGPT shapes the future labour market situation of software engineers: A Finnish Delphi study

ChatGPT is changing our working lives, conjuring visions of revolutionary shifts ahead. ChatGPT is a chatbot based on generative artificial intelligence, which can, e.g., write computer code. This article explores how it might shape the future labour market situation of software engineers. A Delphi study with 14 experts was conducted in Finland. The first round identified possible futures, and the second round assessed their probabilities. Five scenarios prevailed: the unlikely scenario that the status quo persists; the ambivalent scenario that ChatGPT can replace software engineers to a large extent; the likely scenario that computer departments in startups embrace ChatGPT; the likely scenario that ChatGPT use proliferates among software engineers to increase productivity; and the highly likely scenario that ChatGPT makes computer programming accessible to the masses. Findings contradict previous discussions that technological advancements might take over especially routine tasks. ChatGPT can also take over non-routine tasks. Moreover, findings underline that digitalisation does not only bring about a choice between upskilling and employability loss, but also a democratisation of knowledge and expertise. Software engineers and companies might use the findings as an impetus for upskilling, while universities might feel nudged to incorporate ChatGPT more strongly into their curricula.

Time Trend of Occupational Noise-induced Hearing Loss in a Metallurgical Plant With a Hearing Conservation Program

BackgroundThis study aimed to analyze the trend of occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) in Brazilian workers at a metallurgical plant with a hearing conservation program (HCP), which has been addressed in a previous study. MethodsAll 152 workers in this time series (20032018) participated in the HCP and used personal protective equipment. All annual audiometry records in the company's software were collected from the electronic database. The trend of ONIHL was analyzed with the joinpoint regression model. The hearing thresholds of ONIHL cases at the end of the series were compared with those found in a national reference study. ResultsThe binaural mean hearing thresholds at 3, 4, and 6 kHz at the end of the series were higher for ages ≥50 years, exposures ≥85 dB (A), time since admission >20 years, and maintenance workers. Significance was found only in the group divided by age. There was an increasing time trend of ONIHL, though with a low percentage variation for the period (AAPC = 3.5%; p = 0.01). Hearing thresholds in this study differed from the reference one. ConclusionDespite the unmet expectation of a stationary trend in the study period, the time pace of ONIHL evolution did not follow what was expected for a population exposed to noise. These findings signal to the scientific community and public authorities that good ONIHL control is possible when HCP is well implemented.

How project knowledge management develops volatile organizational memory

PurposeThis paper discusses the effects of enabling conditions of project knowledge management in building volatile organizational memory. The theoretical rationale underlies a recursive relationship among enabling conditions of project knowledge management, organizational learning and memory.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs a qualitative descriptive single case study approach to examine a mobile application development project undertaken by a major software company in Brazil. The analysis focuses on the project execution using an abductive analytical framework. The study data were collected through in-depth interviews and company documents.FindingsBased on the research findings, the factors that facilitate behavior and strategy in managing project knowledge pose a challenge when it comes to fostering organizational learning. While both these factors play a role in organizational learning, the exchange of information from previous experience could be strengthened, and the feedback from the learning process could be improved. These shortcomings arise from emotional tensions that stem from power struggles within knowledge hierarchies.Practical implicationsBased on the research, it is recommended that project-structured organizations should prioritize an individual’s professional experience to promote organizational learning. Organizations with well-defined connections between their projects and strategies can better establish interconnections among knowledge creation, sharing and coding.Originality/valueThe primary contribution is to provide a comprehensive view that incorporates the conditions required to manage project knowledge, organizational learning and memory. The findings lead to four propositions that relate to volatile memory, intuitive knowledge, learning and knowledge encoding.

A survey of predicting software reliability using machine learning methods

<span lang="EN-US">In light of technical and technological progress, software has become an urgent need in every aspect of human life, including the medicine sector and industrial control. Therefore, it is imperative that the software always works flawlessly. The information technology sector has witnessed a rapid expansion in recent years, as software companies can no longer rely only on cost advantages to stay competitive in the market, but programmers must provide reliable and high-quality software, and in order to estimate and predict software reliability using machine learning and deep learning, it was introduced A brief overview of the important scientific contributions to the subject of software reliability, and the researchers' findings of highly efficient methods and techniques for predicting software reliability. </span>

How User Requirements Affect the Success of an Enterprise System Implementation Project?

The paper examines the collection, preparation, and improvement of user requirements for a complex ERP case study implementation in an international organisation. The study presents a case study of the ERP system implementation project. We address the user requirements and their quality with regard to the scope of the case study on the ERP implementation project and wider as an integral aspect of successful project management within an organisational context. In the discussion, we address and support the notions that: 1.) the choice of the type of solution and the software company; 2.) strong leadership and control from the investor side; 3.) the activities prior to the start of the ERP implementation project and a clearly defined scope at the time of contract conclusion; 4.) the quality of system requirements based on well-specified user requirements; and 5.) the alignment of the scope definition and user requirements within the organisation contribute to the success of the enterprise system implementation project.

A proposed Cutomized Scrum Framework for Sudanese Software Companies

Scrum is recognized as one of the most promising and successful agile process models in the software industry. Wide recognition is based on his contribution to increased productivity, better collaboration, quick response to changing market needs and faster delivery of quality products. Although Scrum works better for small projects, practitioners face some challenges in implementing it in Sudanese software companies. Experts have tried to improve Scrum in ways that eliminate these shortcomings and limitations, but no company has been able to solve all the problems. The purpose of this study is to provide a customized Scrum framework for small and medium-sized software companies in Sudan with the aim of improving team productivity and documentation. . The study used asynchronous online focus group data collection as a very useful technique to obtain feedback from small and highly experienced groups in the field of agile software development. The resulting customized Scrum framework requires the adaptation and development of classic Scrum techniques and responsibility for solving problems while maintaining the integrity and simplicity of the methodology.

Borrowing networks for innovation: The role of attention allocation in secondhand brokerage

AbstractResearch SummaryThis study investigates how people connecting with brokers who span structural holes in a firm's communication networks can enhance their innovative performance. Through sociometric data from a large software company, we observe that individuals who pay attention to information from brokers achieve higher innovative performance compared with those who ignore such information. The advantage of paying attention to brokers' information is more pronounced when people operate in highly constrained networks. Yet, our post hoc analysis reveals that people typically allocate less attention to information from brokers than from local colleagues—they systematically do the opposite of what they should do for innovative performance. Our findings regarding the role of attention for secondhand brokerage make significant contributions to studies of networks and innovation for behavioral strategy.Managerial SummaryThis study investigates how innovation is influenced by paying attention to brokers within a company. Brokers are individuals who bridge different groups, providing access to varied information. Analysis of internal data from a large software company reveals that employees who heed the ideas of brokers tend to be more innovative, especially in close‐knit networks. However, there is a notable tendency for people to ignore brokers, favoring information from familiar colleagues instead. This indicates a significant attention bias, where the potentially most valuable sources for innovation are often unattended. Our research highlights the critical need for a strategic approach to distributing attention within company networks, which can significantly boost innovative performance.

The Role of Teamwork and Employee Empowerment in Enhancing Organizational Performance in the Pakistan Software Industry

This study examines the impacts of human resource planning (HRP) practices relating to teamwork and employee empowerment on the organizational performance of software firms in Pakistan. While prior research shows bundles of HRP initiatives can benefit outcomes like innovation and financial growth, there is limited focus on specific mechanisms, especially in developing country IT sectors facing talent pressures. Through a survey of 105 software companies, regression modeling indicates teamwork and empowerment together explain 48.7% of performance variation. Both practices display significant positive relationships, validating social exchange, human capital, and ability-motivation-opportunity theories positing that progressive HR systems boost competencies, creativity, and motivation to drive organizational success. However, teamwork has a relatively stronger effect. These findings carry important implications. Theoretically, they provide granular insights beyond broad HRP bundles on how contextual practices like collaboration and autonomy-support stimulate software sector outcomes. For practice, they underscore the need for targeted investments in team initiatives, empowerment policies, and complementary HRM ecosystems beyond efficiency, as software human capital is a vital asset for innovation and growth. Nonetheless, limitations of the cross-sectional design point to opportunities for longitudinal and qualitative research on mediating mechanisms and integrative bundles tailored to software industry dynamics. Overall, by highlighting the performance returns of contextual HRP dimensions in Pakistan’s burgeoning software space, this study offers actionable guidance for harnessing human capital while also elucidating theoretical linkages between targeted HR practices and organizational effectiveness.

Towards liveness: collective memory and reproductions of studio reverberation

ABSTRACT Through a consideration of their reverberant characteristics, this article places representations of recording studios as an active cultural process that plays out through the recorded sounds such spaces become associated with. Like other heritage sites, the work to define, maintain, and allocate certain structures as unique or significant relies on the cultural process of collective memory. By focusing on the concept of sonic recollection, the reconfiguration of unique tracking room environments for “in the box” digital audio workstation software, exemplified through reverberation, is shown to draw from a network of people, sounds, and technologies that cumulatively reflect various stages of a recording studio’s trajectory. By uncovering this network – encompassing well-known and unnamed engineers, famous to merely aspiring recording artists, established or defunct studios and software companies, and technologies such as convolution reverb, all of which articulate one another in digital audio workstation software – it suggests that the theoretical underpinnings of collective memory studies are a useful tool of analysis to more fully frame reconstructions or representations of physical spaces undertaken through recorded sound, and that reverberation is an ideal metaphor for the work of collective memory.

Robust Scheduling of Multi-Skilled Workforce Allocation: Job Rotation Approach

This paper addresses scheduling challenges in software development organizations, specifically focusing on a novel version of the software project scheduling problem (SPSP). This enhanced model incorporates the dynamics of learning and forgetting phenomena, crucial in maintaining employee competencies, particularly when unexpected events such as absenteeism or shifts in project priorities occur. The paper introduces a new declarative reference model for SPSP, aimed at proactively managing the assignment of versatile programmers to tasks within an portfolio of IT projects, while considering the effects of forgetting. Implemented within a constraints programming environment, this model facilitates decision making in project management for software companies. It serves to find feasible solutions and identify conditions necessary to meet specified expectations. The effectiveness of the proposed SPSP model is demonstrated through numerical examples.

Fabry App: the value of a portable technology in recording day-to-day patient monitored information in patients with Fabry disease

BackgroundFabry disease is a rare inherited disorder resulting from deficient α-galactosidase A enzyme activity. Common disease manifestations are sweating abnormalities, neuropathic pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and fatigue. Challenges are faced by health care professionals in evaluating symptom burden in the current clinical setting, and the demand for alternative methods for monitoring disease-specific symptoms has seen an acceleration in recent years. Smartphone technologies offer the potential for continuity of care and surveillance. As a part of a quality improvement project, a disease specific app was developed in collaboration with a software company (Health Touch Ltd) and made available for patient use in May 2018. The Fabry mobile app records five categories: pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, sweating, activity levels, medications. Fabry disease patients with gastrointestinal and pain symptoms attending the Lysosomal Storage Disorders Unit of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust were reviewed to assess eligibility and invited to download the app for recording their symptoms (activity, sweating, pain and gastrointestinal) and medications. Patient-generated data were transmitted to a secure website for clinicians to review.ResultsOne-hundred and thirty-nine symptomatic Fabry disease patients who had a smartphone (iPhone or android) were invited to download the app. Sixty-seven patients (26 males and 41 females; median age, 49 years [range, 20–81]) downloaded and tracked the Fabry App at least once. The median frequency of use per patient was 6 (range, 1–629). Pain in the hands and abdominal pain were significantly higher (p = 0.009 and p = 0.007, respectively) in patients with classic phenotype compared with patients with non-classic phenotypes.ConclusionsWe demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a smartphone app to facilitate the remote assessment and monitoring of Fabry disease symptom burden on a daily/weekly basis, as an alternative to the current standard of care that requires patients to recall their symptoms during 6 to 12 monthly annual clinic visits. Patients who were more likely to use the app had greater disease burden. This innovation has the potential to assess disease progression, early therapeutic intervention, thereby decreasing the burden of morbidity and mortality among Fabry patients, and to record long-term effects of Fabry-specific therapies.

A mediating role of work engagement in psychological contract and innovative work behaviour: a study of information technology sector of Pakistan

Purpose: The goal of this research was to learn how psychological contracts influence workers' innovative work behavior in Pakistan's information technology industry. Design/methodology/approach: Employees from several software companies in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, participated in the study. Standardized scales were used to obtain data from 234 workers via questionnaires. Findings: The study's findings showed a favorable correlation between innovative work behavior and the presence of psychological contracts (both transactional and relational). Originality/value: There remained uncertainty and little study was done on the mediation function of work engagement in the relationship between Psychological Contract and Innovative Work Behavior despite decades of research on the subject. Thus, work engagement was employed as a mediator in this research, and the findings demonstrated that work engagement mediates the relationship between innovative work behavior and the psychological contract in a positive and meaningful way. Keywords: psychological contract, innovative work behaviour, work engagement, IT sector. Category of the paper: Research paper.

Machine Learning System Development in Information Systems Development Praxis

Advancements in hardware and software have propelled machine learning (ML) solutions to become vital components of numerous information systems. This calls for research on the integration and evaluation of ML development practices within software companies. To investigate these issues, we conducted expert interviews with software and ML professionals. We structured the interviews around information systems development (ISD) models, which serve as conceptual frameworks that guide stakeholders throughout software projects. Using practice theory, we analyzed how software professionals perceive ML development within the context of ISD models and identified themes that characterize the transformative impact of ML development on these conceptual models. Our findings show that developer-driven conceptual models, such as DevOps and MLOps, have been embraced as common frameworks for developers and management to understand and guide the ML development processes. We observed ongoing shifts in predefined developer roles, wherein developers are increasingly adopting ML techniques and tools in their professional work. Overall, our findings underscore that ML technologies are becoming increasingly prominent in software projects across industries, and that the incorporation of ML development in ISD models is an ongoing, largely practice-driven, process.

The Black Widow Case

Is an AI decision that results in death, an accident or a programmed choice? After her husband’s death in a car accident involving an autonomous vehicle, Mrs. Portman sues both the software company and her insurance company. The story delves into the legal and ethical complexities surrounding AI decision-making, the concept of accidents versus programmed choices, and the responsibility of those who create and implement AI systems.

Practical Aspects of Designing a Human-centred AI System in Manufacturing

An increasing number of manufacturing companies have initiated designing and implementing AI systems in manufacturing, however, with limited success. Within our overarching research objective of establishing a methodology for the development of AI systems in manufacturing with socio-technical system consideration, this paper focuses on the early design phase of the development life cycle and aims to identify factors that are essential in the phase but whose importance has been less addressed in the manufacturing literature. To this aim, a case study was conducted adopting a design science approach. The case company was developing an ML-based anomaly detection system for a casting process. The researcher organised an AI system design workshop where participants from the company used the Human-AI design guidelines created by a leading large software company. The workshop enabled the participants to explore a wide range of design concerns. It, however, caused the confusing experience that they had to deal with too many questions simultaneously without clear guidance. Analysing this negative experience has led to identifying four design issues requiring further attention in the research. An example of these issues is that the interdependency of design decisions on operational procedures, human-machine interfaces, ML models, pre-processing, and input data makes it challenging to design these elements in isolation. The study found that a structured approach to dealing with the identified issues was currently lacking. This paper contributes to the manufacturing research community by addressing key unresolved issues in the research through highlighting practical details of designing AI systems in manufacturing.

Software Engineering Students, Soft and Hard Skills Got through a University Software Company

Software Engineering Students, Soft and Hard Skills Got through a University Software Company

Project Governance to Improve the Performance of Software Projects by Mitigating the Software Risk Factors: The Moderating Role of Project Leadership

This study conducted a survey of Bangladeshi software companies and discovered that, by lowering software risk factors, project governance plays a critical role in enhancing project performance. In addition, it was discovered that, when various risk factors were taken into account, project leadership favorably moderated the relationship between project governance and project performance. Implementing project governance systems to reduce software risk factors in software projects is one of the findings’ implications for enterprises.

Identifying Success and Failure Factors of Agile Software Development in Afghan Software Companies

Identifying Success and Failure Factors of Agile Software Development in Afghan Software Companies