Software Development Risk Research Articles

Applying Continuous Integration for Increasing the Maintenance Quality and Efficiency of Web App

In order to project resource management and time control, software system needs to be decomposed into subsystems, functional modules and basis components. Finally, all tested components have to integrate to be the complete system. Applying IID (Iterative Incremental Development) mechanism, agile development model becomes the practical method to reduce software project failure rate. Continuous integration (CI) is an IID implementation concept which can effectively reduce software development risk. Web app with high change characteristic is suitable to use agile development model as the development and maintenance methodology. The paper depth surveys CI operating environment and advantages. Introducing CI concept can make up the moving target problems to impact of Web app. For this, the paper proposes a Continuous Integration based Web Applications Maintenance Procedure (CIWAMP) to assist the system integration operating. Based on CI characteristics, CIWAMP makes Web app can be deployed quickly, increase stakeholder communication frequency, improve staff morale, and effectively reduce Web app maintenance quality and efficiency

Формалізація процесу управління ризиками розроблення програмного забезпечення

Розроблено підхід до формалізації процесу управляння ризиками розроблення програмного забезпечення (ПЗ), який дає змогу ідентифікувати та оцінити несприятливі ситуацій під час реалізації етапів програмного проекту, а також уможливлює розроблення стратегій і тактик їх передбачення, сприйняття та подолання негативних наслідків від їх прояву. З'ясовано, що управління ризиками розроблення ПЗ потрібно розглядати як процес, який дає змогу визначити особливості такого управління, основні категорії наявних ризиків, ризик-орієнтовний підхід до управління ними. Уточнено підходи до ідентифікації ризиків розроблення ПЗ, їхнього ґрунтовного аналізу, планування та моніторингу, що дало змогу поміняти модель діяльності проектного менеджменту загалом і змінити модель поведінки керівника проекту зокрема на різних етапах реалізації програмного проекту. Удосконалено методику визначення можливих джерел появи ризиків розроблення ПЗ й ідентифікації потенційних ризикових подій, сформовано структуровану множину наявних ризиків реалізації програмних проектів і розроблено їх формалізовані моделі для проведення відповідних розрахунків. Розроблено методику визначення ймовірностей настання потенційних ризикових подій у відповідних їх множинах, запропоновано підхід до розподілу вартості реалізації програмного проекту за цими множинами загалом і потенційними ризиковими подіями зокрема, визначено частки та величини можливих збитків від настання ризикових подій, встановлено пріоритети їх пом'якшення та ранжування. Уточнено заходи із запобігання чи знешкодження ризиків розроблення ПЗ, удосконалено методику визначення ймовірності зменшення або усунення різних ризикових подій, визначено правила і політику реалізації програмного проекту, розроблено їх формалізовані моделі.

A Systematic Literature Review on Risk Factors in Software Development Outsourcing

Software development outsourcing has become a prevalent practice in the software industry. Organizations in both public and private sectors are adopting software development outsourcing in order to achieve lower cost and to access to skilled labour. However, it is widely recognized that outsourced software development projects involve risks and sometimes leads to undesirable consequences. Existing research in the software engineering and related areas have identified several risks in the software development outsourcing projects such as lack of communication and technical skills. The aim of this paper is to examine the literature on outsourced software development in order to identify some risks that could occur during the pre-contract, contract and post-contract phases of the outsourcing life cycle. It is anticipated that by understanding these risks, project managers could better manage them and subsequently increase the possibility of the success of outsourcing project. A systematic literature review of studies on software development outsourcing published in year 2005 to year 2015 was conducted. Of 41 studies consulted, 18 were concerned with outsourcing software development risk factors. The top three risk factors identified are lack of required technical skills and competencies (61%), lack of communication (44%) and poorly articulated requirements (44%).

МЕТОДИ ЯКІСНОГО АНАЛІЗУ ТА КІЛЬКІСНОЇ ОЦІНКИ РИЗИКІВ РОЗРОБКИ ПРОГРАМНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ

В роботі визначено і вирішено одне з протиріч, що виникають при розробці ПЗ, яке полягає в нехтуванні фірмамирозробниками ПЗ факторів вразливості безпеки ПЗ. Усі ризики при розробці програмного забезпечення, з більшим або меншим допущенням, можна вважати суб’єктивним результатом виконання процесу, який пов’язаний з нестачею кількісної або якісної інформації про процес, а також її невизначеністю. Зазначені фактори можна вважати головною причиною, яка породжує і супроводжує ризики у всьому їхньому життєвому циклі. В якості вирішення зазначеної проблеми запропоновано використання розроблених методів якісного аналізу та кількісної оцінки ризиків розробки програмного забезпечення.Його відмінною особливістю є врахування факторів експлуатаційних ризиків, особливо ризику невиявлення вразливостей ПЗ і оцінки довільного несуперечливого кінцевого набору «квантів інформації». Доведено, що методика якісної оцінки ризиків проекту є описовою і являє собою процес, спрямований на виявлення конкретних ризиків проекту, а також причин, що їх породжують, з подальшою оцінкою можливих наслідків і вироблення заходів для роботи з ризиками. У процесі якісного аналізу ризиків відбувається вироблення метрик, що відповідають за визначення граничних показників факторів, які сигналізують про прояв ризиків.Розроблено метод кількісної оцінки ризиків розробки ПЗ. Його відмінною особливістю є комплексне використання методики «Аналізу дерева відмов» і способу оцінки показника чистої приведеної вартості проекту розробки ПЗ з урахуванням негативних факторів можливого невиявлення вразливостей безпеки ПЗ. У той же час використання способу оцінки показника чистої приведеної вартості проекту розробки ПЗ дозволяє розглядати проект комплексно, з урахуванням необхідності врахування безпеки і тестування вразливості ПЗ із залученням інструментів, які дозволяють подолати складність, невизначеність і довгостроковість проектів.

Associated immediate probability intuitionistic fuzzy aggregations in MCDM

Abstract In this article, the Associated Immediate Probability Intuitionistic Fuzzy Order Weighted Averaging (As-IP-IFOWA) and the Associated Immediate Probability Intuitionistic Fuzzy Order Weighted Geometric (As-IP-IFOWG) operators are constructed. Associated probability distributions in the role of uncertainty measure are used. Arguments of the new aggregation operators are presented in the intuitionistic fuzzy values. Some properties of the constructed operators are presented. The conjugate intuitionistic fuzzy operator is defined. The conjugate connections between the constructed operators are shown. Several variants of the new operators for the decision making problem regarding assessment of the software development risks are used.

Extensions of Probability Intuitionistic Fuzzy Aggregation Operators in Fuzzy MCDM/MADM

New family of intuitionistic fuzzy operators for aggregation of information on interactive criteria/attributes in Multi-Criteria/attributes Decision Making (MCDM/MADM) problems are constructed. New aggregations are based on the Choquet integral and the associated probability class of a fuzzy measure. Propositions on the correctness of the extension are presented. Connections between the operators and the compositions of dual triangular norms [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are described. The conjugate connections between the constructed operators are considered. It is known that when interactions between criteria/attributes are strong, aggregation operators based on Choquet integral reflect these interactions at a certain degree, but these operators consider only consonant structure of criteria/attributes. New operators reflect interactions among all the combinations of the criteria/attributes in the fuzzy MCDM/MADM process. Several variants of new operators are used in the decision making problem regarding the assessment of software development risks.

2111 オフショア開発リスク対応事例 : 中国と日本双方から見たオフショア開発の課題と対応事例(一般セッション)

2111 オフショア開発リスク対応事例 : 中国と日本双方から見たオフショア開発の課題と対応事例(一般セッション)

A User Story Quality Measurement Model for Reducing Agile Software Development Risk

A User Story Quality Measurement Model for Reducing Agile Software Development Risk

Linguistic fuzzy consensus model for collaborative development of fuzzy cognitive maps: a case study in software development risks

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) have been widely used in several domains for information processing, such as, data fusion, decision making. Although several methods to automatically learn FCMs are recognized from the scientific literature, the most used approach to build an FCM relies on a collaborative task involving single person or, more suitably, group of experts. Collaborative development increases reliability and robustness of the resulting FCM, but rises some problems in terms of group decision making to aggregate different perspectives of the problem representation. This paper proposes to support collaborative development of FCMs introducing knowledge engineering process that relies on Linguistic Fuzzy Consensus Model. In the proposed approach, each expert builds the own version of the FCM. When all different versions are available, a Group Decision Making process is activated in order to reach the consensus on conflictual modeling opinions. The result is a unique final version of the FCM that is not a simple aggregation of the versions provided by the experts but is the result of a well-suited mathematical model. In addition, this work adopts consensus model with incomplete preference relations scheme to address knowledge harmonization issues. Finally, advantages and the limitations of the proposed framework are argued.

Reusable Coordination Components: Reliable Development of Cooperative Information Systems

Today’s emerging trends like factory of the future, big data, Internet-of-things, intelligent traffic solutions, cyber-physical systems, wireless sensor networks, smart home, smart city and smart grid raise new challenges on software development. They are characterized by high concurrency, distribution and dynamics as well as huge numbers of heterogeneous devices, resources and users that must collaborate in a reliable way. The management of the interactions and dependencies between the participants is a complex task posing massive coordination problems. The here proposed approach is twofold: (i) to analyze similarities in the communication and synchronization behavior of such applications and to identify coordination patterns; and (ii) to give a precise specification of them by means of a suitable coordination model which enables the development of coordination pattern-based software components as solutions. The vision is to compose advanced cooperative information systems from proven, configurable, reusable, generic components that run on a suitable target platform, in order to reduce software development time, risks and costs. In this paper we delimit the idea of “coordination patterns” from other related pattern approaches and motivate the need for a well-defined model to specify them. Several coordination models to achieve this goal are discussed, and the advantages of a new coordination model termed the “Peer Model” are pointed out. The feasibility of the approach to identify coordination patterns, to model them and to provide generic components that can be reused in different scenarios through configuration and composition is evaluated by means of a coordination pattern found in several industrial use cases.

A Discriminant Model for Classifying Software Project Performance

Project managers are concerned about completing the projects on time and cost. IT projects across the globe are notorious for their time and cost overruns. This paper presents output from a comprehensive study on software development risk and project outcome with respect to the projects executed by software companies in India. Based on the data collected from over 300 projects, the authors developed a discriminant model for predicting the project outcome category based on risk scores of a project. The discriminant models developed are seen to possess adequate prediction accuracy to be used in practice. The models can help the project managers in early detection of likely project failures and hence to initiate appropriate counter strategies.

A Mutation-Based Approach for Testing AsmetaL Specifications

The detection of specification errors can help reduce the cost and risk of software development because uncorrected defects in specifications will propagate to code, thus adversely affecting the quality of the end product. Mutation testing is a well-established fault-based technique for assessing and improving the quality of test suites. Mutation testing can be applied at different levels of abstraction, e.g., the unit level, the integration level, and the specification level. In this paper, we propose a suite of AsmetaL-specific mutation operators, classified into four categories. The proposed operators are used to assess the adequacy of test suites generated using the ATGT tool, according to various test coverage criteria. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach through eight publicly available AsmetaL case studies. The results of the case studies show that our proposed mutation operators can be used to compare different AsmetaL-based test coverage criteria and successfully detect inadequacies in test suites.

A Maintainability Enhancement Procedure for Reducing Agile Software Development Risk

A Maintainability Enhancement Procedure for Reducing Agile Software Development Risk

Dependability approach for evaluating software development risks

Software development is usually impacted by risks (e.g. schedule delays and increased costs), which may lead to the failure of the software project. Several techniques have been proposed to evaluate the effects of such undesirable issues, but probability estimates are usually neglected, affecting a proper evaluation of risks. This work presents an approach based on dependability models (e.g. stochastic Petri nets) for probabilistic evaluation of risks regarding the turnover of team members and requirement implementation in software development projects. Two case studies are adopted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique.

A performability approach for evaluating the impact of risks in software development

Successful software projects are still an important challenge for the industry. In this context, risks deserve particular attention, since they may lead to project failure. Several techniques have been proposed to evaluate the effects of such undesirable issues, but probability estimates are usually neglected, affecting a proper evaluation of risks. The primary objective of this study is the adoption of dependability and performability techniques for probabilistic evaluation of development risks in software projects. This work utilises dependability and performability models, based on stochastic Petri nets and reliability block diagrams, for quantitative evaluation of risks regarding the developer turnover and requirement implementation in software development projects. Besides, the proposed approach also considers fault-tolerance techniques to mitigate the impact of risks. The case studies contemplate two real-world software projects with developer turnover and requirement implementation as remarkable risks. The proposed models are utilised for risk assessment, and techniques, such as dynamic redundancy and periodic meetings, are adopted to improve project availability. The proposed experiments demonstrate project managers have a prominent tool to evaluate risks and different configurations to avoid or mitigate these undesirable issues.

The adaptive internet application for interpretation of the transformer oil gas chromatographic analysis results

This paper describes an adaptive Internet application for the interpretation of the transformer oil gas chromatographic analysis results. The first version of the application is developed by following an evolutionary software development concept. The most important software development risks and the appropriate solutions are described. An open-source web framework named Bootstrap is used for an application implementation. The application is developed by using ASP.NET and MS SQL server.

Risiko Pembangunan Sistem Secara Penyumberluaran : Pengujian Menggunakan Teknik Proses Analisis Berhirarki

System development outsourcing has become the important practices in many organizations which involve third parties contribution on IT implementation as well as software development. The reasons of the demanding in outsourcing implementation are because it reduces operation and development budget for Information Technology Department and improves service quality and operational efficiency. Although it comes with benefits to the organization, but there are risks that associated with it. The objectives of this study are: 1) to identify main risks in outsource software development, 2) to assess the outsourcing risks and 3) to test the risks related to supplier using AHP technique. A survey was conducted in Malaysia to identify main risks in software outsourcing and to access the risk’s level and severity. Then, the risks were analysed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to evaluate the performance of the suppliers in outsourcing data collected in the organisation. In this study, the testing and evaluating method were carried out with the officers in The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority or RISDA in Malaysia because this organization has experience in software developemt outsource for more than 15 years. They are considered as well experience and good knowledge in this area. Findings from this study suggest to the related organization the main risks identified during software development and risk analysis is used to manage risk effectively according to its severity and priority. One way to manage and control risk is by identifying risks associated with suppliers using multi criteria selection method.

Factor reduction and clustering for operational risk in software development

Software development failures frequently emerge as a result of the failure to understand and identify risks. The aim of this paper is to identify the most salient risk factors present during a software development project's life cycle, in terms of their occurrence likelihood and impact on cost overrun. A questionnaire was sent to 2000 software development companies, IT consultancy and management companies and web development companies in the United Kingdom, United States, mainland Europe, Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan and other Asian countries, asking respondents to evaluate a number of risk factors. Because many factors were closely related, we applied a factor reduction and clustering process to the results to allow a smaller number of crucial risk factors to be identified. The three main clusters of risk factors we identified are feasibility studies, project team management and technology requirements. While a feasibility study may be unlikely to take place, it can have a significant impact on project outcomes. In contrast, project team management is likely to occur but has a relatively small impact on outcomes in comparison with technology requirements. Professionals will need to apply checks and balances to these factors and generate risk mitigation plans to reduce the severity of project failures. Our results allow them to connect the probability of risk factor occurrence and overall impact, so they can focus their limited resources on reducing the most pertinent risks in their projects.

Why project size matters for contract choice in software development outsourcing

The contractual mechanism of software development outsourcing, typically either fixed-price (FP) or time-and-materials (T&M), determines the nature of incentives, risk sharing, and coordination between client and vendor. While software engineering considers project size as crucial for project planning and success, neither economic nor organizational theory considers size per se among the determinants of contract choice. In this paper, we address the gap between the centrality of project size in the software engineering literature and the attention it receives in software contracting research by modeling and testing the association between project size and contract choice. Existing empirical evidence indicates that FP contracts are appropriate for small development efforts whereas T&M contracts are suitable for larger projects, based on the reasoning that cost and schedule are difficult to estimate in larger projects. This prediction that size is directly associated with contract choice is the basis upon which two models are developed. The first model draws on the contracting efficiency approach to hypothesize that the effect of project size on contract choice is mediated by project detail. The second model draws on the contingency approach to software development risk management to hypothesize that the effect of project size on contract choice is moderated by project detail and vendor familiarity. We test these models using a large portfolio of software development contracts entered into by a leading European bank, and the results confirm that both mediation and moderation are at play.

The impact of Software Process Maturity on Software Project Performance: The Contingent Role of Software Development Risk

Despite growing efforts to improve software development processes, recurring concerns about software project performance remain largely present. The rate of software development project failure rate has been routinely documented in information systems (IS) research (Wallace, 2004; El-Masry and Rivard, 2010). The management of software development projects is often marked by inadequate planning, a poor grasp of the overall development process, and no clear management framework, even as the focus in software development shifts from a technology perspective to a more process-centric view (Slaughter, 2006). To address such concerns few CMM-based studies have examined the benefits and direct impact of software process maturity on software project performance but with mixed results. The present paper attempts to systematically examine the contingent role of software development risk on the impact of software process maturity level on software project performance. Guided by risk-based perspective in Software Engineering and CMM-based framework, an exploratory model was developed and tested. The premise of this paper is that software development risk plays a contingent role in the relationship between software process maturity and software project performance. Drawing on a sample of 107 organizations that have undergone official CMM appraisals, the results of partial least squares analysis of the data reveal initial evidence that (1) a positive effect of software process maturity level on software project performance while underscoring the negative effect of software development risk on software project performance, and (2) more importantly, the findings show that software development risk plays a contingent role software process maturity level on software project performance. For researchers, the integration of software development risk can provide a much needed linkage in the three fundamental constructs of CMM. From a managerial perspective, in order to foster a better software project performance, IS project leaders and managers should strongly emphasize devising effective software development risk assessment since a variation of this construct’s level may strengthen or weaken the relationship between software development process maturity and software project performance.