Software Engineering Management Research Articles

Distilling a body of knowledge for information systems development

AbstractAs a contribution towards consolidating the information systems (IS) field, we offer a systematic method for distilling a canonical body of knowledge (BOK) for information systems development (ISD), an area that historically accounts for as much as half of all IS research. Based on an integrative synthesis of the literature, we present a map of the most significant ISD research, uncover gaps in its canons and suggest fruitful lines of inquiry for new research. Our review combines citation analysis, which identifies the field's evidence of cumulative tradition, with computer‐aided textual analysis, a hermeneutically guided method that organizes the fragmented corpus of ISD literature into coherent knowledge areas. From a pool of over 6500 articles published in the IS Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals, we find 940 IS citation classics, and from that list, 466 ISD articles that offer canonical ISD knowledge distinctive to IS and complementary to other disciplines such as software engineering and project management. From this study, we offer two contributions: (1) a justification for an ISDBOK grounded in the theory of practice and professionalism, and (2) a canonical map of disciplinary ISD knowledge with areas that have demonstrated cumulative tradition and others that require the attention of IS scholars. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

A Tri-Level Industry-Focused Learning Approach for Software Engineering Management

Most engineering classes in higher education rely heavily on the traditional lecture format, despite the fact that a number of investigations have shown that lectures, even when given by good lecturers, have limited success in helping students make sense of the engineering practices they are learning. Recently, the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) highlighted the importance of professional practice in producing high quality engineering programs. The integration of industry links in teaching pedagogy is essential. In this paper, the authors introduce a new industry-oriented tri-level teaching approach in order to offer students the opportunity to be involved in industry projects and gain important work experience during the academic period. To prioritize industry hands-on activities for students and shape the traditional classroom toward an industry environment, three entities are involved in this approach: industry guest speakers, teachers, and students. Traditionally, guest lecturing is centered on the speaker, who delivers a presentation and follows with a short question and answer session. Students are often passive learners in this process. A blended learning approach was therefore integrated between all entities to allow more flexible learning opportunities, wherein students participated in each step of guest lecturing, including preparation, questions, and reflection. A software project management case study was introduced to measure students’ performance and satisfaction.

Design Considerations in Development of a Mobile Health Intervention Program: The TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS Experience.

BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) has huge potential to deliver preventative health services. However, there is paucity of literature on theoretical constructs, technical, practical, and regulatory considerations that enable delivery of such services.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to outline the key considerations in the development of a text message-based mHealth program; thus providing broad recommendations and guidance to future researchers designing similar programs.MethodsWe describe the key considerations in designing the intervention with respect to functionality, technical infrastructure, data management, software components, regulatory requirements, and operationalization. We also illustrate some of the potential issues and decision points utilizing our experience of developing text message (short message service, SMS) management systems to support 2 large randomized controlled trials: TEXT messages to improve MEDication adherence & Secondary prevention (TEXTMEDS) and Tobacco, EXercise and dieT MEssages (TEXT ME).ResultsThe steps identified in the development process were: (1) background research and development of the text message bank based on scientific evidence and disease-specific guidelines, (2) pilot testing with target audience and incorporating feedback, (3) software-hardware customization to enable delivery of complex personalized programs using prespecified algorithms, and (4) legal and regulatory considerations. Additional considerations in developing text message management systems include: balancing the use of customized versus preexisting software systems, the level of automation versus need for human inputs, monitoring, ensuring data security, interface flexibility, and the ability for upscaling.ConclusionsA merging of expertise in clinical and behavioral sciences, health and research data management systems, software engineering, and mobile phone regulatory requirements is essential to develop a platform to deliver and manage support programs to hundreds of participants simultaneously as in TEXT ME and TEXTMEDS trials. This research provides broad principles that may assist other researchers in developing mHealth programs.

Software Engineering Management Education through Game Design Patterns

Abstract Software engineering (SE) is an area with a wide range of concepts and knowledge. Such diversity of topics, requires the application of different teaching and learning techniques for an effective education. Serious Games is one of such techniques, yet its design tends to be complex, currently lacking a map of game design standards that comply with SE education requirements. This paper presents a process to identify the game design patterns that can be effective for teaching software engineering, specifically the software project management topic. Firstly, it begins by identifying the relationship between game design patterns and teaching and learning functions based on literature review. Secondly, it filters which of those teaching and learning functions is most relevant to software project management education, according to SE education specialists. Finally, it validates the relationship between game design patterns and software project management education through an empirical study conducted with master students. The results can be used as a basis for designing and developing serious games for teaching software project management.

Effects of Funding Fluctuations on Software Development: A System Dynamics Analysis

What happens when software project funding is temporarily cut off and then restored at a later date? Although project funding gaps clearly result in software delivery delays, it is difficult to understand the causes and estimate the relative magnitude of the impact. This article uses System Dynamics modeling to examine how gaps in funding affect software development productivity and product delivery delay. Results provide software engineering managers with an improved sense of the negative effect of budget fluctuations. Two key insights for practicing engineering managers include a Ramp Up Tax that slows development and a Gap Tax due to the loss of project-related skill and familiarity when developers are transferred off a project and then return. Model experiments presented allow managers to compare the impact of temporarily stopping a project versus stretching out a project by temporarily reducing the funding level. Both the model and the patterns of results can provide project managers with a stronger basis for explaining the negative effects of funding gaps to senior leadership and funding managers.

Multi-Role Project (MRP): A New Project-Based Learning Method for STEM

This paper presents the “Multi-Role Project” method (MRP), a broadly applicable project-based learning method, and describes its implementation and evaluation in the context of a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) course. The MRP method is designed around a meta-principle that considers the project learning activity as a role-playing game based on two projects: a learning project and an engineering project. The meta-principle is complemented by five principles that provide a framework to guide the working practices of student teams: distribution of responsibilities; regular interactions and solicitations within the team; anticipation and continuous improvement; positive interdependence and alternating individual/collective work; and open communication and content management. This paper presents the implementation of MRP in a course teaching software engineering, UML language, and project management. The results show that MRP helped the course's students to acquire important professional knowledge and skills, experience near-real-world professional realities, and develop their abilities to work both in teams and autonomously.

Estudio sobre el Cumplimiento de las Asignaturas Ingeniería de Requisitos y Gerencia Informática con Respecto a la Guía Base de Conocimientos en Ingeniería de Software (Swebok©)

A study that was carried out in the Systems and Computer Engineering programme of the Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, on the current state of the subjects of the area of Software Engineering and Information Technology Management with respect to the contents and strategies included in the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (Swebok©). The purpose of this research is to provide the Curriculum Committee of the academic programme with a revision document and the current state of these courses with the objective of making the necessary adjustments and thus fostering the academic improvement of the programme. A number of surveys were carried out on different actors within the academic context as well as mapping of the subjects, identifying the pedagogical and methodological strategies currently used. The main results show that the compliance of the subjects with the contents from the Swebok guide in Software Engineering is 72.8 % and the subject Information Technology Management is 49%.

Software Engineering Project Courses with Industrial Clients

There is an acknowledged need for teaching realistic software development in project courses. The design space for such courses is wide, ranging from single-semester to two-semester courses, from single-client to multicustomer courses, from local to globally distributed courses, and from toy projects to projects with real clients. The challenge for a nontrivial project course is how to make the project complex enough to enrich students’ software engineering experience, yet realistic enough to have a teaching environment that does not unduly burden students or the instructor. We describe a methodology for project courses that is realizable for instructors, improves students’ skills, and leads to viable results for industry partners. In particular, recent advances in release management and collaboration workflows reduce the effort of students and instructors during delivery and increase the quality of the deliverables. To enable release and feedback management, we introduce Rugby, an agile process model based on Scrum that allows reacting to changing requirements. To improve early communication, we use Tornado, a scenario-based design approach that emphasizes the use of informal models for the interaction between clients and students. The combination of Rugby and Tornado allows students to deal with changing requirements, produce multiple releases, and obtain client feedback through the duration of the course. We describe our experience with more than 300 students working on 40 projects with external clients over a 4-year period. In the latest instance of our course, the students have produced more than 7000 builds with 600 releases for eleven clients. In an evaluation of the courses, we found that the introduction of Rugby and Tornado significantly increased students’ technical skills, especially with respect to software engineering, usability engineering, and configuration management, as well as their nontechnical skills such as communication with the client, teamwork, presentation, and demo management. Finally, we discuss how other instructors can adapt the course concept.

Design and Evaluation of PMS: A Computerized Simulation Game for Software Project Management

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the use of computerized simulation games to support the teaching and learning of software/IT project management. However, it appears that some of the existing simulation games mainly focus on software engineering concepts, and have less emphasis on project management issues such as scope, stakeholder and communication management. On the other hand, some project management simulation games focus on general project management concepts (e.g. the constraints among time, cost and scope), but fail to demonstrate the unique aspects and complexity of software/IT projects. This article presents the design and implementation of project management simulation (PMS), a computerized simulation game for the learning of software/IT project management. PMS addresses issues relevant to project management and software engineering literature. In the game, the player acts as a project manager and plans a video contest software development project. The player must analyze each project stakeholder’s requirements, properly define the project scope, and assign project activities to team members. The player communicates with the stakeholders proactively, develops software prototypes, and conducts quality review to increase stakeholders’ satisfaction and improve software quality. PMS aims to place a more balanced emphasis on the concepts of both software engineering and project management. This article includes an evaluation study to demonstrate the effectiveness of a learning exercise with PMS for supporting the teaching of the undergraduate course, ‘Software Project Methodology and Implementation’, at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The effectiveness of students’ learning with respect to the different project management knowledge areas was measured by comparing the students’ perceived levels of understanding of project management knowledge before and after playing the game. The pre and post learning exercise data show that the exercise with PMS significantly reinforced players’ knowledge in most project management knowledge areas, namely in human resource management.

Computing and Information Disciplines Body of Knowledge

ABSTRACT This work presents the already identified computing and information disciplines’ body of knowledge e as identified by the leaded and well international and advanced societies and associations in the advanced countries, such as AMC, IEEE-Computer Society, IAS, IRMA, etc. The work identifies separately the body of knowledge for the following disciplines or subject fields: Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering and Information Management. Other related disciplines as Computer Engineering, Information Science, Management, Mathematics, Ergonomics, Cognitive Science, etc. are being excluded from this work. The main five identified disciplines are represented separately; each disciplinary body of knowledge is organized hierarchically into only two levels. The highest level of this hierarchy concerns the main knowledge area within the identified a particular discipline or a subject field. Each main knowledge area is further subdivided into smaller divisions that could be called unites, domains or courses, which represent the identified thematic module within the knowledge area.

From Business Process Management to Flexible Image Analysis Applications: A Case Study

The Business Process Management (BPM) as an advanced paradigm in workflow management has been very a very active research topic in the field software engineering and process management. The goal of this contribution is to take BPM advantages into the image processing -in particular medical image analysis- to provide a consistent and comprehensive software framework. A case study is also presented in this paper and the possibility for applying BPM on image analysis is specified separately. Furthermore, several quality attributes are addressed to create modifiable, reusable, and flexible framework for the medical imaging community. The present research is expected to draw attentions from medical image analysis to BPM, and make possible future enhancements in BPM’s application.

Collaborative tracking and tracing: the value of a composite design

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a collaborative tracking and tracing (T&T) system that enables supply chain actors to join and leave the system in run-time without disrupting the function of the system. Design/methodology/approach – A collaborative T&T system is introduced using a conceptual approach. Supporting empirical data are collected through a deductive case study of a Swedish automotive supply chain. Findings – A collaborative T&T system based on composite and observer design patterns is an appropriate solution for inter-organizational T&T. Research limitations/implications – This research contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of logistics T&T. The conceptually developed collaborative T&T system needs to be validated empirically. Practical implications – The collaborative T&T system developed conceptually here could be used as a model for the practical development of inter-organizational T&T systems. Originality/value – The introduction of a collaborative T&T system, adopting the theories of software engineering and product data management, represents an original contribution to the field of T&T in logistics and transportation.

Research on Application of Software Engineering Theory in Software Development

With the development of information society, the size and number of computer software increases sharply. This demands the quality of software higher and higher. Thus does software engineering management come into being, and is enriched, developed and perfected in engineering practice continually. In this paper, the author analyses the new theory's research background, meaning, and the applicant region. This paper sums up the experience of software engineering implementation in project developing, and points out the problems of software in software explore. From the character and existing problem in software, the author compares the usability of a lot of soft engineer process models in developing organization, points out the importance of the implantation in these organizations. In the end, this paper also gives its suggestions on implant principle, organization development, system building, staff training, and environment construction.

A holistic cyber security implementation framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic cyber security implementation framework (HCS-IF) that lays out the ground for a conceptual, coherent, systematic, overarching and consolidated approach to implement cyber security strategies (CSSs). Design/methodology/approach – The HCS-IF is conceptually proposed to address the actual needs that are extracted from literature review. The HCS-IF uses and integrates a set of high-level conceptual security controls, solutions, processes, entities, tools, techniques or mechanisms that are already known in the domains of information security management, software engineering and project management to address the identified needs. Findings – The HCS-IF components and controls collectively interact and cooperate to implement CSSs. The proposed framework is compared with other related frameworks, and the results show that the HCS-IF outperforms other frameworks on most of the suggested comparison criteria. Originality/value – From a practical standpoint, governments and practitioners alike stand to gain from the findings of this research. Governments who want to implement CSSs on a national level will find the proposed framework useful in overseeing cyber security implementation. Practitioners will be prepared to address the anticipated cyber security implementation challenges and the required controls needed to facilitate cyber-security implementation in a holistic overarching manner.

The ATLAS data management software engineering process

Rucio is the next-generation data management system of the ATLAS experiment. The software engineering process to develop Rucio is fundamentally different to existing software development approaches in the ATLAS distributed computing community. Based on a conceptual design document, development takes place using peer-reviewed code in a test-driven environment. The main objectives are to ensure that every engineer understands the details of the full project, even components usually not touched by them, that the design and architecture are coherent, that temporary contributors can be productive without delay, that programming mistakes are prevented before being committed to the source code, and that the source is always in a fully functioning state. This contribution will illustrate the workflows and products used, and demonstrate the typical development cycle of a component from inception to deployment within this software engineering process. Next to the technological advantages, this contribution will also highlight the social aspects of an environment where every action is subject to detailed scrutiny.

Software Engineering and Software Quality Management

As the rapid development of social informatization, software reliability and security are highly required. Only applying high-quality software products can increase work efficiency. Quality is the life of software. How to enhance the quality of software products and how to use effective quality management method is an urgent need. This paper discuss the key point of software engineering and software quality management, and this is the basis of software quality ensurance model.

Brief Discussion on PSP and its Application and Implementation in Software Engineering Management

After years of development, software process management has become a mature system that contains a lot of management practices and models, in which is the most well-known CMM process model. However it only provides process improvement guidance from macro perspective rather than micro perspective that containing clearly specific knowledge and skills required for the individual. PSP is designed for individual software engineers, and provides necessary and strong support for CMM implementation. Its methodology has become more and more mature and been applied widely. From the perspective of software quality management, this paper makes a systematic overview of PSP including its developing route, framework, application and so on , it also provides suggestions and measures for software companies to implement PSP.

A survey of industrial experiences with CMM and the teaching of CMM practices

Teaching Software Engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels often lacks the emphasis on models and practices that support software process improvement, such as Capability Maturity Model ...

A Systematic Survey of Games Used for Software Engineering Education

Simsoft is a serious game— one that trains or educates— at the centre of a research project designed to see if and how games can contribute to better software engineering management education by helping software engineers and project managers explore some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. A necessary precursor for this project was to establish what games already existed in the field and how effective they had been. To this end a systematic review of the literature was conducted using a collection of online science, engineering, education, and business databases looking for games or simulations used for educational or training purposes in software engineering or software project management across any of the SWEBOK knowledge areas. The initial search returned 243 results, which was filtered to 36 papers by applying some simple quality and relevance inclusion/exclusion criteria. These remaining papers were then analysed in more depth to see if and how they promoted education in the field of software engineering management. The results showed that games were mainly used in the SWEBOK knowledge areas of software engineering management and development processes, and most game activity was in Europe and the Americas. The results also showed that most games in the field have learning objectives pitched at the first rung of Bloom’s taxonomy (knowledge), most studies followed a non-experimental design, and many had very small sample sizes. This suggests that more rigorous research is needed into the efficacy of games in teaching software engineering management, but enough evidence exists to say that educators could include serious games in their courses as a useful and interesting supplement to other teaching methods.

Data management for component-based embedded real-time systems: The database proxy approach

We introduce the concept of database proxies intended to mitigate the gap between two disjoint productivity-enhancing techniques: component based software engineering (CBSE) and real-time database management systems (RTDBMS). The two techniques promote opposing design goals and their coexistence is neither obvious nor intuitive. CBSE promotes encapsulation and decoupling of component internals from the component environment, whilst an RTDBMS provide mechanisms for efficient and predictable global data sharing. A component with direct access to an RTDBMS is dependent on that specific RTDBMS and may not be useable in an alternative environment. For components to remain encapsulated and reusable, database proxies decouple components from an underlying database residing in the component framework, while providing temporally predictable access to data maintained in a database. Our approach provide access to features such as extensive data modeling tools, predictable access to hard real-time data, dynamic access to soft real-time data using standardized queries and controlled data sharing; thus allowing developers to employ the full potential of both CBSE and an RTDBMS. Our approach primarily targets embedded systems with a subset of functionality with real-time requirements. The implementation results show that the benefits of using proxies do not come at the expense of significant run-time overheads or less accurate timing predictions.