Harmonizing CMMI-DEV 1.2 and XP Method to Improve The Software Development Processes in Small Software Development Firms

Most software development organizations are small firms, and they have realized the need to manage and improve their software development and management activities. Traditional Software Process Improvement (SPI) models and standards are not realistic for these firms because of high cost, limited resources and strict project deadlines. Therefore, these firms need a lightweight software development method and an appropriate SPI model to manage and improve their software development and management processes. This study aims to construct a suitable software development process improvement framework for Small Software Development Firms (SSDFs) based on eXtreme Programming (XP) method and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development Version 1.2 (CMMI-Dev1.2) model. Four stages are involved in developing the framework: (1) aligning XP practices to the specific goals of CMMI-Dev1.2 Key Process Areas (KPAs); (2) developing the proposed software development process improvement framework based on extending XP method by adapting the Extension-Based Approach (EBA), CMMI-Dev1.2, and generic elements of the SPI framework; (3) verifying the compatibility of the proposed framework to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 by using focus group method coupled with Delphi technique; and (4) validating the modified framework by using CMMI-Dev1.2 questionnaire as a main item to validate the suitability of the modified framework for SSDFs, and conducting two case studies to validate the applicability and effectiveness of this framework for these firms. The result of aligning XP practices to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 shows that twelve KPAs are largely supported by XP practices, eight KPAs are partially supported by XP practices, and two KPAs are not-supported by XP practices. The main contributions of this study are: software development process improvement framework for SSDFs, elicit better understanding of how to construct the framework, and quality improvement of the software development processes. There are possible avenues for extending this research to fulfil the missing specific practices of several KPAs, examining other agile practices and using CMMI-Dev1.3 to improve the framework, and conducting more case studie

A framework for cots software evaluation and selection for COTS mismatches handling and non-functional requirements

The decision to purchase Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software needs systematic guidelines so that the appropriate COTS software can be selected in order to provide a viable and effective solution to the organizations. However, the existing COTS software evaluation and selection frameworks focus more on functional aspects and do not give adequate attention to accommodate the mismatch between user requirements and COTS software specification, and also integration with non functional requirements of COTS software. Studies have identified that these two criteria are important in COTS software evaluation and selection. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new framework of COTS software evaluation and selection that focuses on handling COTS software mismatches and integrating the nonfunctional requirements. The study is conducted using mixed-mode methodology which involves survey and interview. The study is conducted in four main phases: a survey and interview of 63 organizations to identify COTS software evaluation criteria, development of COTS software evaluation and selection framework using Evaluation Theory, development of a new decision making technique by integrating Analytical Hierarchy Process and Gap Analysis to handle COTS software mismatches, and validation of the practicality and reliability of the proposed COTS software Evaluation and Selection Framework (COTS-ESF) using experts’ review, case studies and yardstick validation. This study has developed the COTS-ESF which consists of five categories of evaluation criteria: Quality, Domain, Architecture, Operational Environment and Vendor Reputation. It also provides a decision making technique and a complete process for performing the evaluation and selection of COTS software. The result of this study shows that the evaluated aspects of the framework are feasible and demonstrate their potential and practicality to be applied in the real environment. The contribution of this study straddles both the research and practical perspectives of software evaluation by improving decision making and providing a systematic guidelines for handling issue in purchasing viable COTS software

Untersuchungen zur Kostenoptimierung für Hardware-Emulatoren durch Anwendung von Methoden der partiellen Laufzeitrekonfiguration

Der vorliegende Band der wissenschaftlichen Schriftenreihe Eingebettete Selbstorganisierende Systeme widmet sich der Optimierung von Hardware Emulatoren durch die Anwendung von Methoden der partiellen Laufzeitrekonfiguration. An aktuelle Schaltkreis- und Systementwürfe werden zunehmend divergente Anforderungen gestellt. Einer sehr kurzen Entwicklungszeit für eine schnelle Markteinführung steht, um teure und aufwändige Re-Desings zu verhindern, eine möglichst umfangreiche Testabdeckung des Entwurfs gegenüber. Um die Zeit für die Tests zu reduzieren, kommen überwiegend FPGA-basierte HW-Emulatoren zum Einsatz. Durch den Einfluss der steigenden Komplexität aktueller Entwürfe auf die Emulator-Plattform reduziert sich jedoch signifikant die Performance der Emulatoren. Die in Emulatoren eingesetzten FPGAs sind aber zunehmend partiell zur Laufzeit rekonfigurierbar. Der in der vorliegenden Arbeit umgesetzte Ansatz behandelt die Anwendung von Methoden der Laufzeitrekonfiguration auf dem Gebiet der Hardware-Emulation. Dafür ist zunächst eine Partitionierung des zu testenden Entwurfs in möglichst funktional unabhängige Systemteile notwendig. Für eine optimierte und ressourceneffiziente Platzierung der einzelnen HW-Module während der Emulation, ist ein ebenfalls auf dem FPGA platziertes Kommunikationsnetzwerk implementiert. Der vorgestellte Ansatz wird an verschiedenen Beispielen anschaulich illustriert. So kann der Leser die Mächtigkeit der entwickelten Methodik nachvollziehen und wird motiviert, das Verfahren auch auf weitere Anwendungsfälle zu übertragen.Current circuit and system designs consist a lot of gate numbers and divergent requirements. In contrast to a short development and time to market schedule, the needs for perfect test coverage and quality are rising. One approach to cover this problem is the FPGA based functional test of electronic circuits. State of the art FPGA platforms doesn't consist enough gates to support fully custom designs. The thesis catches this problem and gives some approaches to use partial dynamic reconfiguration to solve the size problem. A fully automated design flow demonstrates partial partitioning of designs, modifications to use dynamic reconfiguration and its schedule. At the end of the work, some examples demonstrates the power of the approach

A FRAMEWORK FOR SOFTWARE RELIABILITY MANAGEMENT BASED ON THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROFILE MODEL

Recent empirical studies of software have shown a strong correlation between change history of files and their fault-proneness. Statistical data analysis techniques, such as regression analysis, have been applied to validate this finding. While these regression-based models show a correlation between selected software attributes and defect-proneness, in most cases, they are inadequate in terms of demonstrating causality. For this reason, we introduce the Software Development Profile Model (SDPM) as a causal model for identifying defect-prone software artifacts based on their change history and software development activities. The SDPM is based on the assumption that human error during software development is the sole cause for defects leading to software failures. The SDPM assumes that when a software construct is touched, it has a chance to become defective. Software development activities such as inspection, testing, and rework further affect the remaining number of software defects. Under this assumption, the SDPM estimates the defect content of software artifacts based on software change history and software development activities. SDPM is an improvement over existing defect estimation models because it not only uses evidence from current project to estimate defect content, it also allows software managers to manage software projects quantitatively by making risk informed decisions early in software development life cycle. We apply the SDPM in several real life software development projects, showing how it is used and analyzing its accuracy in predicting defect-prone files and compare the results with the Poisson regression model

Methods to evaluate lightweight software process assessment methods based on evaluation theory and engineering design principles

Achieving a mature software development process has become essential for many software organizations. A mature development process permits software organizations to provide their customers with a high quality software product delivered on time and within budget. Software organizations have been struggling for decades to improve the quality of their products by improving their software development processes. Designing an improvement program for a software development process is a demanding and complex task. This task consists of two main processes: the assessment process and the improvement process. A successful improvement process requires first a successful assessment; failing to assess the organization's software development process could create unsatisfactory results. Software processes assessment (SPA) can be used either to determine the capability of another organization, for subcontracting purposes, or to determine and understand the status of the organization's current processes to initiate an improvement process. The increasing number of assessment approaches available; the ISO 15504 standard that sets out the requirements for process assessment; and the popularity of the CMMI model, illustrate the relevance of software process assessment for the software development industry. Currently, several methods are available to assess the maturity and capability of a software development process based on well-known software process assessment and improvement frameworks such as CMMI and ISO-15504. The success of these assessment methods and improvement frameworks is supported by post-development studies on the validity, reliability and effectiveness of these methods. Unfortunately, many researchers consider that such methods are too large to implement in SME organizations. As a result, many researchers have studied process assessment and improvement in SME organizations and proposed assessment methods, usually called lightweight SPA methods, suitable to the organizations' needs. The current research in the SPA field focuses on proposing convenient and easy-to-use assessment methods, without investigating to what extent the design of these methods is related to the engineering design perspective. This unclear alignment with the engineering discipline raises questions about the relevance and representativeness of the results produced by these methods from an engineering viewpoint. Moreover, although numerous SPA methods are currently available which offer help and guidance, unfortunately they only partially address evidences found essential for achieving an SPA success. This thesis presents and discusses the evaluation of lightweight SPA methods. The evaluation is two-fold: evaluating the SPA methods design using a top-down approach and based on engineering viewpoints and evaluating the success of SPA methods using a bottom-up approach. The evaluation theory concepts are used as a framework to formally develop both evaluation methods. To develop the first evaluation method using the top-down approach, an exploratory analytical study of SPA methods from an engineering design viewpoint has been conducted. Vincenti's classification has been used as a tool for this analysis. The aim of this exploratory study is to put the developed SPA methods into an engineering design framework, and use this framework as a guideline to put the new SPA methods to be designed into the same engineering design framework. To develop the second evaluation method using the bottom-up approach, a systematic literature review was conducted to extract the set of evidences for the success of the SPA method based on requirements, observations, lessons learned and recommendations which have been formulated within the industry and published in books, conferences and journals. The development process of the two evaluation methods has then been verified using a set of verification criteria and the proposed evaluation methods were tested by conducting three case studies. The first evaluation method would be useful mainly for the designers of new SPA methods during the design phase, while the second evaluation method would be useful for both designers and practitioners of SPA methods to verify the success of the assessment method in question. This research project forms an entry point to study the alignment of SPA methods design with engineering design principles and sheds light on achieving successful assessment results by studying the successful evidences that should be supported by assessment methods separated from the improvement process. The proposed evaluation methods in this thesis have great benefits for SPA methods designed mainly for SME organizations, because these assessments methods, contrary to well-known methods, lack comprehensive studies on their reliability and effectiveness

A UI-driven approach to facilitating effective development of rich and composite web applications

It is well-recognized that the development of user interfaces is one of the most time-consuming tasks in the overall application development process. At the same time, there is an increasing demand for rich and fluid user interfaces from web users. As a result, developers are facing increasing challenges in delivering web applications, especially those with rich UI requirements. In this thesis we present two solutions to facilitate the execution and rapid development of web applications with rich user interfaces. The first solution is a rich internet application (RIA) framework aimed at providing high usability and productivity to web applications, while the second solution is a UI integration framework that simplifies web application development by facilitating the composition of reusable UI components. The foundation of our RIA framework is an XML-based high-level protocol for communicating asynchronous events and incremental UI updates on the web. The protocol facilitates rich and highly interactive UI, while at the same time eliminates frequent and slow page refreshes and provides a more responsive user experience. Built on top of the protocol, a server-side runtime allows UI logic code to be executed on the server side, while a set of server-side event-driven API enables developers to implement sophisticated application-specific UI behavior. On the client side, a thin client renders UI and processes native events, but leaves application-specific logic to the server side. The thin client thus allows end users to enjoy a rich UI experience in a safe client environment, without executing any downloaded code. The proposed UI integration framework includes an abstract UI component model which allows UI components to be programmatically manipulated via events, operations, and properties, essentially exposing UI as services. To facilitate component interactions, the framework offers an event-based composition model, which allows integration logic to be specified in the form of event listeners. Composite applications are executed via a lightweight runtime middleware, which provides component adapters that allow the middleware to communicate with native UI components implemented in a variety of languages and platforms. Finally, a graphical development environment allows composite applications to be built in a drag-and-drop fashion