Managers Handbook for Software Development

Methods and aids for the management of software development projects are presented. The recommendations are based on analyses and experiences with flight dynamics software development. The management aspects of organizing the project, producing a development plan, estimation costs, scheduling, staffing, preparing deliverable documents, using management tools, monitoring the project, conducting reviews, auditing, testing, and certifying are described

Comparison of approaches for developing self-adaptive systems

The engineering of software systems enables developers to create very powerful, complex and highly customized software systems by utilizing newest technical capabilities. However, these systems often are error-prone, inflexible, non-reusable and expensive to maintain. Self-adaptation attends to these challenges, offering new ways to automate the adjustment of a system's structure and state. For that reason, many software development approaches specifically consider self-adaptability, leading to a high diversity of methodologies with different characteristics and areas of application. This work addresses this issue by presenting a taxonomy for the analysis and comparison of different approaches for developing self-adaptive systems. In addition, different sample approaches are presented, demonstrating how these dimensions can be applied to compare and classify related work

An overview of decision table literature 1982-1995.

This report gives an overview of the literature on decision tables over the past 15 years. As much as possible, for each reference, an author supplied abstract, a number of keywords and a classification are provided. In some cases own comments are added. The purpose of these comments is to show where, how and why decision tables are used. The literature is classified according to application area, theoretical versus practical character, year of publication, country or origin (not necessarily country of publication) and the language of the document. After a description of the scope of the interview, classification results and the classification by topic are presented. The main body of the paper is the ordered list of publications with abstract, classification and comments.

A holonic multi-agent methodology to design sustainable intelligent manufacturing control systems

[EN] The urgent need for sustainable development is imposing radical changes in the way manufacturing systems are designed and implemented. The overall sustainability in industrial activities of manufacturing companies must be achieved at the same time that they face unprecedented levels of global competition. Therefore, there is a well-known need for tools and methods that can support the design and implementation of these systems in an effective way. This paper proposes an engineering method that helps researchers to design sustainable intelligent manufacturing systems. The approach is focused on the identification of the manufacturing components and the design and integration of sustainability-oriented mechanisms in the system specification, providing specific development guidelines and tools with built-in support for sustainable features. Besides, a set of case studies is presented in order to assess the proposed method.This research was supported by research projects TIN2015-65515-C4-1-R and TIN2016-80856-R from the Spanish government. The authors would like to acknowledge T. Bonte for her contribution to the NetLogo simulator of the AIP PRIMECA cell.Giret Boggino, AS.; Trentesaux, D.; Salido Gregorio, MÁ.; Garcia, E.; Adam, E. (2017). A holonic multi-agent methodology to design sustainable intelligent manufacturing control systems. Journal of Cleaner Production. 167(1):1370-1386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.079S13701386167

Managing intellectual capital : individual rights and the public interest

Managing intellectual capital and intellectual property is a challenging task, especially for knowledge-based organisations vested with a public interest. Scientific ethics and freedom of information may clash with copyright law or with other intellectual property enactments, thereby engendering conflicts of interest. International law and treaties make for a complex regulatory framework. World-wide advocacy of the open access principle has led to some statutory changes, but its proponents mostly assume that copyright owners will act voluntarily. The implications for knowledge management are elucidated

Achieving Alignment: An Analysis of Enterprise Architecture Best Practices within the United States Air Force

This research uncovers areas of best practices that support achieving alignment between an organization’s Information Technology (IT) and its business processes. One principal finding of this effort revealed that the means used to achieve alignment exists within the effective application of Enterprise Architecture (EA), a common practice found throughout the Federal Government, Department of Defense, and the Air Force. EA is the tool used to achieve alignment; likewise, the reason for developing IT architecture is to achieve alignment of IT investments and mission objectives. This research groups the best practices into vision, identification, framework, and governance. Interestingly, these practices relate to an Enterprise Architecture’s depiction of the to be target state, the as is baseline, the tools and models used for communication, and the motivation and management of the transition plan. The insights achieved by this research should strengthen the use of Enterprise Architecture within the Air Force by enabling senior leaders and decision-makers to align strategy and IT investment towards improving mission accomplishment

Enterprise Modeling to Support ICT-Enabled Process Change. Context for and consequences of enterprise modeling in initiatives that combine process change and information and communication technology

This thesis presents findings from a multiple case study of enterprise modeling use in initiatives that combine process change and information and communication technology. The study covers initiatives where models are made and used by people as part of a process change process, and an initiative where models are made as input to a business support environment enabling process change in the long run. The research project was motivated by lack of empirical research on enterprise modeling practice and a wish to examine the relevance of the conceptualizations of the Process Modeling Practice model by Eikebrokk, Iden, Olsen and Opdahl (2006) into the wider enterprise modeling setting. The overall research question was formulated as: “How is enterprise modeling used and how can it be used to support information and communication enabled process change in Norwegian companies? Context for and consequences of enterprise modeling”. To help focus the research project, the enterprise modeling practice model was developed. The model was built-up by categories from the Process Modeling Practice model (Eikebrokk et al, 2006) and findings from a pilot and a literature study. To make clear the study objective, an explicit research goal was set: “to validate and elaborate the Enterprise Modeling Practice research model”. Cases were compared by looking for patterns of relationships among constructs within and across cases. The main multiple case research outcomes were: (1) The identification of five different types of modeling initiatives by analyzing how each case combined use of information technology, process change main focus and the main objectives of modeling (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (2) The identification of a broad variety of enterprise modeling benefits (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (3) The identification of barriers to modeling, and findings indicating that the distribution of modeling maturity between project stakeholders affects how the modeling activities are carried out (Karlsen, 2011), (4)A broadly validated and elaborated Enterprise Modeling Practice model (Karlsen, 2008; Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012b). One of the cases was additionally investigated as a single-case study from a longitudinal perspective. This led to the additional research outcomes: (5)A variety of modeling experiences and recommendations contributing to increased understanding of modeling practice. (6) Description of how change happened, at an overarching level, in three stages: (1) Change maturation, (2) Change decision and (3) Process change, where the last stage constituted four steps of modeling supported process change: (1) Increased business understanding by providing a generic model, (2) Identification of TO-BE by process modeling, (3) Process categorization by sorting models into risk zones and (4) Implementation of prioritized change consistent with model artifacts. (7) Identification of Readiness as a precondition both for change and for modeling.Avhandlingen presenterer funn fra en multippel case-studie av virksomhetsmodelleringspraksis. Fokus er initiativer som kombinerer prosessendring med informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi. Både initiativ hvor modellene er laget og brukt av folk som del av en prosessendringsprosess og et initiativ hvor modellene er laget som input til et forretningsstøttesystem for prosessendring i det lange løp, inngår i studien. Motivasjonen for forskningsprosjektet var manglende forskning på modelleringspraksis. I tillegg var studien motivert ut i fra et ønske om å få undersøkt og utviklet konseptualiseringene fra the Process Modeling Practice model, utviklet av Eikebrokk, Iden, Olsen og Opdahl (2006), i en annen setting. Det overordnede forskningsspørsmålet ble formulert som: "Hvordan brukes virksomhetsmodellering og hvordan kan virksomhetsmodellering brukes som støtte i initiativer som kombinerer prosessendring med informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi i norske bedrifter? Kontekst og konsekvenser av virksomhetsmodellering". For å fokusere forskningsprosjektet ble en forskningsmodell utviklet. Modellen bygde på kategoriene fra prosessmodelleringspraksismodellen, the Process Modeling Practice model (Eikebrokk et al, 2006) og funn fra en pilot og en litteraturstudie. For å klargjøre målet med prosjektet, ble et eksplisitt forskningsmål formulert: "å validere og utvikle den initielle forskningsmodellen". Casene ble sammenliknet ved å se etter mønster i sammenhenger mellom konstrukt innen og imellom case. Forskningens hovedresultat knyttet til den multiple case studien er: (1) Identifiseringen av fem forskjellige typer modelleringsinitiativ gjennom å ha analysert hvordan hvert case kombinerte informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi, hovedfokus for prosessending og hovedhensikt med modelleringen (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (2) Identifiseringen av en rekke fordeler knyttet til det å virksomhetsmodellere (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a) (3) Identifiseringen av modelleringsbarrierer sammen med funn som indikerer at distribusjonen av modelleringsmodenhet mellom prosjektdeltakere påvirker hvordan modelleringsaktivitetene utføres (Karlsen, 2011) (4) En validert og utviklet model av virksomhetsmodelleringspraksis, the Enterprise Modeling Practice model (Karlsen, 2008; Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012b). I tillegg ble ett av casene studert for seg, ut i fra et longitudinelt perspektiv. Dette førte til følgende tilleggsresultat: (5) En rekke modelleringserfaringer og modelleringsanbefalinger for økt forståelse av modelleringspraksis. (6) Beskrivelse av endring som tre stadier: (1) Endringsmodning, (2) Endringsbeslutning og (3) Prosess endring, hvor det siste stadiet bestod av fire trinn som var støttet av modelleringsarbeid: (1) Økt forretningsforståelse gjennom bruk av en generisk modell, (2) Identifisering av TO-BE gjennom prosessmodellering, (3) Prosesskategorisering ved å sortere modeller inn i risikosoner og (4) Implementering av prioriterte endringer konsistent med modellutformingene. (7) Identifisering av Readiness som en forutsetning både for endring og for modelleringsarbeid

Pilot study to develop a problem based learning environment for open distance learners

This action research examines the online Problem based learning (PBL) designed for one of the courses in the Bachelor of Project and Facility Management offered at Open University Malaysia. The main aim of this study was to explore the constraints of implementing PBL and to look for possible interventions during class tutorial sessions. Within the constraints of students’ attendance and the limitation of time, this project was conducted and monitored using the action research methodology. The participants were students who attended the Facilities, Planning and Design course and they were divided into two groups consisting of five members in each group. Observations and reflections from the students and facilitator were recorded for ten weeks. At the end of the research, the facilitator developed the guidelines to introduce and conduct the PBL environment for this particular course. (Abstract by authors