An Empirical Study on the Role of Requirement Engineering in Agile Method and Its Impact on Quality

Agile Methods are characterized as flexible and easily adaptable. The need to keep up with multiple high-priority projects and shorter time-to-market demands could explain their increasing popularity. It also raises concerns of whether or not use of these methods jeopardizes quality. Since Agile methods allow for changes throughout the process, they also create probabilities to impact software quality at any time. This thesis examines the process of requirement engineering as performed with Agile method in terms of its similarities and differences to requirement engineering as performed with the more traditional Waterfall method. It compares both approaches from a software quality perspective using a case study of 16 software projects. The main contribution of this work is to bring empirical evidence from real life cases that illustrate how Agile methods significantly impacts software quality, including the potential for a larger number of defects due to poor non-functional requirements elicitation

Investigating software process in practice: a grounded theory perspective

This thesis is concerned with how software process and software process improvement is practiced within the indigenous Irish software product industry. Using the grounded theory methodology, the study utilises in-depth interviews to examine the attitude and perceptions of practitioners towards software process and software process improvement. The outcome of the work is a theory, grounded in the field data, that explains how software processes are formed and evolve, and when and why software process improvement is undertaken. The resultant grounded theory is based on two conceptual themes, Process Formation and Process Evolution, and one core theoretical category, Cost of Process. The empirical investigation shows that software process improvement programmes are implemented by companies as a reaction to business events, and how many software managers reject software process improvement because o f the associated costs. In addition, indigenous Irish software companies largely ignore commercial best practice software process improvement models, and the reasons for this are discussed. The research also argues that software process improvement is not solely technologycentred but is also affected by wider human and organisational factors. As these ‘sociocultural’ influences have been more widely addressed in the Information Systems discipline, than in Software Engineering, this work draws on the experiences and lessons from both disciplines and ultimately resides between these two academic fields. The results o f this work provide new light on the issues facing software process and process improvement in small software product companies and make a contribution towards bridging the gaps between research and practice, and theory and practice, in both Software Engineering and Information Systems

Teleoperaattorin pilvipalvelualusta: käsite, kustannusrakenne ja strategiset johtopäätökset

Telecommunications providers are facing pressures to adjust their production models while markets are changing and cloud service models are spreading to their business areas. The Telco Cloud platform model was designed to respond to these forces. The Telco Cloud is a cloud computing platform that is intended for virtualized network functions. The platform meets requirements of the telecommunications market and regulations. A cloud based production model is a new concept in the context of telecommunications services, hence, the field of the Telco Cloud is not yet well researched area. Furthermore, the cost structure and strategic implications of the Telco Cloud platform are still poorly understood. This empirical research uses a single company single case study approach to examine the Telco Cloud paradigm, cost structures, processes and strategic implications by using qualitative and explorative analysis methods. The data collection was done using literature review and interviews. The literature review revealed that very little research is done on the field. Furthermore, eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with persons in managerial position. These experts were working in the Telco Cloud project in the case company and had deep telecommunications industry knowledge. The results of the study indicate that the Telco Cloud benefits improved investment efficiency due to a server virtualization and consolidation compared to the traditional platform model; high level of automation and server utilization are key features to achieve benefits; increased personnel costs in the software development and communication are prolonging the break-even point; and the platform takes advantage of the network effects and the Telco Cloud eventually shall improve significantly operator’s cost efficiency. This research aims to provide a base for further research. Furthermore, the research contributes the application on-boarding process that can be used for managing the complexity of a Telco Cloud deployment.Teleoperaattorit joutuvat tarkastelemaan tuotantotapojaan pilvipalveluiden levittäytyessä myös teletoiminnan piiriin. Teleoperaattorin pilvi voidaan nähdä vastauksena muutospaineeseen. Teleoperaattorin pilvi on pilvilaskentapohjainen palvelualusta, joka on tarkoitettu verkkotoiminnallisuuksien virtualisointiin ja se täyttää markkinan ja regulaation asettamat vaatimukset. Pilvituotantomalli on uusi konsepti telepalveluiden alueella. Lisäksi Teleoperaattorin pilvi-mallia ei ole vielä juurikaan tutkittu. Lisäksi teleoperaattorin pilvi-mallin kustannusrakenne ja strategiset seuraamukset ovat vielä huonosti ymmärrettyjä. Tämän opinnäytetyön yhteydessä suoritettiin kvalitatiivinen ja eksploratiivinen tutkimus yksittäisen tapaustutkimuksen avulla. Tutkimuskohteena oli Teleoperaattorin pilvi käsitteenä, sen kustannusrakenne ja strategiset seuraukset. Tiedonkeruu suoritettiin kirjallisuustutkimuksen ja haastatteluiden avulla. Kirjallisuustutkimus osoitti, että aluetta on tutkittu erittäin vähän ja vallitsevaa paradigmaa ei ole vielä syntynyt. Tutkimuksen empiirisessä osuudessa suoritettiin kahdeksan puolistrukturoitua haastattelua alan asiantuntijoiden kanssa. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että Teleoperaattorin pilvi mahdollistaa palvelinvirtualisoinnin ja konsolidaation avulla tehostumista investointien käytössä verrattuna perinteiseen palvelualustamalliin; korkea automaatioaste ja palvelinten korkea kuormitusaste ovat edellytyksiä tehostumisen saavuttamiseksi; kasvavat henkilöstökulut ohjelmistokehityksessä ja sidosryhmäkommunikoinnissa pitkittävät kannattavuusrajan saavuttamista; ja toimija voi parantaa kustannustehokkuuttaan merkittävästi konsolidoimalla palveluitaan Teleoperaattorin pilvi-alustaan. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on luoda pohjaa tulevalle tutkimukselle. Lisäksi tutkimuksen tulokset tarjoavat prosessin sovellusten siirtämiseksi Teleoperaattorin pilveen

進化型組込みソフトウェアにおける継続的なメンテナンス性向上手法に関する研究

近年，技術革新スピードが加速し，市場のニーズは短期間で変化し，技術の陳腐化，急速な製品価値低下が起きている．このような変化に対応し，継続的に開発を行うソフトウェアを“進化型組込みソフトウェア”と定義する．従来の計画的な開発手法や適応的な開発手法を進化型組込みソフトウェアに適用しても，開発が進むにつれ，メンテナンス性が低下することで，全体的なリファクタリングが必要になる．そこで，本研究では，進化型組込みソフトウェアにおいて，メンテナンス性を継続的に向上させる手法を提案する．本手法は，進化型組込みソフトウェアを開発する上で必要となる3つの定義した要件に対応する拡張性可視化手法，拡張性強化手法，拡張性評価手法で構成される．さらに，提案手法を実際の製品ソースコードに対し，継続的に適用することで，対象ソフトウェアのメンテナンス性が向上することを確認した．電気通信大学201