Maintenance of Automated Test Suites in Industry: An Empirical study on Visual GUI Testing

Context: Verification and validation (V&V) activities make up 20 to 50 percent of the total development costs of a software system in practice. Test automation is proposed to lower these V&V costs but available research only provides limited empirical data from industrial practice about the maintenance costs of automated tests and what factors affect these costs. In particular, these costs and factors are unknown for automated GUI-based testing. Objective: This paper addresses this lack of knowledge through analysis of the costs and factors associated with the maintenance of automated GUI-based tests in industrial practice. Method: An empirical study at two companies, Siemens and Saab, is reported where interviews about, and empirical work with, Visual GUI Testing is performed to acquire data about the technique's maintenance costs and feasibility. Results: 13 factors are observed that affect maintenance, e.g. tester knowledge/experience and test case complexity. Further, statistical analysis shows that developing new test scripts is costlier than maintenance but also that frequent maintenance is less costly than infrequent, big bang maintenance. In addition a cost model, based on previous work, is presented that estimates the time to positive return on investment (ROI) of test automation compared to manual testing. Conclusions: It is concluded that test automation can lower overall software development costs of a project whilst also having positive effects on software quality. However, maintenance costs can still be considerable and the less time a company currently spends on manual testing, the more time is required before positive, economic, ROI is reached after automation

Measuring the effects of mobile technology barriers and enablers on acceptance and proficiency in the Nigerian construction industry

The impact of mobile technology (MT) barriers and enablers on MT acceptance and proficiency is poorly understood on construction sites in Nigeria. As a result, this article investigated MT acceptance and proficiency levels, as well as MT barriers and enablers, to find out how they affect MT acceptance and proficiency. The research employs a quantitative research design with a structured questionnaire survey. Mean score analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and paired two sample t-test were among the statistical analyses performed. The research centred on construction site managers in Lagos State, Nigeria. The barriers and enablers of MT have a significant impact on MT acceptance and proficiency. Mobile devices, mobile apps, site documentation, site organisation, and site communication all benefit significantly from task smoothening. Complicated interfaces have a strong effect on site documentation; security concerns have a high impact on mobile devices and site communication, and network outages have a greater impact on mobile services, mobile apps, site documentation, site programming, and site administration. The study suggests that the academic programme be updated, in order to produce digitally compliant future construction professionals and accelerate the advancement of MT-based innovative solutions in the Nigerian construction industry

Feasibility study of an Integrated Program for Aerospace vehicle Design (IPAD). Volume 1A: Summary

IPAD was defined as a total system oriented to the product design process. This total system was designed to recognize the product design process, individuals and their design process tasks, and the computer-based IPAD System to aid product design. Principal elements of the IPAD System include the host computer and its interactive system software, new executive and data management software, and an open-ended IPAD library of technical programs to match the intended product design process. The basic goal of the IPAD total system is to increase the productivity of the product design organization. Increases in individual productivity were feasible through automation and computer support of routine information handling. Such proven automation can directly decrease cost and flowtime in the product design process

Technology transfer - A selected bibliography

Selected bibliography on technology transfe

An Empirical Study on Decision making for Quality Requirements

[Context] Quality requirements are important for product success yet often handled poorly. The problems with scope decision lead to delayed handling and an unbalanced scope. [Objective] This study characterizes the scope decision process to understand influencing factors and properties affecting the scope decision of quality requirements. [Method] We studied one company's scope decision process over a period of five years. We analyzed the decisions artifacts and interviewed experienced engineers involved in the scope decision process. [Results] Features addressing quality aspects explicitly are a minor part (4.41%) of all features handled. The phase of the product line seems to influence the prevalence and acceptance rate of quality features. Lastly, relying on external stakeholders and upfront analysis seems to lead to long lead-times and an insufficient quality requirements scope. [Conclusions] There is a need to make quality mode explicit in the scope decision process. We propose a scope decision process at a strategic level and a tactical level. The former to address long-term planning and the latter to cater for a speedy process. Furthermore, we believe it is key to balance the stakeholder input with feedback from usage and market in a more direct way than through a long plan-driven process

Exploring issues in agile requirements engineering in the South African industry

The agile manifesto has certainly changed the way software is produced in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry. However, many persistent challenges cripple agile software development. One challenge is that the constant change in technology makes the requirements hard to implement. Another is that issues of the agile requirements engineering (ARE) process are abundant and pervasive throughout software projects. The aim of this study is to determine common issues in agile requirements engineering in the South African software industry and identify tools and frameworks to mitigate risks emanating from such problems. This includes finding out how much value software practitioners put in the agile principles. This study was essentially quantitative, based on a cross-sectional survey. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect required data which was then subjected to exploratory data analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), a tool for statistical analysis. The results show that software practitioners have a strong penchant for principles of the Agile Manifesto. Major issues in agile requirements engineering include lack of proper validation tools and techniques, scope problems, lack of proper documentation, issues of prioritisation, as well as unavailability of customer representative. A detailed baseline of issues in agile requirements engineering was created along with a set of recommended tools and techniques used in the software industry. As for the recommendation, it is suggested that companies invest more on validation tools and techniques and consider non-functional requirements integration during software development.School of ComputingM. Sc. (Computing

REVIEWING OUTSOURCING CONTROVERSY IN INDONESIA (An Exploratory Study of Human Resources Outsourcing Practice in Semarang City)

Outsourcing in Indonesia is still a controversy. The different concept of outsourcing between employers (vendors and users), employees/outsourced workers, and government makes another problem in outsourcing implementation, especially in industrial relationship either in enterprise and macro level. This study aims to determine the concept of outsourcing of each element of the tripartite, the problems that arise in the implementation, and solutions from each party, in dealing with the practice of the working system. The problems under study, based on specific issues related to industrial relations, including: wages, welfare programs, health and safety, discrimination, job security, and dispute resolution, and termination of employment. This qualitative research is an exploratory, with the data collection methods: focus group discussions, observations, interviews, and study documentation. The data collected from employers (vendors and users), the national unions, worker outsourcing, and government within the scope of Semarang city. The results showed that the problems that arise due to differences in each party's conception of the tripartite elements. Uncertainty rules of outsourcing is a major problem, giving rise to labor flexibility in the implementation, which implies profitable for each party, especially the workers of outsourcing. In the end, the regulation enforcement related to the implementation of the outsourcing firm is badly needed, to compromise the disputes of workers and employer interests

Review and synthesis of problems and directions for large scale geographic information system development

Problems and directions for large scale geographic information system development were reviewed and the general problems associated with automated geographic information systems and spatial data handling were addressed