Exploring the public's perception towards crowdsourced crime reporting

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study conducted to investigate the public perception towards crime information shared by the crowds.Information required for the study was obtained through a survey, self-administered questionnaires distributed to the crowds in public areas including shopping mall, food court, mosque, and institutes of higher learning in Selangor, Malaysia as well as those posted on an online survey website.The results from 139 valid responses show that the crime rate is perceived to have been increasing and crime information is often shared on social media, mobile messaging applications, mobile applications and online newspapers.However, most respondents do not show high confidence and trust levels with the crime related information shared in these technologies particularly from mobile messaging application.Also, majority of the public believe that the current protection level in their community by the police force show no significant difference than before.Findings from this survey is very important in designing future crime prevention technologies that provide insight to the public with crime related information, which would lower their chances of being targeted

A conceptual framework for SPI evaluation

Software Process Improvement (SPI) encompasses the analysis and modification of the processes within software development, aimed at improving key areas that contribute to the organizations' goals. The task of evaluating whether the selected improvement path meets these goals is challenging. On the basis of the results of a systematic literature review on SPI measurement and evaluation practices, we developed a framework (SPI Measurement and Evaluation Framework (SPI-MEF)) that supports the planning and implementation of SPI evaluations. SPI-MEF guides the practitioner in scoping the evaluation, determining measures, and performing the assessment. SPI-MEF does not assume a specific approach to process improvement and can be integrated in existing measurement programs, refocusing the assessment on evaluating the improvement initiative's outcome. Sixteen industry and academic experts evaluated the framework's usability and capability to support practitioners, providing additional insights that were integrated in the application guidelines of the framework

Laadunvalvontametodologian ja –järjestelmän käyttö teollisessa sovelluskehityksessä – Soveltuvuustutkimus

Ensuring software quality is important for achieving a competitive advantage in the market. Also, it is essential in critical systems, where a computer program cannot fail under any circumstances. In software projects, the best way to accomplish quality is to continuously monitor the state of the product and the development process. This means, that measurements on the software have to be done. However, as it is not adequate to measure everything, the relevant quality characteristics have to be defined. This is very context-specific and should thus be done for each project separately. In this thesis, the deployment of quality monitoring in software development projects was studied. This included defining a quality model and designing, deploying and using a quality monitoring program. These activities were facilitated by the U-QASAR methodology and platform that provide guidance and support for quality monitoring by measurement data integration. The study consisted of two parts: a multiple case study and constructive research. The case study was conducted to explore the case project members’ experiences on quality monitoring. Observations, interviews and questionnaires were used as research instruments. A constructive research method was used to evaluate the data integration in the U-QASAR platform. Data integration adapters were explored and developers were interviewed and finally a new adapter was implemented. In both parts, thematic analysis was used to process the data. The case study results showed that quality monitoring can be deployed even in small-scale software projects, but there are certain challenges. For example, it is difficult to connect objective software measurements to more abstract quality objectives. Moreover, practitioners’ knowledge on the terminology of software measurement and software quality is not something that can be assumed. However, it is important that the semantic structure is taken care of in order to achieve common understanding. The constructive research revealed needs for further development regarding the data integration architecture of the U-QASAR platform.Ohjelmistokehityksessä laadunvarmistus on tärkeää, sillä sen avulla voidaan saavuttaa parempi markkina-asema. Ohjelmiston laatu on tärkeää myös kriittisissä systeemeissä, joiden vikaantuminen voi johtaa esimerkiksi mittaviin taloudellisiin menetyksiin. Ohjelmistokehitysprojekteissa laadukas tuote voidaan parhaiten saavuttaa jatkuvasti tarkkailemalla projektin tilaa, mikä edellyttää mittauksia. Kaikkea ei kuitenkaan ole kustannustehokasta mitata, joten on tärkeää määrittää kyseiselle tuotteelle ja projektille tärkeät laatuominaisuudet. Tässä työssä tutkittiin laadunvalvonnan käyttöönottoa ohjelmistokehitysprojekteissa. Siihen liittyviä aktiviteetteja olivat laatumallin määrittely sekä laadunvalvontaohjelman suunnittelu, käyttöönotto ja käyttö. Toiminnot toteutettiin käyttäen U-QASAR-metodologiaa ja -alustaa, jotka tarjoavat ohjausta ja tukea mittausdataintegraatiolla toteutettavaan laaduntarkkailuun. Tutkimus koostui kahdesta osiosta: monitapaustutkimuksesta ja konstruktiivisesta tutkimuksesta. Tapaustutkimus tehtiin, jotta laadunvalvonnasta saatavia kokemuksia voitaisiin tutkia. Tutkimusinstrumentteina käytettiin havainnointia, haastatteluja sekä kyselyitä. Konstruktiivisessa tutkimuksessa kohteena oli U-QASAR-alustan dataintegraation toteutus. Jo kehitettyjen integraatioadaptereiden rakennetta tutkittiin ja kehittäjiä haastateltiin. Lopuksi uusi adapteri kehitettiin. Molemmissa tutkimusosioissa temaattista analyysiä käytettiin datan käsittelyyn. Työn tulokset osoittivat, että laadunvalvontaa voidaan tehdä pienissäkin ohjelmistoprojekteissa, mutta tietyt haasteet on otettava huomioon. Esimerkiksi objektiivisten mittausten yhdistäminen abstraktimpiin laatuominaisuuksiin todettiin vaikeaksi. Lisäksi havaittiin, että laatuterminologian ei voida olettaa olevan hallussa kaikilla projektin sidosryhmillä. On kuitenkin tärkeää, että semanttinen konsensus säilytetään yhteisen ymmärryksen takaamiseksi. Konstruktiivisen tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että U-QASAR-alustan dataintegraatioarkkitehtuuri vaatii jatkokehitystä

Effects of critical success factors on maturity level of Hospital information systems

Hospitals are regarded as the most important part of a healthcare system. Generally, hospitals use Hospital Information System (HIS) as an infrastructure for recording, retrieval, and transmission of data, facilitation of decision-making processes, and other healthcare-related functions. An issue in HIS is that the implementation of the system in hospitals has always been associated with a high risk of failure. This study, therefore, aims to first assess the maturity of HIS in Iranian hospitals and then, examine the related Critical Success Factors (CSF) in order to mitigate the implementation risks of HISs to the authorities. Eleven hospitals under the administration of Medical University of Isfahan, Iran, were selected. Data was collected through a checklist designed based on Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) expectations. Questionnaires were distributed to employees of the eleven identified hospitals using stratified sampling method in which 126 completed questionnaires were returned. The results revealed that all of the hospitals have reached to elementary stages of (EMRAM). In addition, 26 CSFs were found to be effective in HIS implementation success in the hospitals but some factors were found to be higher in the level of effectiveness. The findings were then evaluated by 14 experts who are familiar with the selected hospitals, the HIS concept and project implementation. The final results which included a comprehensive picture about the initial maturity status of HIS and also 12 more effective CSFs for successful implementation of HIS in the hospitals can provide guidance for hospital top managers and healthcare policy makers in developing appropriate strategic IT plans and HIS implementation frameworks

An Evaluation of Software Measurement Processes in Pakistani Software Industry

Implementing a successful measurement process is a challenging task. Most measurement studies report measurement models, experiences, and lessons learned based on pilot projects or case studies in a limited scope to overcome specific challenges. This paper identifies 14 basic measurement practices and proposes a model of 18 success factors for implementing measurement processes with respect to the identified measurement theories in our systematic literature review (SLR), i.e., A systematic literature review on software measurement programs, by Tahir et al. , 2016. In addition, a survey is conducted to evaluate the state of measurement practices and to validate the proposed model based on the feedback from 200 software professionals working in Pakistani software industry. The state of measurement practices in the industry is mostly not according to the identified measurement theories in the SLR. For instance, more than 50 measurement models reported in the literature but only 10% software organizations follow any measurement model. 75% of organizations do not follow any measurement standard. 80% software organizations do not use any measurement tool. The proposed model is validated by applying structural equation modeling on the survey data. Furthermore, among 18 success factors, it is statistically significant that Pakistani software professionals strongly believe in necessity of three factors for successful implementation of a measurement process, i.e., synchronization between measurement process and software process improvement, use of measurement standards, and use of measurement models. In addition, they also believe that a successful measurement process will improve prediction, monitoring and management of software projects, and support in achievement of individual and organization-wide objectives. Software organizations might consider this paper in planning and improving their measurement processes

A requirements-based software process maturity model

The requirements phase of software development is an on-going problem for the software engineering community. The many disparate recommendations and best practices found in the literature make it difficult for software organisations to recognise which practices apply to their individual needs. The aim of this thesis is to pull together key solutions into a framework that allows practitioners to assess where their requirements process needs strengthening and to provide a means in which improvements can be achieved. In this thesis I show how I design, develop and validate a model of requirements engineering processes. This requirements capability maturity model (R-CMM) adheres to the characteristics of the Software Engineering Institute's Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) and is designed to take practitioners from an immature process capability through to an advanced capability. I contribute to the body of knowledge in both software process improvement and requirements engineering (RE) by providing rigorous detail of how a process maturity framework is developed to support RE practices. The model is generic and should apply to many software development organisations. The R-CMM guides users towards a view of RE that is based on goals and is problem driven. The SW-CMM framework is transformed into a simplified model that relates goals and problems to individual RE practises

Alineación de la gestión estratégica con la medición de productos y procesos para organizaciones de Ingeniería del software

La presente tesis doctoral se centra en la gestión estratégica sobre las organizaciones de desarrollo y provisión de servicios software. Actualmente, investigadores puntualizan la importancia de la gestión estratégica para asegurar los objetivos de negocio y mejorar la competitividad de la organización. Sin embargo, existen evidencias que muestran que una gran parte del personal encargado de las TIC (Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación) no es consciente de su aportación a la estrategia de la organización, causando con esto una falta de orientación de los esfuerzos del personal de las TIC para cumplir con la estrategia. No se puede controlar lo que no se puede medir, es por ello que el diseño de un plan estratégico va siempre a la par del diseño de un programa de medición. El programa de medición permite medir los objetivos de negocio y el cumplimiento de la estrategia, permitiendo a la alta dirección tomar decisiones y acciones correctivas oportunas. A pesar de los beneficios de adoptar modelos de mejora del proceso software y de obtener un certificado para el establecimiento del proceso del ciclo de vida del software, se han identificado las siguientes carencias en las organizaciones de software para diseñar el programa de medición orientado al aseguramiento de la estrategia de negocio: • Es difícil alinear la información de medición a los objetivos de negocio para una efectiva toma de decisiones. • Existe una falta de justificación de la estandarización del desarrollo software con la estrategia de negocio. • Existe una carencia de información de calidad de las mediciones para controlar los esfuerzos SPI hacia el cumplimiento de los objetivos y los efectos de sus acciones en una organización de software. • Es difícil conseguir beneficios económicos al integrar la gestión estratégica, mejora del proceso y la medición en la práctica. Para resolver estas carencias, es necesario integrar la gestión estratégica, la mejora del proceso y la medición para gestionar eficientemente la competitividad de la organización de software. Por consiguiente, se realizó un análisis de las contribuciones de las propuestas dentro del proceso de la gestión estratégica. Los resultados del análisis permitieron definir un método formalizado, el cual tiene como propósito formular una estrategia para la organización de software, alinear los objetivos estratégicos con los objetivos de mejora y crear medidas desde las perspectivas financieras, de procesos internos, de los clientes y del aprendizaje y crecimiento del personal. Con el fin de ofrecer veracidad del método, se realizaron dos estudios en un entorno real y docente. Los resultados de ambos estudios presentaron evidencias concluyentes de las siguientes capacidades del método: • Alineamiento de la gestión estratégica, mejora de procesos software y medición para la gestión de la competitividad de las organizaciones. • Contribución con las sinergias entre todos los actores implicados en la definición de la estrategia, las acciones de mejora de proceso de software y las iniciativas de medición. • Captura y difusión de conocimiento útil a todos los niveles de la organización. • Facilidad del aprendizaje de las capacidades y competencias requeridas.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The present dissertation focuses on the strategic management over software development and service provision organizations. Currently, researchers point out the importance of strategic management to ensure business objectives and improve the competitiveness of the organization. Though, evidences show that a large proportion of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) staff is not aware of their contribution to the organization’s strategy, which will cause a lack of the ICT staff orientation efforts to achieve the strategy. You can't control what you can't measure, for this reason the design of a strategic plan always goes hand in hand with the design of a measurement program. The program allows quantify the business objectives and the strategy achievement, enabling top management to make decisions and appropriate corrective actions. Despite the benefits of adopting software process improvement models and obtaining a certification for the establishment of the process of software life cycle, the following lacks in software organizations to design the measurement program for the business strategy have been identified: • It is difficult to align the measurement information to the business objectives for effective decision making. • There is a lack of justification for the standardization of software development with business strategy. • There is a lack of quality information from the measurements to control the SPI efforts towards achieving the objectives and the effects of their actions in a software organization. • It is difficult to obtain economic benefits by integrating strategic management, process improvement and measurement in practice. To address these shortcomings, it is necessary to integrate strategic management, process improvement and measurement to efficiently manage the competitiveness of the organization. Therefore, an analysis of the approaches’ contributions within the strategic management process has been done. The analysis results permits define a formalized method, which aims to formulate a strategy of the software organization, aligns the strategic objectives with the improvement objectives and create measures among the perspectives of financial, internal processes, customers and staff learning and growth. In order to offer truthfulness of method, two studies in a real and educational environment were carrying out. The result of both studies shows conclusive evidence of the following capabilities of the method: • Alignment of strategic management, software process improvement and measurement to manage the competitiveness of organizations. • Contribution to the synergies among all actors involved in defining the strategy, actions of software process improvement and measurement initiatives. • Capture and spread of useful knowledge at all levels of the organization. • Facilitate the learning capabilities and competencies required

The SMPI model : a stepwise process model to facilitate software measurement process improvement along the measurement paradigms

Software engineering, software measurement, software process engineering, capability, maturityMagdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2007René Braungarte