Supporting Virtual Software Projects on the Web

A growing share of all software development project work is being done by geographically distributed teams. To satisfy shorter product design cycles, expert team members for a development project may need to be r ecruited globally. Yet to avoid extensive travelling or r eplacement costs, distributed project work is preferred. Current-generation software engineering tools and ass ociated systems, processes, and methods were for the most part developed to be used within a single enterprise. Major innovations have lately been introduced to enable groupware applications on the Internet to support global collaboration. However, their deployment for distributed software projects requires further research. In partic ular, groupware methods must seamlessly be integrated with project and product management systems to make them attractive for industry. In this position paper we outline the major challenges concerning distributed (virtual) software projects. Based on our experiences with software process modeling and enactment environments, we then propose approaches to solve those challenges

Modélisation et mise en œuvre de processus collaboratifs ad hoc

Software development is an intensively collaborative activity, where common collaboration issues (task management, resource use, communication, etc.) are aggravated by the fast pace of change, artifact complexity and interdependency, an ever larger volume of context information, geographical distribution of participants, etc. Consequently, the issue of tool-based support for collaboration is a pressing one in software engineering. In this thesis, we address collaboration in the context of modeling and enacting development processes. Such processes are traditionally conceived as structures imposed upon the development of a software product. However, a sizable proportion of collaboration in software engineering is ad hoc, and composed of unplanned activities. So as to make software processes contribute to collaboration support, especially the unplanned kind, we focus on their function of information repositories on the main elements of collaboration and the interactions of such elements. Our contribution, on the one hand, is a conceptual model of collaborative development support, which is able to account for popular tools like version control systems and bug tracking systems. This conceptual model is then applied to software processes. We hence define a global approach for the exploitation of process information for collaboration support, based on the central notions of query language and event handling mechanism. On the other hand, we propose a metamodel, CMSPEM (Collaborative Model-Based Software & System Process Engineering Metamodel), which extends SPEM (Software & System Process Engineering Metamodel) with concepts and relationships necessary for collaboration support. This metamodel is then tooled with model creation tools (graphical and textual editors), and a process server which implements an HTTP/REST-based query language and an event subscription and handling framework. Our approach is illustrated and validated, first, by an analysis of development practices inferred from project data from 219 open source projects. Second, collaboration support utilities (making contextual information available, automating repetitive actions, generating reports on individual contributions) have been implemented using the CMSPEM process server.Le développement logiciel est une activité intensément collaborative. Les problématiques habituelles de collaboration (organisation des tâches, utilisation des ressources, communication, etc.) y sont exacerbées par le rythme rapide des changements, la complexité et la grande interdépendance des artéfacts, le volume toujours croissant d’informations de contexte à traiter, la distribution géographique des participants, etc. Par conséquent, la question du support outillé de la collaboration se pose plus fortement que jamais en ingénierie logicielle. Dans cette thèse, nous abordons la question de la collaboration sous l’angle de la modélisation et de l’exploitation des processus de développement. Ces derniers sont traditionnellement considérés comme une structure imposée sur le développement d’un produit logiciel. Cependant, une part importante de la collaboration en génie logiciel est de nature ad hoc, faite d’activités non planifiées. Afin de faire contribuer les processus logiciels au support de la collaboration, en particulier celle non planifiée, nous nous intéressons à leur fonction de banques d’information sur les éléments clés de cette collaboration et les interactions entre ces derniers. Notre contribution est, d’une part, un modèle conceptuel du support au développement collaboratif, capable de rendre compte de la structure d’outils classiques comme ceux de gestion de versions ou de gestion de défauts logiciels. Ce modèle conceptuel est ensuite appliqué aux modèles de processus logiciels. Nous définissons ainsi une approche globale d’exploitation des informations de processus pour le support de la collaboration, basée sur les notions centrales de langage de requête d’information et de mécanisme de réaction aux événements. D’autre part, nous proposons un métamodèle, CMSPEM (Collaborative Model-Based Software & System Process Engineering Metamodel), qui enrichit le standard SPEM (Software & System Process Engineering Metamodel) avec des concepts et relations nécessaires au support de la collaboration. Ce métamodèle est outillé avec des outils de création de modèle (éditeurs graphiques et textuels), et un serveur de processus offrant un langage de requêtes basé sur HTTP/REST et un framework de souscription et de réaction aux événements de processus. Enfin, notre approche conceptuelle a été illustrée et validée, en premier lieu, par une analyse des pratiques inférées à partir des données de développement de 219 projets open source. En second lieu, des utilitaires de support à la collaboration (mise à disposition d’informations conceptuelles, automatisation d’actions, extraction d’information sur les contributions individuelles) ont été implémentés à travers le serveur de processus CMSPEM

Logistics engineering curriculum integrated through student projects

This paper describes an innovative curriculum developed for new Logistics Engineering degree programs at the Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology. The core of the program is based on a sequence of four major courses, which focus on the Product Development, Process Analysis and Optimization, Logistic Processes and Service Engineering. Each course is built around a practical team project. With the project effort as the background, the courses introduce students to key issues in global engineering competence, including collaboration and teamwork, work organization and management, engineering ethics, cross-cultural communication, critical thinking and problem solving, and integration strategies for design, manufacturing and marketing. Projects also introduce entrepreneurial components, as the teams have to develop their concepts in the context of a start-up company. The first course in the series, introduces 2nd year students to basic concepts of consumer product development. It covers the principles of design and innovation process, and also explains essential design tools, such as Quality Function Deployment and Pugh Matrices. It also reviews key manufacturing methods and systems. Students work in small teams to develop their own product ideas from initial concepts to a business plan for a start-up. The course is offered in English. The second course, offered to 3rd year students, introduces fundamental concepts related to industrial process analysis and improvement. Students learn necessary data collection and analysis techniques (such as, for example, Value Stream Mapping) and also the basics of process simulation using a commercial software package. Student teams work with industrial sponsors and develop competing innovative ideas for process transformation and improvement. While the first two courses have already been offered for the first time in the past year in the engineering program (level 1), the third course is still in the planning phase. It will be offered to 4th year students in the first year of their master\u27s program. It will focus on Supply Chain processes, assessment of their performance, lifecycle analysis and management. The student group project will be carried out in an industrial setting, dealing with real-life assignments. The final course, integrating knowledge acquired by the students in the preceding sequence, is focused on the issues of service engineering. It covers such topics as, for example, organizational design, global issues and design of service operations

Globally Distributed Software Process Engineering

Software processes is becoming a more addressed issue in software development companies every day. These processes are defined regardless of the environment in which they run. To incorporate aspects of that environment is essential, especially if referring to GSE. Despite this fact, the process itself should not be necessary modified. This paper provides a first draft of a research focused on software process definition, modeling, implementation and evaluation in a GSE environment, so as to facilitate the information exchange through a hierarchical process that does not involve modification of specific processes.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-67843-C06-03Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2010-20057-C03-0

Towards collaborative learning via shared artefacts over the Grid

The Web is the most pervasive collaborative technology in widespread use today; and its use to support eLearning has been highly successful. There are many web-based Virtual Learning Environments such as WebCT, FirstClass, and BlackBoard as well as associated web-based Managed Learning Environments. In the future, the Grid promises to provide an extremely powerful infrastructure allowing both learners and teachers to collaborate in various learning contexts and to share learning materials, learning processes, learning systems, and experiences. This position paper addresses the role of support for sharing artefacts in distributed systems such as the Grid. An analogy is made between collaborative software development and collaborative learning with the goal of gaining insights into the requisite support for artefact sharing within the eLearning community

FESTivE: an information system method to improve product designers and environmental experts information exchanges

Effective collaboration between product designers and environmental experts is an important driver for the ecodesign practice in industry. This paper investigates the principal functions required for such an e ective collaboration and aims at facilitating them. Product designers should be able to integrate the environmental parameters into their activities, and to exchange information dynamically with the environmental expert whenever needed during the design process. Therefore, the IT system should be in itself dynamic and exible to the integration of new concepts (knowledge, software). Recent developments in Model Driven Engineering (MDE) are showing some interesting results to gain exibility and dynamism in the IT system. Combining software interoperability using model federation based on MDE with the speci city of ecodesign practice in industry this paper proposes the FESTivE method for Federate EcodeSign Tool modEls. Experimented in two different industrial contexts the practical feasibility of FESTivE has been validated with practitioners. Results on the e ects of using FESTivE in industry shows that product designers and environmental experts are more equipped to anticipate and to respond to each other's needs at each stage of the design process of product or service

SMEs: ERP or virtual collaboration teams

Small firms are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to promote economic development. SMEs in the beginning of implementing new technologies always face capital shortage and need technological assistance. Available ERP systems do not fulfil the specific requirements of Small firms. SMEs has scarce resources and manpower therefore many SMEs don?t have the possessions to buy and operate an ERP System. On the other hand competition and competitiveness of SMEs have to be strengthened. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on SMEs management. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the differences aspects of virtual team application in SMEs. After outlining some of the main advantages and pitfall of such teams, it concentrates on comparing of ERP and virtual collaborative teams in SMEs. Finally, it provides evidence for the need of ?Software as a Service (SaaS)? where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the web for SMEs as an alternative of ERP. It has been widely argued that ERP disadvantage in SMEs such as administrative expenditure and cost, isolated structure, severe lack of software flexibility, insufficient support of SMEs business and high operating cost, lead SMEs to use virtual collaborative team which is net work base solution