Small scale software engineering

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In computing, the Software Crisis has arisen because software projects cannot meet their planned timescales, functional capabilities, reliability levels and budgets. This thesis reduces the general problem down to the Small Scale Software Engineering goal of improving the quality and tractability of the designs of individual programs. It is demonstrated that the application of eight abstractions (set, sequence, hierarchy, h-reduction, integration, induction, enumeration, generation) can lead to a reduction in the size and complexity of and an increase in the quality of software designs when expressed via Dimensional Design, a new representational technique which uses the three spatial dimensions to represent set, sequence and hierarchy, whilst special symbols and axioms encode the other abstractions. Dimensional Designs are trees of symbols whose edges perceptually encode the relationships between the nodal symbols. They are easy to draw and manipulate both manually and mechanically. Details are given of real software projects already undertaken using Dimensional Design. Its tool kit, DD/ROOTS, produces high quality, machine drawn, detailed design documentation plus novel quality control information. A run time monitor records and animates execution, measures CPU time and takes snapshots etc; all these results are represented according to Dimensional Design principles to maintain conceptual integrity with the design. These techniques are illustrated by the development of a non-trivial example program. Dimensional Design is axiomatised, compared to existing techniques and evaluated against the stated problem. It has advantages over existing techniques, mainly its clarity of expression and ease of manipulation of individual abstractions due to its graphical basis

A comparative analysis of business process modelling techniques

Business process modelling is an increasingly popular research area for both organisations and academia due to its usefulness in facilitating human understanding and communication. Several modelling techniques have been proposed and used to capture the characteristics of business processes. However, available techniques view business processes from different perspectives and have different features and capabilities. Furthermore, to date limited guidelines exist for selecting appropriate modelling techniques based on the characteristics of the problem and its requirements. This paper presents a comparative analysis of some popular business process modelling techniques. The comparative framework is based on five criteria: flexibility, ease of use, understandability, simulation support and scope. The study highlights some of the major paradigmatic differences between the techniques. The proposed framework can serve as the basis for evaluating further modelling techniques and generating selection procedures

Impact Of A Visual Programming Experience On The Attitude Toward Programming Of Introductory Undergraduate Students

Traditionally, textual tools have been utilized to teach basic programming languages and paradigms. Research has shown that students tend to be visual learners. Using flowcharts, students can quickly understand the logic of their programs and visualize the flow of commands in the algorithm. Moreover, applying programming to physical systems through the use of a microcontroller to facilitate this type of learning can spark an interest in students to advance their programming knowledge to create novel applications. This study examined if freshmen college students\u27 attitudes towards programming changed after completing a graphical programming lesson. Various attributes about students\u27 attitudes were examined including confidence, interest, stereotypes, and their belief in the usefulness of acquiring programming skills. The study found that there were no statistically significant differences in attitudes either immediately following the session or after a period of four weeks

Principles in Patterns (PiP) : Evaluation of Impact on Business Processes

The innovation and development work conducted under the auspices of the Principles in Patterns (PiP) project is intended to explore and develop new technology-supported approaches to curriculum design, approval and review. An integral component of this innovation is the use of business process analysis and process change techniques - and their instantiation within the C-CAP system (Class and Course Approval Pilot) - in order to improve the efficacy of curriculum approval processes. Improvements to approval process responsiveness and overall process efficacy can assist institutions in better reviewing or updating curriculum designs to enhance pedagogy. Such improvements also assume a greater significance in a globalised HE environment, in which institutions must adapt or create curricula quickly in order to better reflect rapidly changing academic contexts, as well as better responding to the demands of employment marketplaces and the expectations of professional bodies. This is increasingly an issue for disciplines within the sciences and engineering, where new skills or knowledge need to be rapidly embedded in curricula as a response to emerging technological or environmental developments. All of the aforementioned must also be achieved while simultaneously maintaining high standards of academic quality, thus adding a further layer of complexity to the way in which HE institutions engage in "responsive curriculum design" and approval. This strand of the PiP evaluation therefore entails an analysis of the business process techniques used by PiP, their efficacy, and the impact of process changes on the curriculum approval process, as instantiated by C-CAP. More generally the evaluation is a contribution towards a wider understanding of technology-supported process improvement initiatives within curriculum approval and their potential to render such processes more transparent, efficient and effective. Partly owing to limitations in the data required to facilitate comparative analyses, this evaluation adopts a mixed approach, making use of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as theoretical techniques. These approaches combined enable a comparative evaluation of the curriculum approval process under the "new state" (i.e. using C-CAP) and under the "previous state". This report summarises the methodology used to enable comparative evaluation and presents an analysis and discussion of the results. As the report will explain, the impact of C-CAP and its ability to support improvements in process and document management has resulted in the resolution of numerous process failings. C-CAP has also demonstrated potential for improvements in approval process cycle time, process reliability, process visibility, process automation, process parallelism and a reduction in transition delays within the approval process, thus contributing to considerable process efficiencies; although it is acknowledged that enhancements and redesign may be required to take advantage of C-CAP's potential. Other aspects pertaining to C-CAP's impact on process change, improvements to document management and the curation of curriculum designs will also be discussed

Standard practices for the implementation of computer software

A standard approach to the development of computer program is provided that covers the file cycle of software development from the planning and requirements phase through the software acceptance testing phase. All documents necessary to provide the required visibility into the software life cycle process are discussed in detail

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.

Business Process Modeling for Successful Implementation of Interorganizational Systems

Studies show that the physical implementation of an interorganizational business process or system can be a major source of operational problems and reduced business benefits. Better process modeling has been advocated as a solution. Although powerful modeling tools exist, current practice often gives short-shrift to documenting the physical implementation details that can create or exacerbate such problems. In this paper we describe the modeling approach we devised for the interorganizational business processes and systems we observe in our ongoing fieldwork. Our approach involves using allowable extensions to a popular modeling notation (BPMN), although other modeling tools would work equally well. We illustrate the benefit of our approach in the case of the Internet Payment Platform, a pilot project of the United States Department of the Treasury

The Use of Knowledge Management Techniques to Aid Learning Retention in On-LIne Learning Environments

The focus of this research is e-Learning and Knowledge Management and the synergies between them. While they are both very distinct and different domains, they share the twin goals of delivering personal advancement and improving performance through the acquisition of new skills. They both set about to achieve these goals by means of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. However, both disciplines suffer from poor reputations due to low success rates – sometimes perceived, but often real. In particular, e-Learning has failed to live up to the promise it was said to show when it emerged as the successor to Computer-Based Training in the late 1990s. Organisations that embarked on extensive e-Learning programs have often failed to see a return on their investment in the form of performance improvements of those they trained. From the learners’ perspective, e- Learning has often failed to engage, or to deliver the outcomes and personal advancement they expected. This research aims to address the poor success rate of on-line learning by specifically examining the transfer of knowledge in the context of e-Learning solutions. It will do so by means of an experiment that will examine whether techniques from the world of Knowledge Management can be employed in the area of e-Learning to improve the learning outcomes, leading to a higher rate of personal advancement and performance improvement on the part of the learner

Business Process Models for Risk Analysis: Expert View

The recent financial turbulences raise questions on how risk analysis is conducted. Regulatory requirements and professional standards have been introduced in the last decade in order to obtain a more reliable internal control on financial reporting process with a new emphasis on business processes. However, there are no standards yet available on how business processes should be captured for facilitating risk analysis in audit assignments. Representations of business processes have been investigated in the field of business process modeling. There exists a broad spectrum of notations and formalisms with relative strengths and weaknesses. Many of the popular notations build on a graph-based representation where activities of a process are connected with directed arcs defining the control flow. Such notations have been widely adopted for redesigning business processes. But also text-based formats have been defined. Corresponding process specifications define the activities of a process as lists with additional free text information. This raises the question whether the tools and methods for analyzing business process risks in auditing practice is appropriate for its objective. This paper reveals the benefits of adopting business process models for auditors toward understanding a companies business processes and the issues need to be considered for further development. The analysis also shows that practitioners use process models rather for risk elicitation and less in risk assessment