Evaluating Software Architectures: Development Stability and Evolution

We survey seminal work on software architecture evaluationmethods. We then look at an emerging class of methodsthat explicates evaluating software architectures forstability and evolution. We define architectural stabilityand formulate the problem of evaluating software architecturesfor stability and evolution. We draw the attention onthe use of Architectures Description Languages (ADLs) forsupporting the evaluation of software architectures in generaland for architectural stability in specific

Value-Based Business-IT Alignment in Networked Constellations of Enterprises

Business-ICT alignment is the problem of matching ICTservices with the requirements of the business. In businesses of any significant size, business-ICT alignment is a hard problem, which is currently not solved completely. With the advent of networked constellations of enterprises, the problem gets a new dimension, because in such a network, there is not a single point of authority for making decisions about ICT support to solve conflicts in requirements these various enterprises may have. Network constellations exist when different businesses decide to cooperate by means of ICT networks, but they also exist in large corporations, which often consist of nearly independent business units, and thus have no single point of authority anymore. In this position paper we discuss the need for several solution techniques to address the problem of business-ICT alignment in networked constellations. Such techniques include: -RE techniques to describe networked value constellations requesting and offering ICT services as economic value. These techniques should allow reasoning about the matching of business needs with available ICT services in the constellation. - RE techniques to design a networked ICT architecture that supports ICT services required by the business, taking the value offered by those services, and the costs incurred by the architecture, into account. - Models of decision processes about ICT services and their architecture, and maturity models of those processes.The techniques and methods will be developed and validated using case studies and action research

The Impact of Human Resource Sharing on IT Project Risk

The increasing number of sophisticated IT projects and the scarcity of skilled human resources increasingly challenge IT project portfolio managers with the need to do ‘more with less’. Consequently, resource sharing among projects provides a widely applied instrument to reduce project costs. However, resource sharing may not only result in cost synergies but also in risk effects. In contrast to cost synergies, these risk effects are rarely considered in business practice and quantification efforts of these risk effects are missing in the literature. Our research is the first to provide a systematic quantitative empirical analysis of the relationships between resource sharing and project risk. We find evidence that projects sharing their human resources are more likely to fall short in their planned scope while being more likely to comply with their planned timeline

La refactorización de software basada en valor : Revisión sistemática de la literatura

El mantenimiento del producto software es una de las fases que más costos tiene a lo largo de la vida de una aplicación software. La refactorización del código fuente es una de las técnicas utilizadas para intentar mejorar la mantenibilidad. Actualmente la refactorización se basa en un enfoque de “valor neutro”, siendo difícil priorizar la gran cantidad de opciones de refactorización que puede tener un producto software. Para cubrir estas carencias, una nueva rama de la ingeniería está emergiendo, la Ingeniería del Software Basada en Valor, estableciendo que las funcionalidades de un sistema tienen diferente grado de importancia, y que algunas de ellas aportan más “valor” que otras. Este artículo presenta una revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre la refactorización basada en valor. Se identificaron 15 artículos primarios de un total de 2300. Los trabajos analizados muestran el uso de diferentes técnicas para abordar el problema de la refactorización y el valor que pueden aportar al software que será refactorizado, existiendo opiniones opuestas sobre cómo afecta las refactorizaciones a la mantenibilidad. Como conclusión de la revisión se tiene que: ningún artículo habla directamente del valor ni se cuantifica el valor que puede aportar una refactorización al software sobre el que va a ser aplicada.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

La refactorización de software basada en valor : Revisión sistemática de la literatura

El mantenimiento del producto software es una de las fases que más costos tiene a lo largo de la vida de una aplicación software. La refactorización del código fuente es una de las técnicas utilizadas para intentar mejorar la mantenibilidad. Actualmente la refactorización se basa en un enfoque de “valor neutro”, siendo difícil priorizar la gran cantidad de opciones de refactorización que puede tener un producto software. Para cubrir estas carencias, una nueva rama de la ingeniería está emergiendo, la Ingeniería del Software Basada en Valor, estableciendo que las funcionalidades de un sistema tienen diferente grado de importancia, y que algunas de ellas aportan más “valor” que otras. Este artículo presenta una revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre la refactorización basada en valor. Se identificaron 15 artículos primarios de un total de 2300. Los trabajos analizados muestran el uso de diferentes técnicas para abordar el problema de la refactorización y el valor que pueden aportar al software que será refactorizado, existiendo opiniones opuestas sobre cómo afecta las refactorizaciones a la mantenibilidad. Como conclusión de la revisión se tiene que: ningún artículo habla directamente del valor ni se cuantifica el valor que puede aportar una refactorización al software sobre el que va a ser aplicada.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Using real options to select stable Middleware-induced software architectures

The requirements that force decisions towards building distributed system architectures are usually of a non-functional nature. Scalability, openness, heterogeneity, and fault-tolerance are examples of such non-functional requirements. The current trend is to build distributed systems with middleware, which provide the application developer with primitives for managing the complexity of distribution, system resources, and for realising many of the non-functional requirements. As non-functional requirements evolve, the `coupling' between the middleware and architecture becomes the focal point for understanding the stability of the distributed software system architecture in the face of change. It is hypothesised that the choice of a stable distributed software architecture depends on the choice of the underlying middleware and its flexibility in responding to future changes in non-functional requirements. Drawing on a case study that adequately represents a medium-size component-based distributed architecture, it is reported how a likely future change in scalability could impact the architectural structure of two versions, each induced with a distinct middleware: one with CORBA and the other with J2EE. An option-based model is derived to value the flexibility of the induced-architectures and to guide the selection. The hypothesis is verified to be true for the given change. The paper concludes with some observations that could stimulate future research in the area of relating requirements to software architectures

Testing for the Solicitation Management System

This project is to test the Solicitation Management System software. The SMS is an online system that facilitates processing of a solicitation at the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTO). It allows potential applicants to submit applications to OTTC for further processing

Overview of Global Software Development

Este artículo presenta una panorámica general del estado del arte y de la práctica del Desarrollo Global de Software (DGS), analizando las principales revisiones sistemáticas de la litera- tura e identificando un conjunto de áreas de gran interés en la actualidad. El cual muestra que el DGS es un campo que empieza a alcanzar cierta madurez: cuya evolución ya no se encuentra limitada por factores críticos como las diferencias lingüísticas y culturales, sino que ésta depende más de factores como la motivación personal y las habilidades de los recursos huma- nos, y de la disponibilidad de funciones y responsabilidades bien definidas; y, al mismo tiempo, pre- senta nuevos desafíos centrados en importantes líneas de interés como: los Procesos para desarrollo y gestión, la Gestión de Proyectos DGS y los Equipos de TrabajoThis paper presents an overview of the state of the art and the practical of Global Software Development (DGS), analyzing the main systematic reviews of the literature and identifying a set of areas of great interest today. Which shows that the DGS is a field that begins to reach a certain maturity: whose evolution is no longer limited by critical factors such as language and cultural differences, but it depends more on factors such as personal motivation and skills of resources human, and the availability of clearly defi- ned roles and responsibilities; and at the same time, presents new challenges focused on important areas of interest include: Processes for development and management, DGS Project Management and Task Force