A Risk Management Approach for Software Product Line Engineering

Software Product Line (SPL) Engineering is a software development paradigm that fosters systematic reuse. It is focused on improving software practices, leading companies to experience benefits, such as reduced time-to-market and effort, and higher quality for the products delivered to customers. However, establishing a SPL is neither a simple nor a cheap task, and may affect several aspects of a software company. Besides, it involves a range of risks that may hinder project success. These have to be managed accordingly, so as to minimize the likelihood of project failure. Despite the importance of Risk Management (RM) for SPL Engineering, little has been published in terms of suitable and structured practices to cope with that. This present paper reports an approach for RM in SPL Engineering, named RiPLERM (Rise Product Line Engineering – Risk Management). The approach presents activities to structure RM in SPL projects, The design of the RiPLE-RM approach elaborated on results from empirical investigations, and was proposed to facilitate the management and provide significant insights that can be used to avoid and solve risks

An Agile Process Model for Product Derivation in Software Product Line Engineering

Software Product Lines (SPL) and Agile practices have emerged as new paradigms for developing software. Both approaches share common goals; such as improving productivity, reducing time to market, decreasing development costs and increasing customer satisfaction. These common goals provide the motivation for this research. We believe that integrating Agile practices into SPL can bring a balance between agility and formalism. However, there has been little research on such integration. We have been researching the potential of integrating Agile approaches in one of the key SPL process areas, product derivation. In this paper we present an outline of our Agile process model for product derivation that was developed through industry based case study research

IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF VARIABILITY MEASURES AFFECTING CODE REUSABILITY IN OPEN SOURCE ENVIRONMENT

Open source software (OSS) is one of the emerging areas in software engineering, and is gaining the interest of the software development community. OSS was started as a movement, and for many years software developers contributed to it as their hobby (non commercial purpose). Now, OSS components are being reused in CBSD (commercial purpose). However, recently, the use of OSS in SPL is envisioned recently by software engineering researchers, thus bringing it into a new arena. Being an emerging research area, it demands exploratory study to explore the dimensions of this phenomenon. Furthermore, there is a need to assess the reusability of OSS which is the focal point of these disciplines (CBSE, SPL, and OSS). In this research, a mixed method based approach is employed which is specifically 'partially mixed sequential dominant study'. It involves both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative phases (survey and experiment). During the qualitative phase seven respondents were involved, sample size of survey was 396, and three experiments were conducted. The main contribution of this study is results of exploration of the phenomenon 'reuse of OSS in reuse intensive software development'. The findings include 7 categories and 39 dimensions. One of the dimension factors affecting reusability was carried to the quantitative phase (survey and experiment). On basis of the findings, proposal for reusability attribute model was presented at class and package level. Variability is one of the newly identified attribute of reusability. A comprehensive theoretical analysis of variability implementation mechanisms is conducted to propose metrics for its assessment. The reusability attribute model is validated by statistical analysis of I 03 classes and 77 packages. An evolutionary reusability analysis of two open source software was conducted, where different versions of software are analyzed for their reusability. The results show a positive correlation between variability and reusability at package level and validate the other identified attributes. The results would be helpful to conduct further studies in this area

Software Product Line

The Software Product Line (SPL) is an emerging methodology for developing software products. Currently, there are two hot issues in the SPL: modelling and the analysis of the SPL. Variability modelling techniques have been developed to assist engineers in dealing with the complications of variability management. The principal goal of modelling variability techniques is to configure a successful software product by managing variability in domain-engineering. In other words, a good method for modelling variability is a prerequisite for a successful SPL. On the other hand, analysis of the SPL aids the extraction of useful information from the SPL and provides a control and planning strategy mechanism for engineers or experts. In addition, the analysis of the SPL provides a clear view for users. Moreover, it ensures the accuracy of the SPL. This book presents new techniques for modelling and new methods for SPL analysis

Tailoring the Scrum Development Process to Address Agile Product Line Engineering

Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) is becoming widely used due to the improvement it means when developing software products of the same family. However, SPLE demands long-term investment on a product-line platform that might not be profitable due to rapid changing business settings. Since Agile Software Development (ASD) approaches are being successfully applied in volatile markets, several companies have suggested the idea of integrating SPLE and ASD when a family product has to be developed. Agile Product Line Engineering (APLE) advocates the integration of SPLE and ASD to address their lacks when they are individually applied to software development. A previous literature re-view of experiences and practices on APLE revealed important challenges about how to fully put APLE into practice. Our contribution address several of these challenges by tailoring the agile method Scrum by means of three concepts that we have defined: plastic partial components, working PL-architectures, and reactive reuse

A Product Line engineering practices model

AbstractThis paper describes work in progress towards the elaboration of a Product Line practices model that combines concepts proposed by various authors. The strengths of existing Product Line frameworks and models are summarized and a new model is proposed in the form of 31 Product Line practice areas, grouped in five categories. An important objective of this Product Line practices model is that it should be easily incorporated into existing development methodologies, while remaining aligned with existing systems engineering standards

A case-based model for assessing the effectiveness of information systems outsourcing

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The objective of the research reported in this paper is to construct a model for assessing the effectiveness of Information Systems (IS) outsourcing. “Lack of in-house expertise” and “cost effectiveness” are widely accepted as major factors of motivation for IS outsourcing. In contrast with the decision models which are executed before an outsourcing engagement (a-priori), this effectiveness assessment model will be an a-posteriori guide which will enable clients to assess their outsourcing performance and re-evaluate their business and management strategies. Although various decision models and analytical frameworks have been proposed before, the literature is not abundant on a complete qualitative model. This paper examines the factors for outsourcing effectiveness through qualitative research conducted with multiple case studies for information systems developed for public organizations in the specific context of Turkey. A conceptual model consisting of various hypotheses is constructed and qualitatively evaluated

Uncovering sustainability concerns in software product lines

Sustainable living, i.e., living within the bounds of the available environmental, social, and economic resources, is the focus of many present-day social and scientific discussions. But what does sustainability mean within the context of Software Engineering? In this paper we undertake a comprehensive analysis of 8 case studies to address this question within the context of a specific SE approach, Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE). We identify the sustainability-related characteristics that arise in present-day studies that apply SPLE. We conclude that technical and economic sustainability are in prime focus on the present SPLE practice, with social sustainability issues, where they relate to organisations, also addressed to a good degree. On the other hand, the issues related to the personal sustainability are less prominent, and environmental considerations are nearly completely amiss. We present feature models and cross-relations that result from our analysis as a starting point for sustainability engineering through SPLE, suggesting that any new development should consider how these models would be instantiated and expanded for the intended socio-technical system. The good representation of sustainability features in these models is also validated with two additional case studies

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