Una propuesta para el descubrimiento sistemático de servicios en fases tempranas de desarrollos ágiles

El objetivo principal de la presente Tesis Doctoral será proponer en un único proceso, la formalización de un requisito, fundamentándolo en técnicas ágiles (debido a su agilidad y completitud), que pueda ser gestionado contra un Catálogo de Servicios, a fin de descubrir qué Servicios dentro del contexto, son susceptibles de ser incorporados en el desarrollo de la nueva aplicación para dar cobertura a ese requisito. El cuerpo de esta Tesis Doctoral pues, se cimenta sobre la definición de una serie de metamodelos. Para ello, se define un metamodelo en el que se formalizarán los Servicios pertenecientes al Catálogo de Servicios de dicha organización, que contendrá la funcionalidad identificada y viva, en el contexto, de forma normalizada. A su vez, se define un metamodelo de requisitos que permita la formalización ágil, temprana y completa de los nuevos requisitos. Para este punto será necesario el uso de las nuevas técnicas y metodologías ágiles que se han usado con buen resultado, precisamente, para disponer de un conjunto homogéneo de requisitos funcionales y no funcionales, completo y ágil. Como resultado de la presente Tesis Doctoral, obtenemos un proceso sistemático y coherente para el descubrimiento de los Servicios Candidatos, definiendo la relación entre los metamodelos que nos permita descubrir qué Servicios dentro del Catálogo de Servicios dan cobertura a un conjunto total o parcial de los requisitos, es decir, identificar los Servicios Candidatos para su análisis, mediante la propuesta de un algoritmo que realice las consultas entre los diferentes campos de los metamodelos basada en la puntuación de dichas búsquedas, a partir de esa correspondencia. Así mismo se plantea una arquitectura tecnológica capaz de soportar dicho proceso, el framework DS4aRE. En conclusión, esta Tesis Doctoral plantea una solución a un problema específico: realizar el proceso sistemático y coherente para el descubrimiento de los Servicios Candidatos dentro del contexto de una organización que presta Servicios, a través de la formalización de requisitos usando técnicas y metodologías ágiles a fin de identificar, dentro del Catálogo de Servicios de la organización, qué funcionalidad de los nuevos requisitos está ya contenida. Por último, el trabajo presenta la evaluación de los resultados obtenidos en un entorno de producción real, basado en la instanciación de dicha solución, cuya aplicación ha sido considerada como satisfactoria. Como aportación de la presente Tesis Doctoral obtenemos un proceso sistemático y coherente para el descubrimiento de los Servicios Candidatos, que nos permita descubrir qué Servicios dentro del Catálogo de Servicios dan cobertura a un conjunto total o parcial de los requisitos, es decir, identificar los Servicios Candidatos para su análisis. Además se obtiene en este trabajo el framework DS4aRE que soporta e implementa dicho proceso y es desplegable en una organización real. En conclusión, esta Tesis Doctoral plantea una solución a un problema específico: realizar el proceso sistemático y coherente para el descubrimiento de los Servicios Candidatos dentro del contexto de una organización que presta Servicios, a través de la formalización de requisitos usando técnicas y metodologías ágiles a fin de identificar dentro del Catálogo de Servicios de la organización que funcionalidad de los nuevos requisitos está ya contenida. Uno de los beneficios fundamentales de esta gestión ágil de requisitos dentro el Gobierno de los Servicios, desde las etapas más tempranas del desarrollo, desembocará en la eficacia y eficiencia de los recursos, del propio desarrollo software y de una mejor prestación de dichos Servicios. Desde las etapas más tempranas de la elicitación de requisitos, se conocerá qué Servicios, dentro de la organización, cubren parte de la funcionalidad, por lo que la reutilización del software se maximizará para estos desarrollos, con el consiguiente ahorro en tiempo y coste y aumentando la calidad de las nuevas aplicaciones. Así mismo, se mejora, dentro del Gobierno de TI, el gobierno de los Servicios debido a que la temprana identificación de su uso, hace posible que se puedan ejecutar las políticas adecuadas a su ciclo de vida, redundando así en un mejor control de los Servicios y por tanto mejorando la prestación de los mismos y minimizando el impacto de los sucesivos cambios de estado dentro de su ciclo de vida. Por último, el trabajo presenta la evaluación de los resultados teóricos obtenidos en un entorno de producción basado en la instanciación de la solución, cuya aplicación ha sido considerada como satisfactoria

Agile in Public Administration: Oxymoron or reality? An experience report

In the last 10 years, Agile methods and practices have emerged as an alternative for software development. Different "flavors" of Agile have appeared ranging from project management to tests organization. These approaches have being gaining popularity and involve now a solid option for organizations developing software, but what about Public Administrations? Is Agile a suitable option for developing software in Public Administrations? Even if Public Administrations have been traditionally regarded as changeresistant, Agile approach can also provide them with the benefits of quick adaptation and frequent value delivery. This paper presents the results of two different projects, which use an Agile framework based on Scrum, developed by a Spanish Public Administration. Additionally, after considering the obtained results, it takes out some relevant learned lessons on the suitability of applying Agile approaches to Public Administration environments.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

An Approach to Transform Public Administration into SOA-based Organizations

Nowadays, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) is widely spread in private organizations. However, when transferring this knowledge to Public Administration, it is realized that it has not been transformed in terms of its legal nature into organizations capable to operate under the SOA paradigm. This fact prevents public administration bodies from offering the efficient services they have been provided by different boards of governments. A high-level framework to perform this transformation is proposed. Taking it as starting point, an instance of a SOA Target Meta-Model can be obtained by means of an iterative and incremental process based on the analysis of imperatives and focused on the particular business context of each local public administration. This paper briefly presents a practical experience consisting in applying this process to a Spanish regional public administration.Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Agile, Web Engineering and Capability Maturity ModelI ntegration : A systematic literature review

Context Agile approaches are an alternative for organizations developing software, particularly for those who develop Web applications. Besides, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) models are well-established approaches focused on assessing the maturity of an organization that develops software. Web Engineering is the field of Software Engineering responsible for analyzing and studying the specific characteristics of the Web. The suitability of an Agile approach to help organizations reach a certain CMMI maturity level in Web environments will be very interesting, as they will be able to keep the ability to quickly react and adapt to changes as long as their development processes get mature. Objective This paper responds to whether it is feasible or not, for an organization developing Web systems, to achieve a certain maturity level of the CMMI-DEV model using Agile methods. Method The proposal is analyzed by means of a systematic literature review of the relevant approaches in the field, defining a characterization schema in order to compare them to introduce the current state-of-the-art. Results The results achieved after the systematic literature review are presented, analyzed and compared against the defined schema, extracting relevant conclusions for the different dimensions of the problem: compatibility, compliance, experience, maturity and Web. Conclusion It is concluded that although the definition of an Agile approach to meet the different CMMI maturity levels goals could be possible for an organization developing Web systems, there is still a lack of detailed studies and analysis on the field

Estimating, planning and managing Agile Web development projects under a value-based perspective

Context: The processes of estimating, planning and managing are crucial for software development projects, since the results must be related to several business strategies. The broad expansion of the Internet and the global and interconnected economy make Web development projects be often characterized by expressions like delivering as soon as possible, reducing time to market and adapting to undefined requirements. In this kind of environment, traditional methodologies based on predictive techniques sometimes do not offer very satisfactory results. The rise of Agile methodologies and practices has provided some useful tools that, combined with Web Engineering techniques, can help to establish a framework to estimate, manage and plan Web development projects. Objective: This paper presents a proposal for estimating, planning and managing Web projects, by combining some existing Agile techniques with Web Engineering principles, presenting them as an unified framework which uses the business value to guide the delivery of features. Method: The proposal is analyzed by means of a case study, including a real-life project, in order to obtain relevant conclusions. Results: The results achieved after using the framework in a development project are presented, including interesting results on project planning and estimation, as well as on team productivity throughout the project. Conclusion: It is concluded that the framework can be useful in order to better manage Web-based projects, through a continuous value-based estimation and management process.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-

An Agile approach to CMMI-DEV levels 4 and 5 in Web development

CMMI (Capability Maturity Model-Integration) model proposes a set of process areas, including suggested practices, with the aim of helping organizations to improve the quality of their products and processes. It is commonly accepted that as an organization progresses through the different levels of CMMI, the quality of its development might improve as well as the overhead of the development process, impeding it to quickly adapt to customers or partners changing needs. Besides, Agile practices allow quick adaptation and early delivery of business value. The specificity of Web environments makes them suitable for Agile approaches. However, as quality requirements for Web systems increase, a combination of Agile practices allowing organizations to achieve higher levels of CMMI-DEV with a limited process overhead can be very interesting to organizations that aim to keep adaptability. This way, they might strengthen their development processes in order to produce high quality results. This paper presents a gap analysis between the most used Agile practices (Scrum and XP) as well as a mapping proposal, including ad-hoc modifications and other Agile practices, to achieve all CMMI-DEV level 4 and 5 specific goals. To conclude, it drafts relevant conclusions and proposes future lines of researc

Mapping Agile Practices to CMMI-DEV Level 3 in Web Development Environments

Agile approaches formally appeared ten years ago and nowadays they are a valid alternative for organizations developing software. Agile methodologies are especially interesting to those developing Web environments applications, as they can fit properly the special characteristics of this type of developments. In addition, maturity models like CMMI-DEV (Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) focus on assessing the maturity level of organizations developing or acquiring software. These models are well established and can increment quality of development process to enhance costumers’ satisfaction. CMMI-DEV level 3 provides a good compromise on maturity gained and effort needed. The feasibility of reaching it through a combination of Agile methods can be very useful to organizations developing systems in Web environments, as they can keep the adaptability of Agile together with a more mature development process. This paper proposes a set of Agile methods so as to reach all CMMI-DEV maturity level 3 generic and specific goals. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes further research lines

The Systematic Discovery of Services in Early Stages of Agile Developments: A Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, agile methodologies have been consolidated and extended in organizations that develop software in Web environments. For this reason, the development methodology of these organizations will not only be related to Services, but also to the Web Engineering paradigm. These organizations are heading for incorporating software development methodologies whose paradigm can allow integration, naturally and in the earlier stages of Web applications develop with the services of the organization that described and published in the Services Portfolio. The aim of this study will be to analyze the current state of the art in the process of discovering services in early stages of agile software development with focus on those identified requirements that could be covered with the services included in the Service Portfolio. We have identified 20 relevant papers through conducting a double systematic literature review (SLR). It is concluded that no study has been found that can solve the entire process of discovering candidate services within an organization that cover the requirements of a new application developed with agile methodologies. At the same time, guidelines have been found to formalize the solution to this problem and fill in that gap of knowledge by proposing in a single process, the formalization of a requirement based on agile techniques, which can be managed against a Services PortfolioMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-R (POLOLAS

Using Agile Methods for Infrastructure Projects: A Practical Experience

Agile approaches have emerged in Software Development projects during the last decade becoming a real alternative for organizations developing software. These approaches have been used successfully in several and different projects: from small teams of in-site developers to teams comprising hundreds of developers all over the world. Nevertheless, Agile approaches are not only suitable for Software Development projects, but these methodologies can also be considered to be a framework to plan, estimate and manage any kind of project s focused on quick-response, adaptation to customers’ needs and early delivery of value to costumers. This paper presents the result of an experience dealing with using an Agile framework, based on Scrum, in an infrastructure project applied to a Spanish Public Administration. According to the results of the project, the paper takes out the main lessons learned and proposes further lines of research.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-67843- C06_03Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

NDT-Agile: An Agile, CMMI-Compatible Framework for Web Engineering

Agile and Web Engineering show important synergies, making Agile a common approach for Web development. Besides, several initiatives emerged to support CMMI-DEV within Agile, where CMMI-DEV aims to improve organizations’ software development process. An approach integrating Agile, Web and CMMI-DEV might be of great value, since they might allow Web development teams to use Agile, as well as progress through CMMI-DEV maturity levels. For this purpose, we developed NDT-Agile, an NDT-based Agile framework to achieve the goals of CMMI-DEV in the context of Web Engineering. It was developed by mapping Agile practices to the goals of CMMI-DEV so as to identify existing gaps. Next, we searched for suitable Agile practices to cover the gaps and integrated them into a framework called NDTAgile, which was validated using an expert-judgment technique: the Delphi method. This paper describes how we integrated Agile and CMMI-DEV into a Web Engineering framework. Besides, it also analyzes its initial evaluation, together with a first tool developed to support it.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED