Requirements engineering during global software development : some impediments to the requirements engineering process : a case study

Requirements engineering is not straightforward for any software development team. Developing software when team members are located in widely distributed geographic locations poses many challenges for developers, particularly during the requirements engineering phase. This paper reports on a case study concerning a large software development project that was completed in just seven months between users located in the UK and software developers from an international software house based in New Zealand. The case indicates that while “true” global requirements engineering may be desirable in achieving economy of resources, a “hybrid” structure of requirements engineering processes is more realistic so that lasting relationships with clients may be formed, and requirements engineering activities achieved. The main impediment to the process of requirements engineering during global software development, as recounted by the team members in this case, is communication. Communication issues may be further described in terms of four categories: distribution of the clients and the development team, distribution of the development team, cultural differences between the clients and the development team and cultural differences among the development team.

Managing the requirements engineering process

Process management is a crucial issue in developing information or computer systems. Theories of software development process management suggest that the process should be supported and managed based on what the process really is. However, our learning from an action research study reveals that the requirements engineering (RE) process differs significantly from that which the current literature tends to describe. The process is not a systematic, smooth and incremental evolution of the requirements model, but involves occasional simplification and restructuring of the requirements model. This revised understanding of the RE process suggests a new challenge to both the academic and industrial communities, demanding new process management approaches. In this paper, we present our understanding of the RE process and its implications for process management.

Software warehouse: its design management and application

To have an effective and efficient mechanism to store, manage and utilize software sources is essential to the automation of software engineering. The paper presents an innovative approach in managing software resources using software warehouse where software assets are systematically accumulated, deposited, retrieved, packaged, managed and utilized, driven by data-mining and OLAP technologies. The results lead to streamlined high efficient software development process and enhance the productivity in response to modern challenges of the design and development of software applications.

Managing the requirements engineering process

Process management is a crucial issue in developing information or computer systems. Theories of software development process management suggest that the process should be supported and managed based on what the process really is. However, our learning from an action research study reveals that the requirements engineering (RE) process differs significantly from what the current literature tends to describe. The process is not a systematic, smooth and incremental evolution of the requirements model, but involves occasional simplification and restructuring of the requirements model. This revised understanding of the RE process suggests a new challenge to both the academic and industrial communities, demanding new process management approaches. In this paper, we present our understanding of the RE process and its implications for process management.

Knowledge mediation in software quality engineering

The risk of failure of the software development process remains high despite many attempts to improve the quality of software engineering. Contemporary approaches to process assurance, such as the capability maturity model have not prevented systemic failures, nor have project management methodologies provided guarantees of software quality. The paper proposes an approach to software quality assurance based on a knowledge mediated concurrent audit, which incorporates essential feedback processes. Through a tightly integrated approach to quality audit, programmers would be empowered to use any chosen methodology to advantage, supported by intelligent monitoring of the essential interactions which occur in the development process. An experimental application implementing some aspects of the proposal is described

Software warehouse and software mining : the impact of data mining to software engineering

Automating Software Engineering is the dream of software Engineers for decades. To make this dream to come to true, data mining can play an important role. Our recent research has shown that to increase the productivity and to reduce the cost of software development, it is essential to have an effective and efficient mechanism to store, manage and utilize existing software resources, and thus to automate software analysis, testing, evaluation and to make use of existing software for new problems. This paper firstly provides a brief overview of traditional data mining followed by a presentation on data mining in broader sense. Secondly, it presents the idea and the technology of software warehouse as an innovative approach in managing software resources using the idea of data warehouse where software assets are systematically accumulated, deposited, retrieved, packaged, managed and utilized driven by data mining and OLAP technologies. Thirdly, we presented the concepts and technology and their applications of data mining and data matrix including software warehouse to software engineering. The perspectives of the role of software warehouse and software mining in modern software development are addressed. We expect that the results will lead to a streamlined high efficient software development process and enhance the productivity in response to modern challenges of the design and development of software applications.

Global software development : the next RE frontier?

Requirements Engineers face an emerging set of challenges, which compound the traditional Requirements Engineering (RE) challenges (stakeholder identification, domain expertise, communication, analytic skills, problem solving, ...) that have arguably still not been fully addressed. This is the challenge of RE in the world of global software development, with requirements teams working in virtual mode (possibly on different continents), with the software having to operate in multiple contexts, addressing the needs of different cultures and legal jurisdictions, and having to build sales in different marketplaces. Further the need arises to specify software that is progressively enhanced through regular releases, rather than the “green field” specification of products.

This theoretical paper introduces these challenges, and presents an initial selection of theoretical models, drawn from many and varied source disciplines, which might be employed to gain insight into various features of RE in support of global software development. To illustrate the potential relevance of this selection of models, a longitudinal case study with a recently identified software developer, to follow the specification and subsequent roll-out of a future release of a software product for sale globally, is introduced. Features of the situation faced by that organisation are highlighted, to illustrate the potential relevance of the diverse models that have been identified.

New product development process in the Australian grocery market

This paper examines the new product development processes in the Australian grocery market and provides a new product development process that can be applied to large, medium and small grocery organisations. The research findings highlight the importance of senior management support during the new product development process. This support is a key factor in the performance of the new product development activity and the proposed new product development process for Australian grocery organisations emphasises senior management's role as a key element in the new product development process.

The new product development process in Australian grocery organisations

The idea that new product development is vital to many organisations'  business survival and growth is widely acknowledged. New products provide many business opportunities for organisations. The relationship between  new product development and business strategy is critical, as corporate  purpose and scope sets the guidelines for new product planning. This paper examines the new product development process in the Australian grocery organisations and the influence of strategic planning on new product  development. Top management’s skills and vision in addressing various  issues in new product development are vital to business success. The research findings highlighted the importance of top managements support during new product development phases. Creating an innovative culture within an organisation should be a management priority, so new product ideas can be generated from various levels in the organisation.

Exploring the influences on requirements engineering during global software development

Through an interpretive study of global virtual teams, this research has explored the influences on the requirements engineering processes during global software development. Complex layers of explicit and implicit elements in the project environment, including systems methodology, project steering, management commitment and cultural differences, were found to influence these processes.

New product development process in the Australian grocery market

Examines current literature on new product development, addresses key issues in the Australian grocery market, evaluates existing processes, identifies success factors and provides the Australian grocery organisations with the optimum new product development model.

Exploring the sociotechnical systems perspectives in global software development

Global software development teams expressed dissatisfaction with their structures. Job satisfaction was reduced by the inefficiencies of communication technologies and from the functional structures imposed by the management. This led to a reduced contextual understanding of projects which could be improved if employees were to participate in the work designs.

Virtual world security inspection : a software inspection process carried out on popular virtual world environments

 Virtual property theft is a serious problem that exists in virtual worlds. Legitimate users of these worlds invest considerable amounts of time, effort and real-world money into obtaining virtual property, but unfortunately, are becoming victims of theft in high numbers. It is reported that there are over 1 billion registered users of virtual worlds containing virtual property items worth an estimated US$50 billion dollars. The problem of virtual property theft is complex, involving many legal, social and technological issues. The software used to access virtual worlds is of great importance as they form the primary interface to these worlds and as such the primary interface to conduct virtual property theft. The security vulnerabilities of virtual world applications have not, to date, been examined. This study aims to use the process of software inspection to discover security vulnerabilities that may exist within virtual world software – vulnerabilities that enable virtual property theft to occur. Analyzing three well know virtual world applications World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Entropia Universe, this research utilized security analysis tools and scenario testing with focus on authentication, trading, intruder detection and virtual property recovery. It was discovered that all three examples were susceptible to keylogging, mail and direct trade methods were the most likely method for transferring stolen items, intrusion detection is of critical concern to all VWEs tested, stolen items were unable to be recovered in all cases and lastly occurrences of theft were undetectable in all cases. The results gained in this study present the key problem areas which need to be addressed to improve security and reduce the occurrence of virtual property theft.

Software reliability growth models based on local polynomial modeling with kernel smoothing

Software reliability growth models (SRGMs) are extensively employed in software engineering to assess the reliability of software before their release for operational use. These models are usually parametric functions obtained by statistically fitting parametric curves, using Maximum Likelihood estimation or Least–squared method, to the plots of the cumulative number of failures observed N(t) against a period of systematic testing time t. Since the 1970s, a very large number of SRGMs have been proposed in the reliability and software engineering literature and these are often very complex, reflecting the involved testing regime that often took place during the software development process. In this paper we extend some of our previous work by adopting a nonparametric approach to SRGM modeling based on local polynomial modeling with kernel smoothing. These models require very few assumptions, thereby facilitating the estimation process and also rendering them more relevant under a wide variety of situations. Finally, we provide numerical examples where these models will be evaluated and compared.