Software system deployment describes the activities associated with ensuring that a software system is available for its end users. Every company, regardless of its size, requires an efficient and ...effective software system deployment process to ensure the customer will accept the system software successfully. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) often operate on limited resources and with strict time constraints and need to improve their processes. For this reason, the existing proposals for deployment processes are not usually useful for SMEs. This fact led us to propose DepProMod (Deployment Process Model) to help SMEs to execute the deployment process of software systems in a systematized and controlled manner. The initial version of DepProMod has subprocesses, activities and tasks defined in addition to a capability-level architecture which allow its implementation in a step-by-step manner, thus adapting to SMEs with different needs and resources. This paper presents the results of two empirical studies carried out to obtain feedback on the model so as to refine it and complete it. Specifically, a case study from an Argentine level 1 Medium-size software development SME (approximately 55 employees) and the interviews held with two professionals from the software industry are presented. In summary, both empirical studies allowed us to modify, unify and eliminate elements in the model.
The idea that “measuring quality is the key to developing high-quality software systems” is gaining relevance. Moreover, it is widely recognised that the key to obtaining better software systems is ...to measure the quality characteristics of early artefacts, produced at the conceptual modelling phase. Therefore, improving the quality of conceptual models is a major step towards the improvement of software system development. Since the 1970s, software engineers had been proposing high quantities of metrics for software products, processes and resources but had not been paying any special attention to conceptual modelling. By the mid-1990s, however, the need for metrics for conceptual modelling had emerged. This book provides an overview of the most relevant existing proposals of metrics for conceptual models, covering conceptual models for both products and processes.
Requirements elicitation processes have a series of challenges and limitations in terms of business process focus, system transparency, and dealing with the complexity resulting from interdependence. ...The Design Thinking approach, which focuses on people and on understanding the context of problems, can contribute to solving them. For this reason, a requirements elicitation process based on Design Thinking has been defined, consisting of three activities: Empathise, Synthesise, and Ideate. For refining this process, a focus group discussion with experts was conducted. The experts provided feedback, specifically on the role of empathy in the process, its domain of application and activities. The results analysed from the focus group confirm the usefulness of the process and generate a series of lessons learned that allowed us to continue refining it. This paper presents the cited process, the main characteristics and results of the focus group and the refined process.
Every company wishes to improve its system quality and security, all the more so in these times of digital transformation, since having a good quality and security management system is essential to ...any company’s commercial survival. Such needs are even more pressing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), given their limited time and resources. To address these needs, a Spanish company, Proceso Social, has developed an innovative method called “SevenWeeks” to allow SMEs to create or improve their quality and security management systems in just seven weeks, with a view to obtaining one or both of the ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications.
We have evaluated the effectiveness and usefulness of SevenWeeks by carrying out a multi-case study of 26 Spanish companies, based on independent sources of evidence.
This allowed us to corroborate that SevenWeeks was indeed effective for and perceived as useful by all the companies, as it enabled them to create their own quality and security management systems in only seven weeks and to obtain the necessary ISO certification. The interviewees found SevenWeeks to be an agile and intuitive method, easy to implement, which reduces costs and effort. We also include some recommendations to improve and further develop the method.
•SevenWeeks allows SMEs to achieve an ISO 9001/27001 certification in a short time.•Through SevenWeeks, lean principles are applied to quality management systems for SMEs.•A multi-case study with 26 Spanish SMEs corroborates that SevenWeeks is effective and useful.•SevenWeeks, is an agile, simple, visual, fast, and intuitive method, adapted to small companies.•SevenWeeks could have a remarkable impact on SME practices.
This issue of the CLEIej consists of three main parts: i) a review paper on the state of the art of how contextual information extracted from a user task can help to improve searches for contents ...relevant to this task; ii) extended and revised versions of Selected Papers (which correspond to the second and third best paper from each track) presented at the XX Ibero-American Conference on Software Engineering (CIbSE 2017), which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in May 2017; and, iii) extended and revised versions of selected papers from LACLO 2016, the XI Latin American Conference on Learning Objects and Technology, which took place in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2016.
•A systematic mapping study on UML consistency rules.•From 105 primary studies papers, 687 UML consistency rules are finally collected for data extraction and analysis.•A detailed analysis of the UML ...consistency rules presented in the literature is described.•A set of 119 UML consistency rules (no redundant and not included in the UML standard) is presented.
UML diagrams describe different views of one software. These diagrams strongly depend on each other and must therefore be consistent with one another, since inconsistencies between diagrams may be a source of faults during software development activities that rely on these diagrams. It is therefore paramount that consistency rules be defined and that inconsistencies be detected, analyzed and fixed. The relevant literature shows that authors typically define their own consistency rules, sometimes defining the same rules and sometimes defining rules that are already in the UML standard. The reason might be that no consolidated set of rules that are relevant by authors can be found to date. The aim of our research is to provide an up to date, consolidated set of UML consistency rules and obtain a detailed overview of the current research in this area. We therefore followed a systematic procedure in order to collect from literature up to March 2017 and analyze UML consistency rules. We then consolidated a set of 119 UML consistency rules (avoiding redundant definitions or definitions already in the UML standard), which can be used as an important reference for UML-based software development activities, for teaching UML-based software development, and for further research.
Research in Software Engineering greatly benefits from Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs), in view of the citations they receive. While there has been a focus on improving the quality of SLRs in ...terms of the process, it remains unclear if this emphasis on rigor has also led to an increase in relevance. This study introduces Citation Context Analysis for SLRs as a method to go beyond simple citation counting by examining the reasons behind citations. To achieve this, we propose the Resonance Scheme, which characterizes how referring papers use SLRs based on the outputs that SLRs can provide, either backward-oriented (such as synthesis or aggregating evidence) or forward-oriented (such as theory building or identifying research gaps). A proof-of-concept demonstrates that most referring papers appreciate SLRs for their synthesis efforts, while only a small number refer to forward-oriented outputs. This approach is expected to be useful for three stakeholders. First, SLR producers can use the scheme to capture the contributions of their SLRs. Second, SLR consumers, such as Ph.D. students looking for research gaps, can easily identify the contributions of interest. Third, SLR reviewers can use the scheme as a tool to assess the contributions that merit SLR publication.
Model-driven software engineering (MDSE) is an established approach for developing complex software systems. The unified modelling language (UML) is one of the most used model languages for applying ...the MDSE approach. UML has 14 diagram types that describe different perspectives of a software system under development. These diagrams are strongly dependent on each other and must be consistent with one another. The main objectives of this paper are as follows: (1) to understand (i) how aware experts are of model consistency issues and (ii) how relevant these issues are to experts, in order to understand model consistency in the MDSE/UML contexts, and more importantly, (2) to validate a set of 116 UML consistency rules that was systematically collected from the literature, so as to identify the rules that should always be enforced. We conducted a personal opinion survey with 106 experts in SE and MDSE, by means of an online questionnaire. The survey results describe an overview of how the topic of MDSE/UML consistency is handled by experts in the field. In addition, this survey identified a set of 52 UML consistency rules which should always be checked in every UML diagram. The majority of these 52 rules were understood by the majority of respondents and are general-purpose rules that are involved in the Design software development phase. This subset of 52 rules could be considered to be (1) added to the UML standard, (2) used as a reference to researchers who study UML/MDSE, and (3) used as a practical example for teaching purposes.
Software system deployment describes the activities associated with ensuring that a software system is available for its end users. Every company, regardless of its size, requires an efficient and ...effective software system deployment process to ensure the customer will accept the system software successfully. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) often operate on limited resources and with strict time constraints and need to improve their processes. For this reason, the existing proposals for deployment processes are not usually useful for SMEs. This fact led us to propose DepProMod (Deployment Process Model) to help SMEs to execute the deployment process of software systems in a systematized and controlled manner. The initial version of DepProMod has subprocesses, activities and tasks defined in addition to a capability-level architecture which allow its implementation in a step-by-step manner, thus adapting to SMEs with different needs and resources. This paper presents the results of two empirical studies carried out to obtain feedback on the model so as to refine it and complete it. Specifically, a case study from an Argentinian level 1 Medium-size software development SME (approximately 55 employees) and the interviews held with two professionals from the software industry are presented. In summary, both empirical studies allowed us to modify, unify and eliminate elements in the model. Keywords: Software Processes, Software System Deployment Process Model, Case Study, Interviews. El despliegue de sistemas de software describe las actividades asociadas para asegurar que un sistema de software este disponible para sus usuarios finales. Cada empresa, independientemente de su tamano, requiere un proceso de despliegue de sistemas de software eficiente y efectivo para garantizar que el cliente acepte el sistema de software con exito. Las pequenas y medianas empresas (PyMES) a menudo operan con recursos limitados y con estrictas limitaciones de tiempo, y necesitan mejorar sus procesos. Por este motivo, las propuestas existentes de procesos de despliegue no suelen ser de utilidad para las PyMES. Este hecho nos llevo a proponer DepProMod (Modelo de Proceso de Despliegue) para ayudar a las PyMES a ejecutar el proceso de despliegue de sistemas de software de manera sistematizada y controlada. La version preliminar de DepProMod cuenta con subprocesos, actividades y tareas definidas ademas de una arquitectura de niveles capacidad que permite su aplicacion de manera escalonada, adaptandose asi a pymes con diferentes necesidades y recursos. Este articulo presenta los resultados de dos estudios empiricos realizados para obtener retroalimentacion del modelo con el fin de refinarlo y completarlo. Especificamente, se presenta un estudio de caso de una PYME desarrolladora de software, mediana de tramo 1 (aproximadamente 55 empleados) de Argentina y las entrevistas realizadas a dos profesionales de la industria del software. En resumen, ambos estudios empiricos nos permitieron modificar, unificar y eliminar elementos en el modelo. Palabras claves: Procesos de software, Modelo de proceso de despliegue de sistemas de software, Estudio de caso, Entrevistas.
Software system deployment describes the activities associated with ensuring that a software system is available for its end users. Every company, regardless of its size, requires an efficient and ...effective software system deployment process to ensure the customer will accept the system software successfully. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) often operate on limited resources and with strict time constraints and need to improve their processes. For this reason, the existing proposals for deployment processes are not usually useful for SMEs. This fact led us to propose DepProMod (Deployment Process Model) to help SMEs to execute the deployment process of software systems in a systematized and controlled manner. The initial version of DepProMod has subprocesses, activities and tasks defined in addition to a capability-level architecture which allow its implementation in a step-by-step manner, thus adapting to SMEs with different needs and resources. This paper presents the results of two empirical studies carried out to obtain feedback on the model so as to refine it and complete it. Specifically, a case study from an Argentinian level 1 Medium-size software development SME (approximately 55 employees) and the interviews held with two professionals from the software industry are presented. In summary, both empirical studies allowed us to modify, unify and eliminate elements in the model.
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