Padmal Vitharana

Risks and challenges of component-based software development

Component developers, application assemblers, and customers must all know CBSD advantages and disadvantages before developing components and component-based applications.

Design, retrieval, and assembly in component-based software development

Until recently, anecdotal evidence could only suggest CBSD superiority in requirements identification. Here is a set of testable hypotheses to help distinguish hype from fact.

Strategy-based design of reusable business components

Grounded on principles of manufacturing design, component-based software development (CBSD) has been viewed as the future trend in software development. In this paper, we propose a methodology for component fabrication and argue that, as in classical product development, business strategy of component development companies must guide the design of reusable business components. Accordingly, we link business strategy with component design through managerial goals (identified as cost effectiveness, ease of assembly, customization, reusability, and maintainability). These managerial goals are then mapped to technical features (identified as coupling, cohesion, number of components, component size, and complexity). We develop a formal model, called Business Strategy-based Component Design that uses the object-oriented model of a business to derive the component structure by grouping appropriate object classes to achieve the desired business strategy. We examine the validity of the model by a two-phase application process.

Service-Oriented Perspectives in Design Science Research

Uniform control and coordination of immigrant childrens vaccination is a critical current problem in the Swedish child health safety work. In this paper we discuss the Business Rules (BR) centric and SOA architected digital service VacSam. VacSam incorporates principles of SOA, Business Rules Approach, and Business Process Management. The incorporation is used for deriving VacSam from a part of the Swedish vaccination business process by separating decision logic from process logic. Based on regulatory texts and empirical investigations, VacSam BRs presently provides vaccination diagnosis of and recommendations to immigrant children. By ensuring the basic principles of SOA, VacSam becomes an eligible, SOA executable digital service. VacSam is in development and has hitherto been evaluated in an artificial context, where we show that the service can provide explained diagnosis of and recommendations to immigrant childrens vaccinations totally based on natural language BRs.Design Science Research (DSR) is concerned with demonstrating design principles. In order to prove the utility of these principles, design ideas are materialized into artifacts and put into an environment sufficient to host the testing of these principles. When DSR is used in combination with action research, constraints in the environment may restrain researchers to fully inscribe or test such principles. In this paper it is argued that scholars pursuing DSR has paid insufficient attention to the type of change necessary in the local practice. We draw upon theories on IS change as punctuated equilibrium to illustrate when DSR demonstrators can be used to make substantial contributions to local practice as well as to the scientific body of knowledge.

Computer-mediated group support, anonymity, and the software inspection process: an empirical investigation

In software inspection, a key principle endorsed by Fagan (1986) is openness. However, scholars have recently questioned the efficacy of openness. For example, some argue that ego-involvement and personality conflicts that become more transparent due to openness might impede inspection. Still others point out that familiarity and (preexisting) relationships among inspection team members negatively affect the comprehensiveness in detection of defects. This brings up concerns if the openness as originally envisioned by Fagan may in fact lead to suboptimal outcomes. As the trend towards computer-based inspection continues, we believe that anonymity could play a positive role in overcoming some of the drawbacks noted in team-based inspection. Drawing upon the literature on software inspection and group support systems, this research proposes possible influences of group member anonymity on the outcome of computer-mediated software inspection and empirically examines the validity of the posited relationships in a set of controlled laboratory experiments. Two different inspection tasks with varying levels of software code complexity are employed. While both the control groups (i.e., teams without anonymity) and treatment groups (i.e., teams with support for anonymity) consume more or less the same time in performing the inspection tasks, the treatment groups are more effective in identifying the seeded errors in the more complex task. Treatment groups also express a more positive attitude toward both code inspection tasks. The findings of the study suggest a number of directions for future research.

An assessment model for requirements identification in component-based software development

Software development literature is replete with studies that demonstrate how ineffective requirements analysis (RA) has led to failed applications. Some of the difficulties encountered in RA however are due to inherent limitations in traditional approach to software development. On the other hand, component-based software development (CBSD) presents a unique approach to developing software. Components advertise the services they offer and could be organized in a knowledge-base (i.e., repository). CBSD paradigm provides an effective communication vehicle for users and analysts by enabling them to uncover requirements as they navigate through the component knowledge-base.In this paper, we draw from the information processing theory (IPT) on problem solving to develop an assessment model for evaluating the impact of CBSD on requirements identification, arguing that the access to components in a knowledge-base facilitates the requirements identification. The key elements of the IPT on problem solving are information processing system of the problem solver, task environment and internal representation of the problem space. We propose that access to a component knowledge-base enhances information processing system of the problem solver and simplifies the task environment which together improve users internal representation of the problem space. This theoretical framework makes it possible to empirically test the impact of CBSD on requirements identification process.

Research Note---Impact of Customer Knowledge Heterogeneity on Bundling Strategy

We consider a marketer of components who can select one of three alternative pricing strategies: 1 a pure component strategy i.e., the customer can only buy the components individually, 2 a pure bundling strategy i.e., the components must be purchased together, or 3 a mixed bundling strategy i.e., the customer may buy a component individually, or buy the bundle. We consider a market where customer knowledge of components varies and propose that a high-knowledge customer can determine with greater certainty whether a given component is useful to her. Consequently, more knowledgeable customers have higher variability in their reservation price of a component. Using an analytical model, we identify the conditions under which each of the three pricing strategies maximizes profit and show that three factors determine the optimal strategy: marginal costs of components, distribution of knowledge over the customer population, and relative sizes of customer segments where each segment is interested in the same subset of components. Managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Research issues in testing business components

The advantages of migrating from traditional monolithic business applications to reusable object-based business components (self-contained software that carries out a certain business task) are well documented. A business system assembled from reusable components is argued to be highly reliable since these components have been tested and used in many other business applications. However, all possible uses of components are not known at design and construction stage. Additionally, integration testing is needed as components are assembled to make business application systems. Component-based software development requires that testing issues be addressed adequately. In this paper, we explore testing related issues in business components and in particular, business application systems that are made by integrating these components. An integration test strategy for business component application systems is proposed.

Measuring Critical Factors of Software Quality Management: Development and Validation of an Instrument

Literature presents attributes of effective quality management in building software systems. The value of the capability maturity model CMM, ISO 9000, and total quality management TQM concepts in managing software quality has been widely acknowledged. However, shortcomings of these approaches have also been recognized. For instance, scholars have acknowledged CMM implementation difficulties because of its inherent complexity. This research synthesizes existing literature base in CMM, ISO 9000, TQM, among others, to identify six critical factors of software quality management SQM and then develops an instrument that can be used to measure critical factors of SQM. Validity and reliability are established by reviewing extant literature, testing a preliminary version of the instrument among a group of researchers and industry experts, and empirically testing a revised version of the instrument among a group of IS professionals. The instrument is relatively easy to implement and requires minimal resources. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Defect propagation at the project-level: results and a post-hoc analysis on inspection efficiency

Inspections are increasingly utilized to enhance software quality. While the effectiveness of inspections in uncovering defects is widely accepted, there is a lack of research that takes a more holistic approach by considering defect counts from initial phases of the development process (requirements, design, and coding) and examining defect propagation where defect counts are aggregated to the project-level (i.e., application-level). Using inspection data collected from a large software development firm, this paper investigates the extent of defect propagation at the project-level during early lifecycle phases. I argue that defect propagation can be observed from the relationship between defects in the prior phase and the defects in the subsequent phase. Both Ordinary Least Squares and 3-Stage Least Squares analyses support the hypotheses on defect propagation. Moreover, results show that the inspection efficiency (defects per unit inspection time) decreases as the software product progresses from requirements to design to coding. A post-hoc analysis revealed further insights into inspection efficiency. In each phase, as the inspection time increased, efficiency reached an optimal point and then dropped off. In addition, a project’s inspection efficiency generally tends to remain stable from one phase to another. These insights offer managers means to assess inspections, their efficiency, and make adjustments to the time allotted to inspect project’s artifacts in both the current and the subsequent phase. Implications for managers and future research directions are discussed.