Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, 2015. / Agile approaches have proliferated within the software development arena over the past decade. Derived mainly from Lean manufacturing principles, agile planning and control mechanisms appear minimal and fluid when compared to more traditional software engineering approaches. Scrum ranks among the more popular permutations of agile. Contemporary literature represents a rich source of contributions for agile in areas such as practice guidelines, experience reports, and methodology tailoring; but the vast majority of these publications focus on the individual project level only, leaving much uncertainty and persistent questions in the multi-project space. Questions have recently been raised, by both academics and practitioners alike, concerning the ability of Scrum to scale from the individual project level to the multi-project space. Program management is an area encompassing practice and research areas concerned mainly with harmonizing the existence of competing simultaneous projects. Existing literature on program management essentially perceives projects as endeavours that can be carefully planned at the outset, and controlled in accordance with strong emphasis placed on economic and schedule considerations. This complexion seems to be mostly a result of well-established and ingrained management frameworks like Project Management Institute (PMI), and is largely at odds with emerging practices like Scrum. This disparity represents a gap in the literature and supports the need for deeper exploration. The conduit for this exploration was found in two South African software development small to medium sized enterprises (SMMEs) practicing Scrum. The practical realities and constraints faced by these SMMEs elicited the need for more dynamic program management practices in support of their quest to maximize usage of limited resources. This thesis examines these practices with the aim of providing new insights into the program management discourse in the context of Scrum software development environments. The research approach is qualitative and interpretive in nature. The in-depth exploratory case study research employed the two software SMMEs as units of analysis. Traditional ethnographic techniques were commissioned alongside minimal researcher participation in project activities. Activity Theory honed the data analysis effort and helped to unearth the interrelationships between SMME characteristics, program management practices, and Scrum software development. The results of the data analysis are further refined and fashioned into eleven knowledge areas that represent containers of program management practices. This is the product of thematic analysis of literature and data generated from fieldwork. Seeing as the observed practices were highly dynamic in nature, concept analysis provided a mechanism by which to depict them as snapshots in time. As a theoretical contribution, proposed frameworks were crafted to show how program management practices might be understood in the context of organizations striving towards agile implementation. Furthermore, representations of the mutually influential interfaces of SMME characteristics and Scrum techniques that initiate the observed fluid nature of program management practices, are brought to the fore.

This project included the development of a multi-user game that takes place in a 3 dimensional world of the computer science department. Basically, the game allows prospective students to meet existing students and faculty in a virtual open house that takes place within the third floor of Jack Brown Hall. Users can walk around Jack Brown Hall and type text messages to chat with each other.

This dissertation focuses on how requirements for a new software development system are elicited and what pitfalls could cause a software development project to fail if the said requirements are not captured correctly. A number of existing requirements elicitation methods, namely: JAD (Joint Application Design), RAD (Rapid Application Development), a Formal Specifications Language (Z), Natural Language, UML (Unified Modelling Language) and Prototyping are covered. The aforementioned techniques are then integrated into existing software development life cycle models, such as the Waterfall model, Rapid Prototyping model, Build and Fix model, Spiral model, Incremental model and the V-Process model. Differences in the domains (knowledge and experience of an environment) of a client and that of the software development team are highlighted and this is done diagrammatically using the language of Venn diagrams. The dissertation also refers to a case study highlighting a number of problems during the requirements elicitation process, amongst other the problem of tacit knowledge not surfacing during elicitation. Two new requirements elicitation methodologies are proposed namely: the SRE (Solitary Requirements Elicitation) and the DDI (Developer Domain Interaction) methodology. These two methods could potentially be more time consuming than other existing requirements elicitation methods, but the benefits could outweigh the cost of their implementation, since the new proposed methods have the potential to further facilitate the successful completion of a software development project. Following the introduction of the new requirements elicitation methods, they are then applied to the aforementioned case study and highlight just how the hidden domain of the client may become more visible, because the software development team has gained a deeper understanding of the client’s working environment. They have therefore increased their understanding of how the final product needs to function in order to fulfil the set out requirements correctly. Towards the end of the dissertation a summary and a conclusion as well as future work that could be undertaken in this area are provided. / Computer Science / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the Doctor of Technology degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Research productivity is one of the core functions of a university and it plays a crucial role for a nation to develop and find its standing in our global world. This study examined the effect of ICT adoption and training on the research productivity of university academics. Much research has been done on using technology in research with a view to increase productivity. However, hardly any research could be found on the use of ICT combined with ICT training with a view to increase research productivity. This study addressed this gap in the literature. The study sought to design a model that can increase research productivity of academics while optimizing ICT adoption and training effects. The study was conducted at four public universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whilst the part of the study on ICT training was conducted at one of the four universities. This study was conducted both in the form of a survey of 103 university academics and in the form of experimental sessions, where the use of ICT (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training was used for research, the use of ICT without training was used for research and, finally, a session where a manual system (without using research software/tools and training) was used for research. The overall aim of the study was to investigate and design a model for the increase in research productivity of academics in universities after having adopted ICTs. The final results of the research revealed that the use of ICT tools (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training increases research productivity as compared to using ICT tools without training, and/or using a manual system (without using research software/tools and training). A statistically proven model is recommended with a view to increase research productivity of academics.

The development of enterprise software is a complex activity that requires a diverse set of stakeholders to communicate and coordinate in order to achieve a successful outcome. In this dissertation I introduce a high-level physical architecture for a platform titled FeatureIT that has the goal of supporting the collaboration between stakeholders throughout the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). FeatureIT is the result of unifying the theoretical foundations of the multi-disciplinary field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) with the paradigm and associated technologies of Web 2.0. The architecture was borne out a study of literature in the fields of CSCW, Web 2.0 and software engineering, which facilitated the identification of functional and non-functional requirements necessary for the platform. The design science research methodology was employed to construct this architecture iteratively to satisfy the requirements while validating its efficacy against a comprehensive set of scenarios that typically occur in the SDLC. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This document discusses the development of a personal computer based financial instrument analysis system, based on the information from a relatively old sequential file based data source. The aim is to modernise the system to use the latest software and data storage technology. The principles used for the design of the system are discussed in Chapter 2. Principles for the development of relational databases are discussed, where after the development of personal computer based software architecture is discussed, to explain the choices made in the design of the system. Chapter 3 discusses the design and implementation of the system in more detail, based on the principles discussed in Chapter 2. Recommendations include a possible shift in architectural layout as well as recommendations for expansion of both the data stored and the analysis performed on the information. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie dokument bespreek die ontwikkeling van ‘n persoonlike rekenaar gebaseerde finansiële instrument analise stelsel, gebaseer op inligting uit ‘n relatiewe ou sekwensiële leêr gebaseerde databron. Die doel is om die stelsel te moderniseer om sodoende van die nuutste sagteware en hardeware tegnologie gebruik te maak. Die beginsels wat gebruik is vir die ontwerp van die stelsel word kortliks in Hoofstuk 2 bespreek. Die beginsels vir die ontwerp van ‘n relasionele databasis word bespreek. Hierna word die ontwikkeling van persoonlike rekenaar gebaseerde sagteware argitektuur bespreek om meer lig te werp op die keuses wat geneem is met ontwerp van die stelsel se argitektuur. Hoofstuk 3 bespreek die ontwerp en implementering van die stelsel in meer detail, gebaseer op die beginsels bespreek in Hoofstuk 2. Voorstelle vir verbetering van die stelsel sluit in detail veranderings aan die argitektuur van die stelsel, sowel as voorstelle vir die uitbreiding van die stelsel wat betref tipe data wat gestoor word en en die analitiese vermoëns van die stelsel.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the Doctor of Technology degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Research productivity is one of the core functions of a university and it plays a crucial role for a nation to develop and find its standing in our global world. This study examined the effect of ICT adoption and training on the research productivity of university academics. Much research has been done on using technology in research with a view to increase productivity. However, hardly any research could be found on the use of ICT combined with ICT training with a view to increase research productivity. This study addressed this gap in the literature. The study sought to design a model that can increase research productivity of academics while optimizing ICT adoption and training effects. The study was conducted at four public universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whilst the part of the study on ICT training was conducted at one of the four universities. This study was conducted both in the form of a survey of 103 university academics and in the form of experimental sessions, where the use of ICT (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training was used for research, the use of ICT without training was used for research and, finally, a session where a manual system (without using research software/tools and training) was used for research. The overall aim of the study was to investigate and design a model for the increase in research productivity of academics in universities after having adopted ICTs. The final results of the research revealed that the use of ICT tools (EndNote, NVivo, AMOS, SPSS, and Turnitin) with training increases research productivity as compared to using ICT tools without training, and/or using a manual system (without using research software/tools and training). A statistically proven model is recommended with a view to increase research productivity of academics. / D

Le calcul autonome vise à concevoir des logiciels qui prennent en compte les variations dans leur environnement d'exécution. Les boucles de rétro-action (FCL) fournissent un mécanisme d'auto-adaptation générique, mais leur intégration dans des systèmes logiciels soulève de nombreux défis. Cette thèse s'attaque au défi d'intégration, c.à.d. la composition de l'architecture de connexion reliant le système logiciel adaptable au moteur d'adaptation. Nous proposons pour cela le langage de modélisation spécifique au domaine FCDL. Il élève le niveau d'abstraction des FCLs, permettant l'analyse automatique et la synthèse du code. Ce langage est capable de composition, de distribution et de réflexivité, permettant la coordination de plusieurs boucles de rétro-action distribuées et utilisant des mécanismes de contrôle variés. Son utilisation est facilitée par l'environnement de modélisation ACTRESS qui permet la modélisation, la vérification et la génération du code. La pertinence de notre approche est illustrée à travers trois scénarios d'adaptation réels construits de bout en bout. Nous considérons ensuite la manipulation de modèles comme moyen d'implanter ACTRESS. Nous proposons un Langage Spécifique au Domaine interne qui utilise Scala pour implanter une famille de DSLs. Il permet la vérification de cohérence et les transformations de modèles. Les DSLs résultant ont des propriétés similaires aux approches existantes, mais bénéficient en plus de la souplesse, de la performance et de l'outillage associés à Scala. Nous concluons avec des pistes de recherche découlant de l'application de l'IDM au domaine du calcul autonome. / The vision of Autonomic Computing and Self-Adaptive Software Systems aims at realizing software that autonomously manage itself in presence of varying environmental conditions. Feedback Control Loops (FCL) provide generic mechanisms for self-adaptation, however, incorporating them into software systems raises many challenges. The first part of this thesis addresses the integration challenge, i.e., forming the architecture connection between the underlying adaptable software and the adaptation engine. We propose a domain-specific modeling language, FCDL, for integrating adaptation mechanisms into software systems through external FCLs. It raises the level of abstraction, making FCLs amenable to automated analysis and implementation code synthesis. The language supports composition, distribution and reflection thereby enabling coordination and composition of multiple distributed FCLs. Its use is facilitated by a modeling environment, ACTRESS, that provides support for modeling, verification and complete code generation. The suitability of our approach is illustrated on three real-world adaptation scenarios. The second part of this thesis focuses on model manipulation as the underlying facility for implementing ACTRESS. We propose an internal Domain-Specific Language (DSL) approach whereby Scala is used to implement a family of DSLs, SIGMA, for model consistency checking and model transformations. The DSLs have similar expressiveness and features to existing approaches, while leveraging Scala versatility, performance and tool support. To conclude this thesis we discuss further work and further research directions for MDE applications to self-adaptive software systems.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 L364 / Master of Science / Computing and Information Sciences

De nombreux outils existent afin de faire face à la complexité des logiciels et des projets de développement logiciel. Leur utilisation est cependant à l'origine de tâches manuelles répétitives, sources d'erreurs et coûteuses en temps. L'automatisation de ces tâches permet de gagner en productivité. Mais la difficulté est de déterminer quand une automatisation de tâche manuelle répétitive doit être réutilisée, ainsi que de créer des automatisations réutilisables à travers leurs différents cas d'utilisation. Nous proposons donc une approche outillée pilotant la réutilisation des automatisations de tâches manuelles répétitives par les processus de développement logiciel, où un processus de développement logiciel décrit les étapes à réaliser pour mener à bien un projet de développement logiciel. Cette approche consiste à capitaliser sur un ensemble de processus et à réutiliser des processus de cet ensemble en fonction des exigences des projets, indépendamment du formalisme utilisé pour définir les processus. Des automatisations de tâches manuelles répétitives sont liées aux étapes des processus qu'elles automatisent. Ce lien permet de savoir quelles automatisations utiliser pour un projet donné et quand. Il permet également d'expliciter les différents cas d'utilisation de chaque automatisation. Cette information est utilisée afin de créer des automatisations réutilisables à travers leurs différents cas d'utilisation. L'approche ainsi que l'outillage associé ont été appliqués sur une famille de processus industriels de développement Java ainsi que sur une famille de processus consistant à définir et outiller un langage de modélisation. / Many tools have been developped in order to manage the complexity of the software and of the software development projects. However, using these tools is the source of manual recurrent tasks that are error prone and time consuming. Automating these tasks enables to improve the productivity. But the difficulties are i) to determine when the automation of a manual recurrent task must be used, and ii) to create automations that are reusable across their different use cases. We propose a tool-supported approach that drives the reuse of the automations of the manual recurrent tasks by software processes. A software process defines the sequence of steps to perform in order to realize a software engineering project. This approche consists of capitalizing on a set of software processes and of reusing processes from this set according to projects' requirements and independently of the formalism used to define the processes. The automations of the manual recurrent tasks are bound to the processes' steps they automate. This binding enables to know which automations to reuse for a specific project and when to reuse these automations during the project. This binding also enables to explicit the different use cases of each automation. We use this information to create automations that are reusable across their different use cases. We applied this tool-supported approach on a family of Java development processes coming from the industry as well as on a family of processes consisting of designing and implementing a modeling language.