M.Com. (Business Management) / It is possible to manage the software development process efficiently. It is, however, important to gain a thorough understanding of the software development process and to be able to measure productivity easily and repeatedly. .A concept which may be used with success in the management of a software project is that of software economy. Software economy is achieved when the greatest quantity of software of the highest quality is produced using the smallest amount of resources (people, hardware and software) in the shortest possible time. The extensive software development process model is an important tool which can be used to maintain the various stages of the development process. Important conclusions can be made from the model. One such a conclusion is that adding more people to a project which is running behind schedule, will not help the project to be finished on time, but may even slow the project down further. The most useful and easy to implement metric, the measurement of productivity, is Function Points. Non-technical personnel may use this technique and it can be implemented early in the life cycle of a project. It is possible to successfully manage the software development process by using basic management principles such as planning, organization, monitoring and control together with the necessary adjustments outlined in this work.

M.Com. (Informatics) / Research into formalised methods for software engineering has resulted in many solutions to the known problems of software development. One of these problems is the difficulty involved In managing the cost of software development. Though attempts are made to solve the problem of budget and schedule overruns during project management, there still seems to be a lack of useful formal methods and approaches. In this dissertation such a formalised approach is presented. This approach Is based on the principle that cost should be actively managed just like any other aspect of software development. Within this framework the management of cost is defined as a process of identifying, estimating, measuring and controlling those factors that Influence the cost of development. Many methods exists through which the estimation of cost can be facilitated. The fact that such methods are available does not seem to solve the problem because cost management Involves more than just cost estimation. The research done to formalise this approach includes a discussion on the background of software engineering and the state of the science. It also includes an investigation Into the use of development metrics. The cost of software development is analyzed to determine the influence of different environmental factors on cost. A few estimation models are also discussed to determine the useability of such methods during cost management. A synopsis of how these subjects are covered In this dissertation is as follows: Chapter one serves as an Introduction to the research by giving a background to the development of software engineering. The limitations of current practices are emphasized and certain research questions are formulated. Chapter two discusses formal methods of development in the form of process models as a basis for the management of development cost. This chapter also analyzes development metrics as a method of measurement during development and cost management. The analysis provides as a framework for the identification and application of metrics during the process of cost management. Chapter three defines the extent of development cost and analyzes all factors contributing to the cost of software. The chapter discusses each of these factors by examining the possible influence of each on the effort of development and the Interdependence of these factors. Chapter four discusses a case study to be applied during discussions In the rest of the dissertation. Chapter five examines different approaches to the estimation of software development cost. The chapter serves as an introduction to subsequent chapters that deal with specific estimation models. Chapter six discusses an estimation model developed by Blokdijk. The chapter gives an overview of the principles Involved in and the application of the model.

M.B.A. / The aim of this research was to determine why information technology software projects fail in South Africa in order to determine whether there is a cause and cost similarity between international first world and South African IT Software Project failures. This research topic was primarily chosen because there is a lack of research on IT Software project failure in South Africa. The following objectives were defined to support the aim of the research: To ascertain project cost failure statistics sources internationally from relevant literature. To ascertain from literature what has been said about causes/reasons of project failure internationally. To ascertain South African IT Software Project failure statistics and reasons by means of a questionnaire. To determine whether the literature on international IT software project failure and South African IT software project failure compare. The research project was conducted amongst members of the Project Management Institute of South Africa (PMISA). In addition, companies that are not members of PMISA were also contacted and requested to respond to an e-mail questionnaire. It is interesting to note that one of the reasons for projects being challenged and cancelled, deals with, or is related to, requirements. Changing and / unclear user requirements was always listed in the top three reasons for projects being challenged and cancelled. The top three reasons listed by The Standish Group also lists changing and / unclear user requirements in the top three. This research would therefore suggest that effectively dealing with changing and / unclear user requirements would significantly increase project success. In conclusion, the comparison between South African companies and International companies revealed that the causes are for the most part the same, and the costs appear to be vastly different, but similar in trend. As is evident from the research literature, this research topic rarely studied, and therefore additional research can be done to explore this topic.

The principal purpose of the project is to enable ReMoTe support for multi-databases. ReMoTe stands for the Recursively Estimating Multi-Threaded Observation Technology Enterprise, which is a web-based computer aided software engineering tool for monitoring software development process. Development of ReMoTe is based on the RMT (Recursive Multi-Threaded) software life cycle developed by Scott Simon, a CSUSB alum, in his master's thesis in 1997. ReMoTe enables the monitoring of projects that use different databases in various locations. Central management can view the progress information of each project using a web browser no matter where the database or project team is located. In this project, three database software were supported, namely MySQL, Oracle, and Microsoft Access, and employed contemporary technologies such as JavaScript, PHP, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Source codes are included.

This dissertation discusses risk management in the context of software development. It commences by investigating why so many software development projects fail. It then focuses on approaches to software development that emerged as attempts to improve the success rate. A common shortcoming to these approaches is identified, namely that they only cater for the tasks that need to be done, ignoring possible unexpected problems. After having motivated the need for risk management, the framework for a risk management methodology is discussed, outlining the steps in the risk management process. Decision-making guidelines and best practices follow, as well as a discussion about the way they should be implemented as part of the risk management effort. Guidelines are provided for the implementation of risk management as part of software development. Finally, the risks that may cause the failure of the implementation of risk management are identified and guidelines provided to address them. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Though strides have been taken to ensure the availability and application of technology, there still exists some disparity between the envisaged use compared to the actual one (Ross, Romich & Pena, 2016:48). The application of technology, such as project management software (PMS), could be the answer to unlocking success in projects especially where a large scope and high degree of complexity can sometimes prove to be very challenging. The research explored how the application of PMS influences project success. A case of NPOs in the Western Cape Province, South Africa was used. The research objectives were to (1) establish if PMS is applied in the NPO’s work, (2) determine employees’ interactions with PMS relative to project success, and (3) identify the limitations of current PMS being used. A non-experimental and quantitative approach was taken to conduct the research. Out of a potential 200 units of analysis, a sample group consisting of 132 project-implementing NPOs in the Western Cape was used. Ninety-four responses were received setting the response rate at 71%. The research instruments used were questionnaires, which were administered physically and online. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. There is high project success rate among NPO projects in the Western Cape at 77%. The research revealed that PMS is utilised in a significant number of organisations with the most popular ones used being Microsoft Project, Project Manager and Jira. Most project offices utilise PMS on a weekly or monthly basis especially during the project planning and execution stages. The limitations of the software include that it can over-complicate issues, be time-consuming, and costly. In light of the above, respondents revealed that they believe PMS does have a positive influence on project success. Furthermore, based on the findings and conclusions derived from this study, the researcher made a few recommendations. For example, persons in academia need to widen the scope of the study to different geographical locations and use a different research approach. Another is that software engineers/developers must consider localised support for PMS as well as improve on scalability issues. To NPOs, recommendations were made on potential training sessions to capacitate the sector to be more adept to information and communication technology (ICT) and eventually make more use of PMS.

This dissertation discusses risk management in the context of software development. It commences by investigating why so many software development projects fail. It then focuses on approaches to software development that emerged as attempts to improve the success rate. A common shortcoming to these approaches is identified, namely that they only cater for the tasks that need to be done, ignoring possible unexpected problems. After having motivated the need for risk management, the framework for a risk management methodology is discussed, outlining the steps in the risk management process. Decision-making guidelines and best practices follow, as well as a discussion about the way they should be implemented as part of the risk management effort. Guidelines are provided for the implementation of risk management as part of software development. Finally, the risks that may cause the failure of the implementation of risk management are identified and guidelines provided to address them. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Information Science / unrestricted

The purpose of the project is to provide the Department of Computer Science at California State University, San Bernardino with a software project management tool that will help companies in their software development. ReMoTe (Recursively Estimating Multi-Threaded Observation Technology Enterprise) will assist software engineering teams with defining their scheduled delivery dates, life-cycle definitions, team hierarchy, and communication. Using the object-oriented approach, ReMoTe can support any software life cycle model. ReMoTe can help manage and control the software process over the Web. It also allows people to manage software artifacts using database systems such as mySQL, Microsoft Access, or Oracle.

[Truncated abstract] The primary tool for software process control is the project plan, with divergence from the schedule usually being the first indication that there are difficulties. Thus the estimation of the schedule, particularly the effort parameter, is a central element of software engineering management. Regrettably, estimation methods are poorly used within the software industry and accuracy is lacking when compared with other engineering disciplines. There are many reasons for this. However, the need to predict project effort remains, particularly in situations of tendering for contracts. The broad objective of this research is the improvement of project control by means of better estimation. . . The error in the prediction of a project parameter is investigated as the result of the variation in two distinct (estimation and actual development) processes. Improvement depends upon the understanding, control and then reduction of that variation. A strategy for the systematic identification of the sources of greatest variation is developed - so that it may be reduced by appropriate software engineering practices. The key to the success of the approach is the statistical partitioning of the Mean Square Error (of the estimate) in order to identify the weakest area of project control. The concept is proven with a set of student projects, where the estimation error is significantly reduced. The conditions for its transfer to industry are discussed and a systematic reduction in error is demonstrated on five sets of commercial project data. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the linking of the approach to current estimation methods. It should also have implications for the statistical process control of other projects involving small sample sizes and multiple correlated parameters.