Background. Effort estimation is today a crucial part of software development planning. However, much of the earlier research has been focused on the general conditions of effort estimation. Little to no effort has been spent on solution verification (SV) of the projects. It is not surprising considering that SV becomes more relevant, the larger the project. To improve effort estimation, it is key to consider the uncertainties from the assumptions and conditions it relies on. Objectives. The main objective of this study is to identify differences and similarities between general effort estimation and effort estimation in SV in order to find potential improvements to software project planning of large projects. More specifically, this thesis aims to identify what and how activities and factors affect effort uncertainty and what theory and methods can be applied to increase the accuracy of effort estimation in SV. Methods. An exploratory case study was conducted to reach the objectives. It was designed accordingly to the triangulation method and consisted of unstructured interviews, a questionnaire, and archival research. The analysis followed a four steps procedure. First, it aimed to identify each SV activity’s contribution to effort and effort uncertainty. Secondly, identify and analyze which and how factors impact the identified activities. Third, investigate the factors that impact effort uncertainty. Fourth and last, an analysis of how the factors and sources of uncertainty could be used to improve software project planning. Results. The result shows that the activities could be divided into two different groups, based on their difference in contribution to effort and effort uncertainty. The two activities showing a higher uncertainty than effort were trouble report handling& troubleshooting, which is by far the most uncertainty-causing, and fault correction lead-time. The fault-related factors were both collectively and non-collectively found to be the most uncertainty-causing. Furthermore, it showed that the type of product and what type of objective the employee has influenced the cause of uncertainty. Conclusions. The SV process shifts from a proactive and structured way to a more reactive and unstructured way of working with the project life cycle. Moreover, size is not a cause of uncertainty of effort, but the differences in products create different causes. It was concluded that to most effectively address inaccuracy in effort estimation, one should address the activities that constitute a minority in effort but the majority of uncertainty. The most straightforward approach to increase the performance of effort estimation in SV would be to evaluate the inclusion of fault prediction and fault correction. Consequently, the implementation of uncertainty identification and prevention methods such as the six Ws framework and the bottom-up/top-down effort estimation practices. / Bakgrund. Ansträngningsuppskattning är idag en viktig del av planeringen avmjukvaruutveckling. Mycket av den tidigare forskningen har fokuserat på demgenerella förhållandena av ansträngningsuppskattning. Lite till ingen energi har lagts på lösningverifiering av projekten. Det är inte förvånande med tanke på lösningsverifiering (LV) blir mer relevant, desto större projekt. För att förbättra ansträngninguppskattningen så är det viktigt att ta hänsyn till dem osäkerheter som härstammar från dem antaganden och förhållanden som den vilar på. Syfte. Huvudmålet av studien är att identifiera likheter och skillnader mellan den generella teorin om ansträngninguppskattning gentemot ansträngninguppskattning inom LV i avsikt att identifiera potentiella förbättringar av mjukvaruutvecklings planering för större projekt. Mer specifikt, åsyftade studien till att identifiera vilka och hur aktiviteter och faktorer påverkar ansträngnings osäkerheter, samt vilken redan existerande teori och modeller som skulle kunna appliceras för att öka noggrannheten i ansträngninguppskattningen av lösningverifieringen. Metod. En utforskande fallstudie genomfördes för att uppfylla målen. Den designades i enlighet med trianguleringsmetoden och bestod av ostrukturerade intervjuer, ett frågeformulär, samt en arkivstudie. Analysen följde en procedur på fyra steg. Det första steget hade i avsikt att identifiera varje aktivitets, i LV proccessen, tillförande av ansträngning och osäkerhet. Det andra steget avsåg att identifiera och analysera vilka och hur faktorer påverkade dem identifierade aktiviteterna. Det tredje steget åsyftade att undersöka dem faktorer som påverkar ansträngningsosäkerheten. Och slutligen, det fjärde steget avsåg att analysera hur dem identifierade faktorerna och källorna till osäkerhet kan användas för att förbättra mjukvaruprojekts planering. Resultat. Resultatet visar att aktiviteterna kunde kategoriseras i två olika grupper baserat på differensen mellan ansträngningen och den relaterade osäkerheten. Dem två aktiviteter som visade en högre osäkerhet än ansträngning var felrapports hantering & felsökning, som visade sig orsaka mest osäkerhet, samt ledtid till följd av felkorrigering. De felrelaterade faktorerna var både självständigt och kollektivt dem som skapar mest osäkerhetsgrundande. Samtidigt visade det sig att typ av produkt och vilken typ av arbete influerade grunden till osäkerhet. Slutsatser. LV proccesen skiftar med projekt livscykeln, från en proaktiv och strukturerad process, till en mer reaktiv och ostrukturerad process. Storlek är inte en grund för osäkerhet av ansträngning, däremot skapar skillnader mellan produkterna olika osäkerhetsgrunder. För att på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt adressera felaktigheter i ansträngningsuppskattningarna, bör fokus lika på dem aktiviteter som utgör en minoritet av ansträngning och samtidigt utgör en majoritet i osäkerhet. Den mest självklara tillvägagångssättet för att öka prestandan av anstängningsuppskatningarna av LV är att evaluera införandet av fel deterktering och fel korrektion i modelen. Följaktligen, att implementera osäkerhetsidentifications och förhindrande metoder, till exempel "the six Ws framework" och "bottom-up/top-down" ansträningningsuppskattnings metoderna.

With its core in adaptability and change responsiveness, the Agile methodology has become a popular application of the project process within the often volatile environment of today’s software development projects. The Agile methodology emphasizes interaction between project roles over documentation and formal processes. This higher interaction increases the need for functioning information dissemination throughout the entire project process. The study was carried out at a small sized Swedish IT consultancy firm. The company wished to acquire a project management and planning software tool to support the entire project process and all involved project roles. However, awareness of areas in the project process in need of support was not entirely clear. Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate the company’s application of the Agile project process and identify potential challenges. Furthermore, the objective was to investigate how a project management and planning software tool can support the Agile project process within software development. The thesis was carried out as an abductive case study, where qualitative data collection methods and literature studies were combined. As a result from the study, two main conclusions have been drawn. Firstly: requirements engineering, the customer role, communication, and knowledge transfer were concluded as prominent challenges in the project process in need of increased support. Secondly, a project management and planning software tool can support the project process by: increasing the communication and collaboration abilities, providing holistic and historical project overview, providing a single storage location, and providing structure. Furthermore, the study has also shown that the project management and planning software tool needs to interact with the Agile project process in order to provide successful support. As final contribution, the Interaction model was created. The model visualizes the main areas in which a project management and planning software tool must interact with the Agile process, in order to support the entire project process successfully. / Genom dess anpassningsförmåga och förändringsmottaglighet har den Agila metodiken blivit en populär tillämpning för projektprocessen inom mjukvaruutveckling, en miljö där snabba förändringar tillhör vardagen. Den Agila metodiken framhäver interaktion mellan projektroller  framför  dokumentation  och  formella  processer,  vilket  ökar  behovet  av fungerande informationsspridning genom hela projektprocessen. Studien  har  utförts  hos  ett  mindre  svenskt  IT-konsultföretag,  vilket  önskade  att införskaffa en programvara för ett projektlednings- och planeringsverktyg som kan stötta hela  projektprocessen  och  alla  involverade  projektroller.  Medvetenheten  kring  de områden i projektprocessen som är i behov av stöd var däremot inte helt tydlig. Målet med   studien   var   därför   att   undersöka   företagets   tillämpning   av   den   Agila projektprocessen  och  identifiera  eventuella  utmaningar.  Vidare  var  målet  också  att undersöka hur en programvara för ett projektlednings- och planeringsverktyg kan stödja den Agila projektprocessen inom mjukvaruutveckling. Examensarbetet utfördes som en abduktiv fallstudie där flera kvalitativa datainsamlingsmetoder användes tillsammans med litteraturstudier. Som resultat av studien har två huvudslutsatser dragits. För det första; kravhantering, kundrollen, kommunikation  och  kunskapsöverföring  identifierades som framträdande utmaningar i projektprocessen i behov av ökat stöd. För det andra, att en programvara för ett projektlednings- och planeringsverktyg kan stödja projektprocessen genom att; förbättra  kommunikations-  och  samarbetsmöjligheterna,  ge  en  övergripande  och historisk projektöverblick, fungera som en gemensam lagringsplats och tillhandahålla struktur.  Vidare  har  studien  visat  att  en  programvara  för  ett  projektlednings-  och planeringsverktyg  måste  interagera  med  den  Agila  projektprocessen  för  att  ge  ett effektivt  stöd.  Som  ett  slutligt  bidrag  skapades  "the  Interaction  model",  vilken visualiserar huvudområdena inom vilka en programvara för ett  projektlednings- och planeringsverktyg måste interagera med projektprocessen för att ge ett fullt stöd till processen.

É notório que o emprego de unidades de processamento gráfico (GPU) pode acelerar significativamente métodos numéricos de aplicações científicas. Para suportar essa nova tecnologia, é necessário que programas sejam readaptados, exigindo flexibilidade do código. Nesse trabalho, é apresentada a arquitetura de um programa de elementos finitos (MEF) para a análise de estruturas, com suporte ao processamento em GPU. A orientação a objetos é usada para guiar o desenvolvimento e modelar o código em uma estrutura flexível. A escalabilidade do programa é dada pela extensão de suas funcionalidades através de componentes carregados em tempo de execução. Para ilustrar a robustez do código, o software é aplicado para o estudo de dinâmica estrutural, considerando aspectos complexos de não linearidade de material (plasticidade) e geometria (grandes deslocamentos). A acurácia do código é verificada através da comparação com problemas conhecidos da literatura e com as soluções MEF comerciais (ABAQUS). As comparações mostraram uma boa concordância nos resultados. O speedup da GPU é analisado em relação aos tempos de CPU do próprio programa, sendo observado ganhos de desempenho de até 10 vezes. / It has been recognized that the adoption of graphics processing units (GPU) can significantly boost numerical methods in scientific applications. In order to support such technology, it is necessary to readapt the program, which requires code flexibility. In this work, it is presented the architecture of a finite element (FEM) analysis program for structural analysis with GPU support. Object-oriented design is used to guide development and to build code into a flexible structure. Program scalability is achieved by extensibility of its features, provided by run-time loaded components. In order to demonstrate code robustness, the software is directed to the study of structural dynamics, considering complex non-linear aspects of material (plasticity) and geometry (large displacements). Code accuracy is checked by comparing with known literature problems and with commercial solver packages (ABAQUS). The comparison shows good agreement in the results. The GPU code speedup is analysed against timings of CPU program code, where it is observed performance gain up to 10 times.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-15T15:42:08Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Uncertanty Management in Software Projects - Marcelo Marinho.pdf: 6691446 bytes, checksum: c11ad7bca6e24d387867ffea22b8e5ed (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T15:42:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Uncertanty Management in Software Projects - Marcelo Marinho.pdf: 6691446 bytes, checksum: c11ad7bca6e24d387867ffea22b8e5ed (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-11 / Various projects types are proposed with different objectives; it is necessary to manage strategically, according to organizational goals. Successful projects increase sales, reduce costs, improve quality, customer satisfaction, the work environment; among other benefits. An increasing number of companies use project management as a key strategy for maintaining competitiveness, increasing the value possibility to their business. However, many projects with all the ingredients for success fail. One reason for this is related to failure in assessing the uncertainties by executives, managers and project team. In a typical software development environment it is not different. Thus, the aim of this work is to propose an approach to manage uncertainties in software projects to contribute to their better performance and influence their success. The research method used in this work is based on the principles of Evidence-Based Software Engineering. During the guide conception stage an exploratory literature research on managing uncertainty in software projects and a systematic literature review on the state of the art theme in a more structured way along with an action research conducted in a software development project were conducted. In addition, semi-structured interviews with software industry experts and researchers in the field were carried out in order to obtain improvement to the approach. In the evaluation phase a focus group was conducted to evaluate the proposed approach. The results showed that an exploratory literature review helped to characterize the difference between risk and uncertainty and mapped the uncertainty sources. The systematic literature review found 5 ways to manage uncertainties in projects; 18 practices for project management focusing on reducing uncertainties; a confirmation of the uncertainty sources mapped in primary studies and the relationship between uncertainty and innovative projects was assessed. In the action research there was an application of techniques and strategies in projects and investigation on whether those contributed to uncertainty; in semi-structured interviews the addition of the practical point of view for the approach was evaluated and added. Finally, the focus group was performed to assess the elaborated approach. The results of this research contribute to software project management by defining an approach to uncertainty management, as well as describing strategies and guidelines for team members. / Vários tipos de projetos são propostos, com diferentes objetivos, em que é preciso gerenciálos estrategicamente de acordo com metas organizacionais. Projetos bem sucedidos aumentam as vendas, reduzem os custos, melhoram a qualidade, a satisfação do cliente, o ambiente de trabalho, entre outros benefícios. Assim, um número crescente de empresas utilizam o gerenciamento de projetos como uma estratégia fundamental para manter a competitividade, aumentando a possibilidade de valor aos seus negócios. No entanto, muitos projetos com todos os ingredientes para o sucesso, falham. Um dos motivos porque isso acontece relaciona-se com a não avaliação das incertezas pelos executivos, gerentes e equipe do projeto. Em um ambiente de desenvolvimento de software típico não é diferente. Baseado nisso, o objetivo geral deste trabalho é propor uma abordagem para gerenciar as incertezas em projetos de software, contribuindo assim para um melhor desempenho dos projetos de software e influenciando no seu sucesso. O método de pesquisa adotado neste trabalho está fundamentado nos princípios da Engenharia de Software baseado em evidências. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória da literatura sobre gerenciamento das incertezas em projetos de software. Em seguida, de forma mais estruturada, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre o estado da arte do tema juntamente com uma pesquisa-ação, conduzida em um projeto de desenvolvimento de software. Além disso, entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com especialistas da indústria de software e pesquisadores na área a fim de avaliar as evidências encontradas e adicionar insumos para a abordagem. Na fase de avaliação foi realizado um grupo focal com especialistas que avaliaram a abordagem proposta. Os resultados da revisão da literatura exploratória serviu para caracterizar a diferença entre riscos e incertezas e foram mapeadas as fontes de incertezas. Da revisão sistemática da literatura encontramos 5 formas de gerenciar as incertezas nos projetos e 18 práticas para o gerenciamento de projetos focando na redução das incertezas. Foi realizada uma confirmação das fontes de incertezas mapeadas nos estudos primários e avaliada a relação entre incertezas e projetos inovadores. Na pesquisa-ação pôde-se aplicar técnicas e estratégias em projetos e investigar se essas contribuíram para gestão da incerteza. Nas entrevistas semiestruturadas foi avaliado e adicionado o ponto de vista prático para a abordagem. Finalmente, um grupo focal foi realizado para avaliar a abordagem elaborada. Os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para a gestão de projetos de software por definir uma abordagem para o gerenciamento de incerteza, bem como descrevendo as estratégias e orientações para os membros da equipe.

É notório que o emprego de unidades de processamento gráfico (GPU) pode acelerar significativamente métodos numéricos de aplicações científicas. Para suportar essa nova tecnologia, é necessário que programas sejam readaptados, exigindo flexibilidade do código. Nesse trabalho, é apresentada a arquitetura de um programa de elementos finitos (MEF) para a análise de estruturas, com suporte ao processamento em GPU. A orientação a objetos é usada para guiar o desenvolvimento e modelar o código em uma estrutura flexível. A escalabilidade do programa é dada pela extensão de suas funcionalidades através de componentes carregados em tempo de execução. Para ilustrar a robustez do código, o software é aplicado para o estudo de dinâmica estrutural, considerando aspectos complexos de não linearidade de material (plasticidade) e geometria (grandes deslocamentos). A acurácia do código é verificada através da comparação com problemas conhecidos da literatura e com as soluções MEF comerciais (ABAQUS). As comparações mostraram uma boa concordância nos resultados. O speedup da GPU é analisado em relação aos tempos de CPU do próprio programa, sendo observado ganhos de desempenho de até 10 vezes. / It has been recognized that the adoption of graphics processing units (GPU) can significantly boost numerical methods in scientific applications. In order to support such technology, it is necessary to readapt the program, which requires code flexibility. In this work, it is presented the architecture of a finite element (FEM) analysis program for structural analysis with GPU support. Object-oriented design is used to guide development and to build code into a flexible structure. Program scalability is achieved by extensibility of its features, provided by run-time loaded components. In order to demonstrate code robustness, the software is directed to the study of structural dynamics, considering complex non-linear aspects of material (plasticity) and geometry (large displacements). Code accuracy is checked by comparing with known literature problems and with commercial solver packages (ABAQUS). The comparison shows good agreement in the results. The GPU code speedup is analysed against timings of CPU program code, where it is observed performance gain up to 10 times.

The conception phase is one of the most important phases of software projects. In this phase it is determined which software development company will perform a software project. To obtain a software project, companies can have several bidding strategies. This thesis investigates if and how game theory can be a helpful tool to evaluate bidding for software projects. This thesis can be divided into two different parts: a theoretical and a practical. The theoretical part investigates the applicable parts of game theory in this thesis, explains what software projects are, explains the difference between costing and bidding and provides results of a literature survey about bidding behaviour. The practical part introduces a study to investigate strategies and bidding behaviour of software engineers, explains the experimental design that found the study, provides the results of the performed study and a discussion of the results. This thesis concludes that game theory contains some concepts that make it possible to evaluate bidding for software projects. / Jacco Buisman Bonairestraat 32 9715 SE Groningen The Netherlands

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The tasks allocation process is a key activity in project management. Being able to conciliate the people profile, as well their professional aspirations is a real challenge for managers. Software projects differ from the rest because of its intangibility and complexity, characteristics that contribute to the failure of these projects. In addition, such projects depend on skilled and highly specialized manpower and the knowledge to motivate and develop them is an extremely important factor for achieving success in this area. Thus, this document sought to present a model of task allocation in software projects that considers, in addition to organizational goals (cost, time, etc.), the professional aspirations of the participating members. The proposed strategy for research is through the simulation of multi-agent systems, systems generally used for behavioral simulation entities. Through this model was intended to provide the manager a tool to aid in decision making in the process of task allocation in software development companies, allowing them to view different scenarios and strategies, looking for producing a better performance in project implementation and greater people satisfaction. / O processo de atribuição de tarefas é uma atividade chave na gerência de projetos. Ser capaz de conciliar o perfil das pessoas, bem como seus anseios profissionais nesse processo é um desafio para gestores. Projetos de software diferem dos demais devido a sua intangibilidade e complexidade, características que contribuem ao fracasso desses projetos. Além disso, tais projetos dependem de mão-de-obra altamente especializada e capacitada e saber motivá-las e desenvolvê-las é um fator de extrema importância para alcançar êxito nessa área. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho buscou apresentar um modelo de alocação de tarefas em projetos de software que considera, além dos objetivos organizacionais (custos, prazos, entre outros), os anseios profissionais dos membros participantes. A estratégia proposta para a investigação é através da simulação de sistemas multiagentes, sistemas geralmente utilizados para simulação de entidades comportamentais. Com esse modelo pretendeu-se prover ao gestor uma ferramenta de auxílio na tomada de decisão no processo de alocação de tarefas em empresas de desenvolvimento de software, permitindo a visualização de diversos cenários e estratégias, gerando dessa forma melhor desempenho na execução de projetos e maior satisfação dos profissionais.

In a country like Ethiopia, where information and communication systems are in the early stage of development, software projects may face several challenges. Projects may suffer from schedule or budget overrun or unmet specifications, leading to failure. Risk is one of the factors that challenges project performance, and even causes failure. Hence, risk management helps project managers to control the effect of risks. However, risk management appears to be the least practiced component of project management. This study aims at assessing the risk management practice in the Ethiopian software projects. This study was undertaken using a survey conducted on 45 banks, insurance companies and UN agency offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The findings of the study suggest that formal risk management is not widely practiced in Ethiopian software projects. Only 16% of organisations reported that they applied one or more documented formal risk management techniques. Overall, 67% of organisations were found to exercise one or more risk management process steps. Though the risk management practice was found to be reasonably high, the proportion of organisations that carry out all the risk management process phases, through formal or informal methods, was only 27%, showing that risk management practice in Ethiopia cannot be considered adequate. The study thus recommends that Ethiopian software project managers should give more emphasis for risk management in their project management. The risk items that Ethiopian software projects face most were found to be technical complexity risks, with the highest risk item being use of new technology. This may be an indication that project managers should give adequate attention to the risks arising from technical complexity. No statistically significant relationship was observed between formal risk management and project success, and also between risk management practice and project success. / College of Engineering, Science and Technology / M.Sc. (Computing)

This thesis deals with project management competence center in Software Quality Assurance, which operates the University of Economics in Prague. The first part of this thesis is focused on basic terminology management projects and projects aimed at testing. The second part focuses on project management competence center in Software Quality Assurance, which describes a modified project life cycle according to the PMBOK and project life cycle testing. All phases of the lifecycle contain sub-activities and the person responsible for the activity. The last part of this thesis is focused on management competency center Software Quality Assurance tool available for cooperation IBM Connections, which is available for students and staff of the University of Economics in Prague. The thesis is a complex material intended primarily for manager competency center, its teams and includes guides on how to manage the very center and its projects.

This thesis deals with project management and how software can support it. In first part the problems and characteristics of project management is stressed as well as theoretical basics with focus on software development projects. Comparison of the available tools as project management aid is also touched. Objective of this thesis is to create such a project management aid tool by detailed analysis, design and implementation. The system has been implemented in programming language C#, the database layer is Microsoft SQL. End the end of the thesis the summary of the achieved results and possible future extensions of the project management tool can be found.