Vol 5 No.1

Papers

1. A Tactic-Based Framework to Evaluate the Relationships between the Software Product Quality Attributes

   pp. 5-26

   Fuad Al-Qirem . Rafa E. Al-Qutaish . Saleh H. Al-Daajeh .

   ABSTRACT Understanding quality attributes relationships impersonates a vital role in sustaining a sufficient level of quality to a software system. Furthermore, calibrating the relationships between system's quality attributes will not only affect its quality but also may reduce the development cost. However, this paper introduces a framework to explore the nature of the relationships between different quality attributes at a low level with the aid of architectural strategies (i.e. tactics). Additionally, this framework enables the software architects to calibrate and adjust the quality attributes relationships using two pieces of information, that is, tactics and scenarios. Furthermore, the developed framework enables software architects to have a rough measurement of the strength of the relationships between the quality attributes.

2. VRS Model: A Model for Estimation of Efforts and Time Duration in Development of IVR Software System

   pp. 27-46

   Devesh Kumar Srivastava . Durg Singh Chauhan . Raghuraj Singh .

   ABSTRACT Accurate software effort estimates are critical to measure for developers, leaders, project managers. Underestimating the costs may result in management approving proposed systems which can exceed their budgets, with underdeveloped functions and poor quality, and failure to complete on time. Various models have been derived to calculate the effort of large number of completed software projects from various organizations and applications to explore how project sizes mapped into project effort. But, still there is a need to prediction accuracy of the models. Day to day there is rapid change and growth to get new techniques and model to estimate the accurate size, effort and cost of software but still there is lack of accuracy to meet exactly the accurate effort as per company norms and standards. A BPO Company takes up a process of another company. The Company which is handling the incoming calls of customers, queries, solution, services through software is known as IVR software. In this paper the author has proposed a model named “VRS Model” to estimate the accurate effort and schedule of IVR software applications. This model will be helpful for project managers, developers and customers to estimate accurate effort and schedule of only IVR Projects.

3. The CleanJava Language for Functional Program Verification

   pp.47-68

   Cesar Yeep . Melisa Vela . Yoonsik Cheon .

   ABSTRACT Unlike Hoare-style program verification, functional program verification supports forward reasoning by viewing a program as a mathematical function from one program state to another and proving its correctness by essentially comparing two mathematical functions, the function computed by the program and its specification. Since it requires a minimal mathematical background and reflects the way that programmers reason about the correctness of a program informally, it can be taught and practiced effectively. However, there is no formal notation supporting the functional program verification. In this article, we describe a formal notation for writing functional program specifications for Java programs. The notation, called CleanJava, is based on the Java expression syntax and is extended with a mathematical toolkit consisting of sets and sequences. The vocabulary of CleanJava can also be enriched by introducing user-specified definitions such as user-defined mathematical functions and specification-only methods. We believe that CleanJava is a good notation for writing functional specifications and expect it to promote the use of functional program verifications by being able to specify a wide range of Java programs.

4. A Framework for Instituting Software Metrics in Small Software Organizations

   pp.69-98

   Donald E. Meredith . Hisham M. Haddad . Nancy C. Ross .

   ABSTRACT The role of metrics in software quality is well-recognized; however, software metrics are yet to be standardized and integrated into development practices across the software industry. Literature reports indicate that software companies with less than 50 employees may represent up to 85% of the software organizations in several countries, including the United States. While process, project, and product metrics share a common goal of contributing to software quality and reliability, utilization of these metrics has been minimal. While the well-known process models may not be ideal in a relatively small setting, some of the large process models are being scaled down while, simultaneously, new models are being developed specifically for smaller software organizations. Software metrics have been studied for years, and there are many options available for metrics utilization, either within or outside of a process improvement framework, regardless of the size of the setting. Under this work, case studies and industrial reports on the use of metrics in software organizations were gathered and analyzed. This work examines the practices of metrics in the software industry with emphasis on small organizations, explores the challenges and benefits of using software metrics in small organizations, and outlines a practical framework based on the Goal/Question/Metric paradigm for instituting metrics programs in small software organizations.

5. Information Resource Planning and Management: An Interactive Model

   pp. 99-124

   Deepak Murthy . Hosung Kim . Jianchao Han . Kazimierz Kowalski . Mohsen Beheshti .

   ABSTRACT Information Resources Planning and Management (IRPM) is an evolving discipline that helps managers assess, allocate and exploit their information assets for business development. It draws on the techniques of information science (libraries) and information systems (IT related) as well as the process of business management. In this paper, we propose an event-driven interactive model IRPM to effectively provide managers with valuable information and background processes to keep, plan and manage the valuable information. The structure of the proposed model is introduced, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)-based information resource planning and allocation is described, components and processes of the model and interactions between them are presented, and the benefits and obstacles of the model are analyzed.