Processes of knowledge and software

In the last two decades, software process modeling has been an area of interest within both academia and industry. Software process modeling aims at defining and representing software processes in the form of models. A software process model represents the medium that allows better understanding, management and control of the software process. Software process metamodeling rather, provides standard metamodels which enable the defining of customized software process models for a specific project in hand by instantiation. Several software process modeling/meta-modeling languages have been introduced to formalize software process models. Nonetheless, none of them has managed to introduce a compatible yet precise language to include all necessary concepts and information for software process modeling. This paper presents Software Process Meta-Modeling and Notation (SP2MN); a meta-modeling language that provides simple and expressive graphical notations for the aim of software process modeling. SP2MN has been evaluated based upon the well-known ISPW-6 process example, a standard benchmark problem for software process modeling. SP2MN has proved that it presents a valid and expressive software process modeling language.

Software process is the most important part of software project management, and software process models are important means of implementing the software process in any software organization. When there is need to improve the software process, then the need to improve the work-task part (software process models) of the software process must arise. As, there is need of increasing the commitment of software project managers through out the software development life cycle (SDLC), so we need to give them the list of activities in Waterfall Model, which should be made efficient by the software development team, to get the 80% productivity (output) easily, by reducing the effort of software development and ultimately increasing the performance of the software process. So, the idea of 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle, 1935) can be applied in the software engineering process model, in this regard. The Pareto Principle (1935) directed us to focus on what is really important in any field and field's work. Software process is most important part of software project management (SPM). This is also then ultimately needed for software project management (SPM) improvement. Our main research work is to improve the work-task part of the software process (i.e. software process models by applying the Pareto Principle - 80/20 Rule (1935) (or law of vital few) (1935), in the software engineering process models (or work-task part of the software process). This will be to facilitate the software project manager, using the software process models practically more efficient than without application of 80/20 Rule in software engineering Waterfall model. This has resulted in the reduction of the software development effort and increase in the performance of the software process. The results (efficient and improved software process models) will be implemented in the software industry, by software project managers, by focusing on the list of activities giving 80 percent of the overall productivity of the software process. The results will be the list of activities having the capability to give 20 percent of the overall productivity of the software Waterfall process, to be ignored, eliminated or designated to reduce the effort.

Recently, the software engineering community has focused its attention on the process of software creation and evolution as well as the products of that process. Much of this attention has concentrated on modeling the software process. Software process models are seen as important vehicles for understanding and reasoning about software creation and evolution activities. Software process models may also provide a basis for structuring automated software environments. Despite this attention and the advantages to be gained through the use of software process models, however, no wholly satisfactory model of the software process has yet emerged.This paper presents an approach to software process modeling which is based on behavioral descriptions of software development activities. The use of behavioral descriptions makes it possible to describe the software process at any desired level of abstraction and, therefore, assists in accommodating aspects of the process which are poorly understood. This approach also provides the ability to reason about the software process and is sufficiently rigorous to provide a basis for structuring automated software environments. An overview of the model is presented, followed by a formal definition. Examples are given to illustrate the application of the model to existing software processes and software methods. Finally, the implications of the model for automated software environments are discussed.

Software process play an important role in improving the quality of software products. Formal software process model is conducive to the accurate description of software processes. A software process meta-model is a formal tool used to define software process models. In this paper, a software process meta-model SPMM is designed. Firstly, five important properties in software processes are discussed. Furthermore, based on CSP and Hoare Logic, the definition of SPMM and the rules to build software process models are proposed. In SPMM, not only are the important components, e.g. tasks, activities and software processes in software processes, formally defined, but also the five important properties of software process are embodied. Therefore, SPMM can model software processes at different abstract levels. Thus, the basis to simulate, control, analyze, measure and improve software processes is established.

PSEE (Process-centered Software Engineering Environment) can manage and monitor software process. Software process modeling language is a core element in PSEE system. Due to the particularity and the complexity, software process model includes multi-views: activity view, product view and role view, which should be considered in modeling software process. Based on the similarity between multi-view software process modeling and object Petri nets, this paper proposes the MOPN-SP-net model which is a multi-view software process model based on multi-object Petri nets. The model includes twolevel models: system net and object net. A multi-view paradigm including activity views and product views is provided. Activity views are described by system nets and product views are described by object nets. MOPN-SP-net includes multi-views of software process model, which is characterized with clearer hierarchy, simpler structure, and more extendibility.

The International Conference on Software and System Processes (ICSSP), continuing the success of Software Process Workshop (SPW), the Software Process Modeling and Simulation Workshop (ProSim) and the International Conference on Software Process (ICSP) conference series, has become the established premier event in the field of software and systems engineering processes. It provides a leading forum for the exchange of research outcomes and industrial best-practices in process development from software and systems disciplines. ICSSP 2018 was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, 26-27 May 2018, co-located with the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). The theme of ICSSP 2018 was studying \Demands on Processes, Processes on Demand" by recognizing the demands on processes that include the need for both welldeveloped plans and incremental deliveries (agile and hybrid processes), utilization of increased automation (model-based engineering and DevOps), higher degrees of customer collaboration, comprehensive analysis of existing products for reuse (open source and COTS), and performance requirements of enterprise-level architectures. Papers presented at ICSSP discussed these issues across different domains, providing concepts, evidence, and experiences.

SUMMARYSoftware process improvement (SPI) can be seen as a profession having its own competence needs and its own community of interest. European projects EQN and EU Cert have defined skill sets and a common certification scheme for about 20 professions, mainly in the IT domain. European Certification and Qualification Association ECQA is created to manage certification and provide the necessary infrastructure. A common way to approach the IT domain from a process perspective is the ‘3S’ concept (Software, Systems, Services). Software process can be seen as the first spearhead among these. The first software process models, such as CMM and SPICE, have already existed for about 20 years. With all the experience that the models bring, it is reasonable to start the PI profession from the software process. Software Process Improvement Manager (SPI Manager) is one of the new topics in ECQA. The development of the SPI Manager training and certification scheme has been done in many small steps so far. This paper explains the current structure and the main components of SPI Manager competences, training needs and the certification scheme. Several other schemes will be developed in the future for process improvement‐related competences. The current version of the SPI Manager skill set is mainly based on software, systems and service processes and their related reference models. It could also be used in the future in domains other than IT. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Currently most software process modeling approaches are predefined, not automatically adaptive to different software projects, and provide little support for development team formation with task and resources allocation in real environments. Based on our ten-year working experience for software organizations, we propose an agent-based multilateral negotiation model MNMPA to support dynamic software process modelling and ease the work of team formation. MNM-PA brings the following advantages: (1) the software processes are not predefined; (2) the software processes are for given projects and with development teams, allocated tasks and task constrains. MNM-PA is an extension of the classic one-time biding contract net protocol. It defines the main components to model a complete negotiation process for software process construction, especially including the negotiation strategies. MNM-PA is implemented and experimented in a software process management tool namely SoftPM, which is used in more than 100 software organizations in China.

Experience with software process simulation and modeling

A software process model describes a set of partially-ordered sequences of activities that are carried out in order to accomplish certain goals. While numerous process modeling approaches have been proposed over the years, it seems that none of them have yet addressed the full range of concepts described in this definition. Most focus on activities and activity ordering; few, if any, focus on representing organizational goals and process improvement. Most provide concrete implementation approaches; few, if any, describe the general model(s) upon which these implementations are built. This paper suggests a new approach for developing software process modeling systems. If “Software Processes are Software Too,” as suggested by Osterweil (1987), then so are software process models, and hence there may be processes and models that are used in regular software development that may be useful in the process modeling domain as well. The paper focuses on the domain class model as an example of one type of model that might be produced if an approach such as the Unified Process were used in the process modeling domain. Such a process, and the set of models produced by it, if used, may be helpful in moving the process modeling field forward. While identifying the conceptual needs of process modeling systems, these models leave totally open the choice of how to formalize and implement actual solutions. A domain class model for process models is developed as an example of one of these models.

A Software Process Model Handbook for Incorporating People's Capabilities offers the most advanced approach to date, empirically validated at software development organizations. This handbook adds a valuable contribution to the much-needed literature on people-related aspects in software engineering. The primary focus is on the particular challenge of extending software process definitions to more explicitly address people-related considerations. The capability concept is not present nor has it been considered in most software process models. The authors have developed a capabilities-oriented software process model, which has been formalized in UML and implemented as a tool. A Software Process Model Handbook for Incorporating People's Capabilities guides readers through the incorporation of the individuals capabilities into the software process. Structured to meet the needs of research scientists and graduate-level students in computer science and engineering, this book is also suitable for practitioners in industry.

Software process simulation models (SPSMs) that are based on descriptive process models offer the executability that can demonstrate dynamic changes of software processes over time. Verification and validation (V&V) is critical in SPSMs for guaranteeing the quality and reliability of models. V&V of dynamic software process models is more complex and challenging than for static software process models. This work systematically summarizes and maps V&V studies in SPSM to provide guidelines for future research and practice. Specifically, this study aims at identifying the focus of research on V&V, the methods used for V&V, and how to implement V&V of SPSMs in software engineering research. We conducted a systematic mapping study on studies of SPSMs that report on their V&V activities. Under the guidance of a V&V meta‐model for SPSMs, we study four research questions about V&V process. We identified 107 primary studies from a pool of 313 papers on SPSMs until 2021. There are two main results of our study. The first one presents the relationship between quality aspects of SPSMs and the V&V methods to assure them. The second result reveals the relationships among the modeling process, three modeling steps, five quality aspects, and 10 V&V methods. Generally, researchers do not pay sufficient attention to V&V, as 65.8% ( ) failed to mention or elaborate on their V&V process. We systematically summarize and map the state‐of‐the‐art V&V research in software process modeling field to support modelers' practice and improve their V&V process.

Component-based approaches and software product lines have been adopted by industry to manage the diversity of configurations on safety-critical software. Safety certification demands compliance with standards. ISO 26262 standard uses the concept of Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) to allocate safety requirements to components of a system under design. Compliance with standards is demonstrated through achieving those ASILs which can be very expensive when requirements are high. While achieving safety certification of variant-intensive components without being unnecessarily stringent or expensive is desirable for economy, it poses challenges to safety engineering. In this paper, we propose an approach to manage the diversity of safety goals and supporting safety certification of software components. Our approach is built upon the integration among ASIL decomposition, software process modeling, and variability management techniques. The approach supports cost-effective safety certification and the efficient tailoring of process models to components according to their ASILs. We evaluated our approach in the automotive domain. The approach is feasible in supporting the management of the diversity of safety goals, and cost-effective safety certification of software components.

Software process modeling (SPM) is an important area of software engineering because it provides a basis for managing, automating, and supporting software process improvement (SPI). Teaching SPM is a challenging task, mainly because it lays great emphasis on theory and offers few practical exercises. Furthermore, as yet few teaching approaches have aimed at teaching SPM by introducing innovative features, such as games. The use of games has mainly been focused on other areas of software engineering, for example software project management. In an attempt to fill this gap, this paper describes a formal experiment carried out to assess the learning effectiveness of a serious game (DesigMPS), designed to support the teaching of SPM, and to compare game-based learning with a project-based learning method. In the DesigMPS game, the student models a software process from an SPI perspective, based on the Brazilian SPI model (MPS.BR). The results indicate that playing the game can have a positive learning effect and results in a greater degree of learning effectiveness than does the project-based learning instructional method.

In this chapter, an overview of the research progress both in software processes and software evolution are presented from the viewpoints of methodologies, technologies, tools and management. Firstly, the basic concepts related to software processes are discussed. In addition, an overview of the research progress in the areas of software process modelling and descriptions, software process modelling languages and description languages, software process improvement, CMM, software process reuse and process-centred software engineering environments is presented. Furthermore, the basic concepts related to software evolution are discussed. Finally, the work in the areas of software evolution and software reengineering is also discussed. The research outlined in this chapter shows that both software evolution and software process have become the hot spots in software engineering. The combination of software evolution and software process will promote smooth and effective software evolution.