Understanding the effects of requirements volatility in software engineering by using analytical modeling and software process simulation

Journal of Systems and Software

Volumn 82, Issue 10, 2009, Pages 1568-1577

  Ferreira, Susan ^a   Collofello, James ^b   Shunk, Dan ^b   Mackulak, Gerald ^b  

^a University of Texas at Arlington   (United States)

^b Arizona State University   (United States)

Author keywords

Requirements engineering risk; Requirements volatility; Software process modeling

Indexed keywords

ANALYTICAL MODELING; BASE MODELS; EFFECTIVE TOOL; EXECUTABLE SYSTEMS; NEW PARAMETERS; PROJECT MANAGERS; QUALITY IMPACT; REQUIREMENTS VOLATILITY; RESEARCH RESULTS; SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS; SOFTWARE PROCESS MODELING; SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION; SURVEY DATA;

PROJECT MANAGEMENT; REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING; SIMULATORS; SURVEYS;

COMPUTER SOFTWARE;

EID: 69549103096     PISSN: 01641212     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2009.03.014     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Abdel-Hamid T., and Madnick S. Software Project Dynamics: An Integrated Approach (1991), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
2. Abramowitz, M., Stegun, I.A. (Eds.), 1964. Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Applied Mathematics Series 55. National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC.
3. Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B., Martin, R., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K., Sutherland, J., Thomas, D., 2001. Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto. Retrieved 11.6.2008 from: .
4. Boehm B.W. Software risk management: principles and practices. IEEE Software 8 1 (1991) 32-41
5. Costello, R.J., 1994. Metrics for Requirements Engineering. Master of Science Thesis, California State University, Long Beach.
6. Curtis B., Krasner H., and Iscoe N. A field study of the software design process for large systems. Communications of the ACM 31 11 (1988) 1268-1287
7. Ferreira, S., 2002. Measuring the Effects of Requirements Volatility on Software Development Projects, Ph.D. Dissertation, Arizona State University.
8. Ferreira, S., Collofello, J., Shunk, D., Mackulak, G., Wolfe, P., 2003. Utilization of Process Modeling and Simulation in Understanding the Effects of Requirements Volatility in Software Development. In: Proceedings of the 2003 Process Simulation Workshop (ProSim 2003).
9. Finnie G.R., Witting G.E., and Petkov D.I. Prioritizing software development productivity factors using the analytic hierarchy process. Journal of Systems and Software 22 2 (1993) 129-139
10. Houston, D.X., 2000. A Software Project Simulation Model for Risk Management, Ph.D. Dissertation, Arizona State University.
11. Houston D.X., Ferreira S., Collofello J.S., Montgomery D.C., Mackulak G.T., and Shunk D.L. Behavioral characterization: finding and using the influential factors in software process simulation models. Journal of Systems and Software 59 3 (2001) 259-270
12. Javed T., Maqsood M., and Durrani Q.S. A study to investigate the impact of requirements instability on software defects. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 29 3 (2004) 7
13. Jones C. Assessment and Control of Software Risks (1994), PTR Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ
14. Jones C. Estimating Software Costs (1998), McGraw-Hill, New York
15. Känsälä K. Integrating risk assessment with cost estimation. IEEE Software 14 3 (1997) 61-67
16. Kellner M.I., Madachy R., and Raffo D.M. Software process modeling: why? what? how?. Journal of Systems and Software 46 2-3 (1999) 91-105
17. Kotonya G., and Sommerville I. Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques (1998), John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
18. Lane, M.S., 1998. Enhancing software development productivity in Australian firms. In: Proceedings of the Ninth Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS '98), vol. 1, pp. 337-349.
19. Lin C.Y., Abdel-Hamid T., and Sherif J.S. Software-engineering process simulation model (SEPS). Journal of Systems and Software 38 3 (1997) 263-277
20. Lin C.Y., and Levary R.R. Computer aided software development process design. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 15 9 (1989) 1025-1037
21. Loconsole, A., Börstler, J., 2005. An industrial case study on requirements volatility measures. In: Proceedings of the 12th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC '05), 8 p.
22. Loconsole, A., Börstler, J., 2007. Are size measures better than expert judgment? An industrial case study on requirements volatility. In: Proceedings of the 14th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC '07), pp. 238-245.
23. Madachy R., and Tarbet D. Initial experiences in software process modeling. Software Quality Professional 2 3 (2000) 1-13
24. Madachy R., Boehm B., and Lane J. Assessing hybrid incremental processes for SISOS development. Software Process: Improvement and Practice 12 5 (2007) 461-473
25. Malaiya, Y.K., Denton, J., 1999. Requirements volatility and defect density. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, pp. 285-294.
26. Matko D., Zupancic B., and Karba R. Simulation and Modeling of Continuous Systems: A Case Study Approach (1992), Prentice-Hall International Ltd., Great Britain
27. Moynihan T. How experienced project managers assess risk. IEEE Software 14 3 (1997) 35-41
28. Nidumolu S.R. Standardization, requirements uncertainty and software project performance. Information and Management 31 3 (1996) 135-150
29. Nurmuliani, N., Zowghi, D., Fowell, S., 2004. Analysis of requirements volatility during software development life cycle. In: Proceedings of the 2004 Australian Software Engineering Conference (ASWEC '04), pp. 28-37.
30. Ott L. An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis (1988), PWS-KENT Publishing Company
31. Pfahl D., and Lebsanft K. Using simulation to analyze the impact of software requirements volatility on project performance. Information and Software Technology 42 14 (2000) 1001-1008
32. Pritsker A.A.B., O'Reilly J.J., and LaVal D.K. Simulation with Visual SLAM and AweSim (1997), System Publishing Company, West Lafayette, IN
33. Reifer D.J. Requirements management: the search for Nirvana. IEEE Software 17 3 (2000) 45-47
34. Richardson, George P., Alexander L., and Pugh III. Introduction to System Dynamics Modeling with DYNAMO (1981), The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
35. Ropponen J. Risk assessment and management practices in software development. Chapter 8 in Beyond the IT Productivity Paradox (1999), John Wiley and Sons pp. 247-266
36. Ropponen J., and Lyytinen K. Components of software development risk: how to address them? A project manager survey. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 26 2 (2000) 98-112
37. Schmidt R., Lyytinen K., Keil M., and Culle P. Identifying software project risks: an international Delphi study. Journal of Management Information Systems 17 4 (2001) 5-36
38. Smith B.J., Nguyen N., and Vidale R.F. Death of a software manager: how to avoid career suicide through dynamic software process modeling. American Programmer 6 5 (1993) 10-17
39. Stark G.E., Oman P., Skillicorn A., and Ameele A. An examination of the effects of requirements changes on software maintenance releases. Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice 11 5 (1999) 293-309
40. The Standish Group, 1995. The Chaos Report. Obtained from .
41. Tirwana A., and Keil M. Functionality risk in information systems development: an empirical investigation. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 53 3 (2006) 412-425
42. Tvedt, J.D., 1996. An Extensible Model for Evaluating the Impact of Process Improvements on Software Development Cycle Time. Ph.D. Dissertation, Arizona State University.
43. Yau, S.S., Collofello, J.S., MacGregor, T., 1978. Ripple effect analysis of software maintenance. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society's Second International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC '78), pp. 60-65.
44. Yau, S.S., Kishimoto, Z., 1987. A method for revalidating modified programs in the maintenance phase. In: Proceedings of 11th IEEE International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC '87), pp. 272-277.
45. Yau, S.S., Liu, C.S., 1988. An approach to software requirement specifications. In: Proceedings of 12th International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC '88), pp. 83-88.
46. Yau, S.S., Nicholl, R.A., Tsai, J.P., 1986. An evolution model for software maintenance. In: Proceedings of 10th IEEE International Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC '86), pp. 440-446.
47. Yau S.S., Nicholl R.A., Tsai J.P., and Liu S.S. An integrated life-cycle model for software maintenance. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 14 8 (1988) 1128-1144
48. Zowghi, D., Nurmuliani, 1998. Investigating requirements volatility during software development: research in progress. In: Proceeding of the Third Australian Conference on Requirements Engineering (ACRE98), pp. 38-48.
49. Zowghi, D., Nurmuliani, 2002. A study of the impact of requirements volatility on software project performance. In: Proceedings of the Ninth Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (ASPEC '02), pp. 3-11.
50. Zowghi, D., Offen, R., Nurmuliani, 2000. The impact of requirements volatility on the software development lifecycle. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Theory and Practice (IFIP World Computer Congress), pp. 19-27.