NRU :: Browsing by Author "Kabaale, Edward"

Browsing by Author "Kabaale, Edward"

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An Axiom Based Metamodel for Software Process Formalisation: An Ontology Approach
(Springer, Cham, 2017) Kabaale, Edward; Wen, Lian; Wang, Zhe; Rout, Terry
Software development usually follows well known process models and standards for development processes. However, these are usually diverse and described in natural language which complicates their automation, adaptivity and verification. The need for process formalization has long been highlighted, and we have provided a formalization and translation algorithm to that effect in earlier work. However, to systematically and faithfully formalize heterogeneous processes from different standards and process models, there is a need to utilize uniform concepts to underpin the formalization process. Meta models and ontologies have been explored recently to lay a foundation for structuring and expressing additional rigour to process formalization. In this study, we develop an axiom based meta model utilizing power type patterns as a conceptual framework to underpin homogeneous process formalization. The advantage of an axiomatic and power type based meta model approach lies in its potential to determine the meta model basic constituents and formalism as well as its extensibility and adaptability. We formalize the meta model using ontologies while adopting use cases from ISO/IEC 29110 and ISO/IEC 24744 standards for meta model illustrations. Ontology based process descriptions enable process automated verification and adaptivity capability through the use of ontology reasoning support engines
Critical parameters for the adoption of software capability maturity model by small and medium enterprises
(International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2016) Amulen, Christine; Mayoka, Geoffrey; Kituyi, G.; Kabaale, Edward
The study involved a survey of Ugandan small and medium enterprises that develop software on critical factors influencing the adoption of software capability maturity model. The research examined the software development environment in these small and medium enterprises and the operational tenets of the software capability maturity modelling in order to establish the critical parameters that should be considered for successful adoption of the software capability maturity model by small and medium software enterprises. Quantitative data was analysed using factor analysis to deduce the critical factors on the variables based on the data collected from the field. Linear regression analysis was also done to determine whether there was a significant relationship between adoption of software capability maturity model and adoption parameters. The key parameters for adoption of the software capability maturity model were identified as management’s ability to choose appropriate improvement strategy, organisational culture, managements’ commitment, developers’ involvement, effective communication, rewards, training and project championship
Critical parameters for the adoption of software capability maturity model by small and medium enterprises
(International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2016) Amulen, Christine; Mayoka G. Kituyi, Geoffrey; Kabaale, Edward
The study involved a survey of Ugandan small and medium enterprises that develop software on critical factors influencing the adoption of software capability maturity model. The research examined the software development environment in these small and medium enterprises and the operational tenets of the software capability maturity modelling in order to establish the critical parameters that should be considered for successful adoption of the software capability maturity model by small and medium software enterprises. Quantitative data was analysed using factor analysis to deduce the critical factors on the variables based on the data collected from the field. Linear regression analysis was also done to determine whether there was a significant relationship between adoption of software capability maturity model and adoption parameters. The key parameters for adoption of the software capability maturity model were identified as management’s ability to choose appropriate improvement strategy, organisational culture, managements’ commitment, developers’ involvement, effective communication, rewards, training and project championship.
The Digital Divide in India: Which Universality Approach is ideal for Gujarat State of India?
(International Journal of Innovative and Applied Research, 2014) Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey; Kabaale, Edward; Nakabonge, Fatinah; Mbarika, Irene; Balunywa, Luqman; Mbarika, Victor W.
Information Communication Technology is increasingly becoming beneficial to humankind, given the latest developments. Today, there is so much potential to the extent that using ICTs, we are able to communicate, conduct financial transactions such as cash deposits and withdrawals at banks, money transfers, pay school fees and other bills using mobile phones. However, most, of these technologies are within few hands. The gap between those who have and those who do not have access to these technologies in India is on the increase. This study used a qualitative research approach to explore the digital divide challenge in India’s state of Gujarat. The study also examined the approaches that had been undertaken to address the digital divide challenge. Findings indicate that the digital divide in Gujarat state affects people irrespective of gender, age group, location, literacy level, income and physical ability. The approaches used to mitigate the digital divide and enhance universality were identified as Call Centres, Internet Kiosks, Bhoomi Projects, Gyandoot Projects, Warana Wired Village Projects, Common Service Centers, Social Media, Drishtee Projects, Gyandoot Projects and Village Knowledge Centres. However, the use of Call Centres, Internet Kiosks, Drishtee Projects and Gyandoot Projects were found to be the most suitable approaches for addressing different forms of the digital divide. Findings further reveal that no single approach can address all forms of the digital divide. Therefore, we recommend the use of a set of approaches in order to address the digital divide and foster Universality.
Ensuring Conformance to Process Standards Through Formal Verification
(Springer, Cham, 2018) Kabaale, Edward; Wen, Lian; Wang, Zhe; Rout, Terry
Software process standards and models encapsulate best practices and guidelines for engineering and managing software. These are usually prescribed in natural language. However, natural language based process specifications can be inconsistent and ambiguous that makes it difficult to monitor and verify if they have been fully implemented and adhered too in a given software project. Besides the process of defining and documenting the necessary evidence to comply with process standard requirements is often manual, time consuming and laborious. In earlier studies, we developed a translation scheme and metamodel for consistent and uniform software process formalisation. In the current study, we leverage the formal process specification to develop a two-step formal process verification approach; first we extract process requirements from the standard documents and translate them into logical axioms. We then augment these axioms with additional informationin a process verification ontology. This ontology is then utilised in conformance verification of a performed process.We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach with software requirements analysis process and a case study.
Integrating Culture Awareness and Formalisation in Software Process Assessment and Improvement for Very Small Entities (VSEs)
(Springer, Cham, 2018) Nonoyama, Tatsuya; Kabaale, Edward; Wen, Lian; Tuffley, David; Wang, Zhe
Software process assessment and process improvement are fundamentally essential if software companies are to improve their development processes and perform at best practice level. However, established software process assessment models (PAMs) like SPICE or CMMI are scaled to be applicable to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) all the way up to very large companies. So far, there is no mature PAM applicable to Very Small Entities (VSEs), which are usually defined as companies with 25 or less employees. As the majority of software companies are classified as VSEs, the lack of a mature PAM is a glaring omission in the Software Engineering domain in need of rectification. A major challenge with producing a VSE-appropriate PAM is the cultural diversity of VSEs. It is not amenable to a one size fits all solution suitable for all VSEs. Another challenge is the high human resource cost of a SPICE or CMMI process assessment. It is often cost-prohibitive for VSEs. This paper therefore proposes a model to meet the need; the Culture Impact on Software Assessment (CISA). CISA facilitates the development of PAMs that are both lightweight, making them easy and cheap to apply, while also being highly relevant to individual VSE, thereby significantly increasing the efficiency of PAMs. Additionally, this paper introduces a formal specification (ontology) of CISA to enable future development of software process semi-automatic assessment tools that will greatly reduce the cost for software process assessment for VSEs.
Representing Software Process in Description Logics: An Ontology Approach for Software Process Reasoning and Verification
(Springer, Cham., 2016) Kabaale, Edward; Wen, Lian; Wang, Zhe; Rout, Terry
Software process is critical for producing high quality software. However, software processes are usually described in natural language which makes it difficult to verify if they have been fully or how well implemented in complex software projects. It’s also hard for practitioners to implement processes from different standards and make sure they work harmonically, consistently and completely. Composition Tree (CT) notation, a Behavior Engineering approach has been successfully used to formalize software process in previous work. However, there are no reasoning tools for CT to automatically check and verify the modeled software processes. In this study we explore the synergy of software process modeling and Description Logics (DLs). Given the rich expressiveness of DLs and their efficient and automated reasoning support, DLs can be used to reason and verify software processes more effectively. We propose an algorithm for transforming CT software process model into a DL so that DL reasoning engines can be used to perform automated software process analysis.
Requirements Engineering and Process Improvement in Small Software Companies
(Business Process Management Journal, 2015) Kabaale, Edward; Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey
Requirements Engineering and Process Improvement (REPI) has been used for some time by software companies to achieve high quality software and gain international certification. However, most Ugandan software companies have not yet fully taken it up. In most case requirements it is considered to be for large companies, leaving Small and Medium Enterprises out. Moreover, little research has been conducted to explore how Ugandan software organizations are handling REPI. Consequently, Ugandan software companies have challenges in improving the quality of their software. It is on this basis that this study sought to explore REPI uptake in Ugandan software companies. Four software companies in Uganda participated in the study. Respondents were selected purposively based of a set criterion. A qualitative research design was adapted to involve, document review, openended questionnaires and interviews as the main data collection tools and techniques. The data were themed and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicate that software companies were involved more in requirements elicitation, analysis and specification than in requirements validation and documentation. The SMEs did not have a defined REPI approach and lacked knowledge about the availability of REPI models. Further, brainstorming, observation and interviews were the main requirement elicitation methods used. The requirements were mainly elicited from clients, users and management. Requirements databases and Word processors were the main tools used to management requirements with little emphasis on CASE tools.
Requirements Engineering Process Improvement Challenges faced by Software SMEs in Uganda
(International Journal of Computer Applications, 2014) Kabaale, Edward; Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey; Mbarika, Irene
Despite the numerous benefits of Requirements Engineering Process Improvement, many Ugandan software developing companies seem not to properly conduct it. This has implications on the quality of software being produced by these organizations. Moreover, little research has been conducted to establish the challenges being faced by the Small and Medium Enterprises that produce software in Uganda. This study examines the challenges of requirements engineering process improvement in Ugandan SME software companies with an aim of coming up with recommendations for improving the quality of software produced by Ugandan SME software companies. A qualitative research approach was used where four software producing companies in Uganda were selected to participate as case studies. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. The main challenges hindering successful Requirements Engineering Process Improvement were identified as ambiguous requirements from the clients, lack of user’s involvement and lack of management support. The study recommends that for successful Requirements Engineering Process Improvement in Ugandan software companies, there should be training, user involvement and establishment of proper change management strategies.
The role of information communication technology (ICT) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in job creation in Kampala, Uganda
(Journal of Business Management and Administration, 2013) Nyeko, Sonny; Kabaale, Edward; Moya, Musa; Amulen, Christine; Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey
This study examined the role of information communication technology (ICT) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) toward job creation in Kampala Uganda through a quantitative survey research design. The study mainly centered on the jobs created by small and medium size enterprises that provided ICT service and/or ICT based products. Primary data were collected using a pretested questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicate that airtime retailing, phone repair and mobile money created most of the jobs (34, 19 and 17% respectively). Majority of ICT SMEs (73%) employed 1-5 people and most jobs created were for Technicians (40%) and Sales representatives (35%) while very few of the jobs were in software development (2%). The findings further indicate that 75% of the jobs created were in lower level of the management hierarchy while only 8% were top level jobs. In terms of salary, most employees of ICT SMEs in Kampala earned Ush.100,000- Ush.200,000 a month (43%), while only 5% earned Ush.1M and above.
A Systematic Approach to Requirements Engineering Process Improvement in Small and Medium Enterprises: An Exploratory Study
(Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011) Kabaale, Edward; Nabukenya, Josephine
Requirements Engineering (RE) studies have demonstrated that requirements errors affect the quality of software developed, making software requirements critical determinants of software quality. Requirements Engineering Process Improvement (REPI) models have been provided by different authors to improve the RE process. However, little success has been achieved in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) software companies especially in transitional countries such as Uganda. This study reports on an exploratory study which provides insights into current RE practices in four Ugandan SME software companies, critical success factors and challenges that impede REPI. As a result a Systematic Approach to REPI has been designed following the design science approach. It provides guidelines and steps for SMEs in improving their RE processes.
A Systematic Approach to Requirements Engineering Process Improvement in Small and Medium Enterprises: An Exploratory Study
(Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg., 2011) Kabaale, Edward; Nabukenya, Josephine
Requirements Engineering (RE) studies have demonstrated that requirements errors affect the quality of software developed, making software requirements critical determinants of software quality. Requirements Engineering Process Improvement (REPI) models have been provided by different authors to improve the RE process. However, little success has been achieved in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) software companies especially in transitional countries such as Uganda. This study reports on an exploratory study which provides insights into current RE practices in four Ugandan SME software companies, critical success factors and challenges that impede REPI. As a result a Systematic Approach to REPI has been designed following the design science approach. It provides guidelines and steps for SMEs in improving their RE processes.
A theoretical framework for requirements engineering and process improvement in small and medium software companies
(Business Process Management Journal, 2015) Kabaale, Edward; Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey
Requirements engineering (RE) and process improvement has been identified as one of the key factors for improving software quality. Despite this, little scholarly work has been done on developing ways to improve the RE process. The situation of RE and process improvement is even worse in small and medium enterprises that produce software. Consequently, the quality of software being produced by these companies has kept deteriorating. The purpose of this paper is to design a framework that will help small and medium software companies improve their RE processes in order to compete favorably with larger software companies, more especially in terms of software quality. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach was adapted. Four software companies in Uganda were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data were collected using questionnaires. The requirements for designing the framework were gathered and refined from both primary and secondary data. Findings – The key requirements for process improvement in small and medium software companies were identified as user involvement, use of evolutionary requirements engineering process improvement (REPI) strategy, change management, training and education, management support and commitment. Practical implications – The designed framework was validated to ensure that it can be applied in RE and process improvement in small and medium software companies. Validation results show that the proposed framework is applicable and can be used to improve RE and process improvement in small and medium software companies. Originality/value – The paper presents an improvement of the systematic approach to REPI by Kabaale and Nabukenya which is decomposed for easy understanding by non-technical readers and users.
Using ICTs to disseminate Agricultural Marketing Information to Small Scale Rural Farmers in Western Uganda
(International Journal of Innovative and Applied Research, 2014) Miwanda, Albert; Kabaale, Edward; Mayoka Kituyi, Geoffrey
Although ICT has been extensively used in agriculture in the developed world for agricultural marketing information dissemination, the same cannot be claimed in developing countries. Hence this study sought to explore the extent to which Information and Communication Technologies enhances small scale rural farmer’s access to Agricultural marketing information in western Uganda. This is due to the fact that majority of small scale farmers in Uganda have limited access to market information and usually rely on information from traders (middlemen) who usually twist the information in their favor in order to exploit the farmers. A mixed research approach was used in this study for data collection where a total of 280 farmers, 2 sub county agricultural officials and 3 agriculture facilitators in Millennium Villages Project (Ruhiira) staff members were purposively selected in this study. The study yielded a 75% response rate and the data collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was established that most respondents preferred Radio followed by cell phones as their sources of agricultural marketing information for their produce. Television and computer were the least preferred sources of market information by the respondents. The study also found out that most farmers use agricultural marketing information accessed through ICTs as a base for bargaining with buyers for their farm produce.
Validation of a Systematic Approach to Requirements Engineering Process Improvement in SMEs in a Design Science Framework
(International Journal of Computer Applications, 2014) Kabaale, Edward; Amulen, Christine; Kituyi, Geoffrey
Requirements Engineering (RE) acts as a conduit between the needs of system users and the capabilities of software produced. Because of this, many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been tempted to invest in improving corresponding processes. Regrettably though, many process improvement approaches for RE do not meet SMEs' needs and are often hard to apply in these companies especially in transitional countries such as Uganda. This study therefore, presents a validation of a Systematic Approach to Requirements Engineering Process Improvement that can be used to enable RE process improvement in SME software companies in transitional countries. The validation was conducted following a design science research approach where four (4) case organizations were used. From the study, it is reported that the approach is indeed easy to use, understandable and is applicable to all kinds of SMEs that would wish to conduct RE process improvement.

Browsing by Author "Kabaale, Edward"

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