This paper summarizes the current state of the art and recent trends in software engineering economics. It provides an overview of economic analysis techniques and their applicability to software engineering and management. It surveys the field of software cost estimation, including the major estimation techniques available, the state of the art in algorithmic cost models, and the outstanding research issues in software cost estimation.

Software engineering economics

Managing and communicating risks have become crucial tasks in today's economy and society. Visualization – through its numerous cognitive and communicative advantages – can play an important role in assessing and conveying risks. This article, thus, examines how (interactive) graphic representations, such as maps, charts, diagrams and visual metaphors, can be applied to risk management by reviewing current approaches and by providing a conceptual framework that is illustrated with several application examples. The article also provides a concise set of guidelines that can be used when visualizing risk to avoid the dangers inherent in graphic representations (such as distortion or manipulation), and concludes with an outlook on future developments in this field. The article's main implication for practice is to understand visualization, not as a static rendering of risk assessments or aggregations but as an important catalyst, for better risk communication to multiple stakeholders along the entire risk management cycle.

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A systematic framework for risk visualization in risk management and communication

The objective of this study is to investigate how different renewable energy technologies (RETs) can be effectively commercialized in Finland. The country, not being endowed with natural reserves of hydrocarbons, is striving to increase the share of renewable energy generation in its primary energy supplies. Finland has long been involved in the development and innovation of technologically advanced products and services. The recent economic meltdown and decline in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector have triggered the inevitability of developing a sector that can serve as the backbone of the economy in the years to come. Clean technologies offer an excellent opportunity for a technologically advanced country like Finland to become a key player in the emerging market. The country has excellent standing when it comes to innovation input, innovation culture and public RD however, it lags behind when it comes to the commercialization of these novel technologies. This study aims to address the problem by investigating questions such as: What are the key factors that influence the commercialization of RETs in Finland? How do technological, regulatory and market-related factors affect the widespread adoption of RETs in Finland? The study also highlights the significance of support mechanisms and suggests the improvements required, at the micro-level (firms) and macro-level (policies, regulation and infrastructure), to develop a successful RET market in Finland. The findings of the study are presented against the backdrop of existing literature, energy policies, and the data collected from the energy experts in academia, technology firms, utility companies, investment firms, and regulatory bodies. The study has thus identified the factors that are central to the acceleration of RETs commercialization in Finland. Based on the findings, the study presents a comprehensive framework for the commercialization of RETs in Finland.

Commercialization of renewable energy technologies: A ladder building approach

With the research described in this dissertation, we aim to shed light on the characteristics of process improvement efforts by looking at their evolution (how to change?) rather than their content (what to change?). This research is triggered by three main propositions, derived from earlier work: (i) methods can be dissected into method fragments; (ii) the process of method evolution can be dissected into method increments; and (iii) method increments can be used to guide method construction. These assumptions have not been thoroughly tested and explored yet. Especially the method increment concept is not well understood. The research reported in this dissertation tries to fill this gap by answering the following question: How can method increments be used to support process improvement efforts? The dissertation provides an answer to this question through three parts. The first part describes two studies that investigate the characteristics of process improvement efforts, by looking at such efforts in the domain of agile software development. One study describes a case study, resulting in a method description for agile software product management. While this relates more to the what than the how of process improvement, it provides preliminary insights on the structure of process improvement efforts. We expand upon this insight in the second chapter, in which we analyze and compare the introduction of Scrum at four case companies. The results show a variety of approaches, with heterogeneous effects on effectiveness. In the second part of the dissertation, we develop a better understanding of the notion of method increment. The first chapter expands on the topic of knowledge gathering related to method increments by providing a detailed description and evaluation of a method increment template. In the second chapter of this part, we propose and evaluate a formalization of the process-deliverable diagram, specifically aimed at describing method changes, along with a planning framework and process for generating plans that comply with different types of constraints. In the third part, we describe the design, realization, and evaluation of a knowledge management system that supports incremental method engineering. This system, the Online Method Engine (OME), encompasses the dissemination of method knowledge, linked to process assessment, improvement, and enactment. The OME is based firmly upon the results from the first two parts, and demonstrates a potential solution that helps practitioners during process improvement efforts.

Supporting Process Improvement using Method Increments

Software tools have been used in software development for a long time now. They are used for, among other things, performance analysis, testing and verification, debugging and building applications. Software tools can be very simple and lightweight, e.g. linkers, or very large and complex, e.g. computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools and integrated development environments (IDEs). Some tools support particular phases of the project cycle while others can be used with a speicfic software development model or technology. Some aspects of software development, like risk management, are done throughout the whole project from inception to commissioning. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the need for an intelligent risk assessment and management tool for both agile or traditional (or their combination) methods in software development. The authors propose a model, whose development is subject of further research, which can be investigated for use in developing intelligent risk management tools

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Intelligent risk management tools for software development

We report findings from a survey that has been conducted in Finland to study how the software product companies have matured and evolved over the years. In addition to introducing some key terms for characterizing the software product business, we provide some overall data on the sector, and discuss some specific issues related to the software RD and their biggest challenges in growth are not technical but management and marketing related. Furthermore, we also discovered that the most important improvement areas are improving the degree of productization and level of competence of personnel and that the ability to network with other companies is critical for younger companies. This survey also revealed that programming and planning are the two most common types of subcontracting, and difficulties in modularity and specifications are the biggest hurdles that prevent wider use of subcontracting.

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Challenges of software product companies: results of a national survey in Finland

An essential element of software engineering risk management is the conceptualization of potential risks to a project. It is the basis of risk analysis and, even more importantly, it strongly influences how risks are communicated and understood by participants in a project. We report the results of a study where different risk visualization and documentation methods were compared in a controlled experiment with students. The study indicated that a defined and sufficiently expressive visualization approach can help capture more of the risk information than less formal methods. At the same time, participants felt that the more formal approaches were not more difficult to either learn or use than less formal ones. The SEI risks statements turned out to be inferior to other methods in most comparisons.

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J.-P. Jokinen

Papers

Challenges of software product companies: results of a national survey in Finland

Visualizing and formalizing risk information: an experiment