Empirical study of software component integration process activities

Abstract

The component integration phase is key to component-based system (CBS) success because of its profound impact on the quality of a software product. However, CBS integration is a complex phase because it is rarely the case that components are perfectly matched and ready for 'plug and play'. The component integration phase involves assembling pre-existing software components usually developed by different parties, and writing glue-code to handle the mismatches between CBS-to-be requirements and available component features. The objective of the study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of integration process activities on the overall success of a CBS. The empirical study also investigates the inter-dependency between the CBS integration process activities. A survey was developed and data from CBS practitioners working in smallto-medium-sized organisations were collected. The results show that 'component functional specification', 'structural compatibility analysis', 'architectural model development' and 'early glue-code specification' are integration process activities that have positive correlation with the successful development of a CBS. However, the results indicate that the 'quality properties analysis' is not carried out as an integration process activity by the majority of CBS practitioners during development of a CBS. Furthermore, the results of the survey also provide empirical evidence that there is a positive association between various key CBS integration process activities.

An Evaluation Framework for Communication and Coordination Processes in Offshore Software Development Outsourcing Relationship: Using Fuzzy Methods

“…Therefore, the present work may help to bridge the gap between academicians/ researchers and industry practitioners regarding the context of software outsourcing. Moreover, our empirical study and those of other researchers followed much the same approach [23], [57], [69].…”

Dealing with information quality in software package selection: an empirically based approach

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“…Currently, to select SP, decision‐makers have to face not only the current diversity of SPs types available in the marketplace but also the great deal of widespread, heterogeneous and unstructured information describing each one of them [3, 5]. The availability and quality of this information largely determines the quality of the decisions made, and ultimately affects the quality of the whole software system as well as its development and deployment [6, 7].…”

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