ETD Collection

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Computer software--Development

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Factors influencing the usage of agile methodologies amongst information technology personnel within the banking sector
    (2018) Mudarikwa, Grace
    The aim of the study was to investigate the factors that influence the usage of agile methodologies amongst Information Technology (IT) personnel within the banking sector. Agile methodologies have been acclaimed to have many benefits. Despite this, challenges have been found in the usage of agile methodologies. The study was conducted with 143 participants from two major banks in South Africa and with a professional institution of IT personnel. The research was positivist in nature and took a deductive form by testing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). A cross-sectional survey was used to collect the data. The study had 5 research questions and 5 hypotheses. The effect of 5 moderating variables was tested on the 5 hypotheses. The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The Simple slope test was used to explore the moderating effects on the main hypotheses. The results of the study confirm that Performance Expectancy and Social Influence have a significant effect on Behavioural Intention. The study also confirmed that Facilitating Conditions were a significant predictor of Usage. Only the moderating effect of agile experience on Facilitating Conditions and Usage was found to be significant. The implication of the study is that usage of agile methodologies within the banking sector needs to cater for Performance Expectancy, Social Influence and Facilitating Conditions. Facilitating conditions however need to be varied depending on the level of agile experience. The study contributes from a theoretical perspective by testing the factors that influence usage of agile methodologies. The study also contributes from a methodological perspective by using a cross-sectional survey to collect data. There are limited survey studies done by academics on the usage of agile methodologies. The study will also assist in determining the factors that influence usage of agile methodologies. Understanding these factors will assist in ensuring successful introduction of agile methodologies in the banking sector.
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    A quantitative study into the perceived differences in expert judgement on factors that influence software development outcomes
    (2018) Van der Linden, Anthony Cornelis
    Why do some software development initiatives fail while others succeed? In most cases the answers to these questions are based on the perspectives of experts rather than measurement and empirical data collection. Are the views of these experts consistent, or do they differ? This is important because many innovations in software development methodologies are based on a response to the perspectives of different groups of experts. The research presented in this dissertation tests whether different groups of experts had different perspectives on the outcomes of software development projects. The research methodology was guided by a quantitative design using objectivism as an epistemology and positivism as a theoretical framework. It included survey research and to facilitate generalisation of the overall result, collected data from a sample size of 384 participants at a 5% margin of error. The research found that there is a statistically significant difference between experts in various roles and having different levels of experience. It concludes that expert judgement with respect to the outcomes of software development projects contained several cognitive biases and suggests that experts and organisations alike should consider adopting measurement and empirical data collection techniques to evaluate the value of their current practices before injudiciously adopting new methodologies.
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    Influencers of enhanced performance in agile software development teams
    (2017) Njomo, Mmadira Elizabeth
    Due to the trite nature of the software development environment, traditional software methodologies are no longer relied on to deliver software products in a timeous manner. As a response to this limitation, the agile manifesto was launched. The manifesto consists of values and principles centred around the self-organising team’s ability to achieve higher productivity, that is, to deliver software products quickly and with a high quality. With the self-organising team at the centre of this phenomenon, this interpretive case study seeks to gain greater insight into the processes and reasons behind this outcome. The site selected for this study is the IT divisions of a South African bank that have adopted Agile as a methodology to deliver software products. The data was collected through semi structured interviews, focused groups and documentation. The data was analysed qualitatively using thematic and content analysis. The framework for enhanced performance in agile software development teams was conceptualised. The conceptualisation was informed by the empirical evidence and the interpretation of findings and literature
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    A methodology for implementing the analytical hierarchy process to decision-making in mining
    (2016) Balt, Karel Dawid
    The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a Multi Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tool, which has gained wide acceptance in all disciplines in science and engineering. Although it has been used in mining engineering applications, it is only recently gaining significant momentum in the mining industry. Given its simplicity, it may seem surprising that it has not received wide acceptance, but this is probably due to a lack of both publicity and a user-friendly methodology. This report introduces a simple methodology that can be employed by anyone who possesses basic knowledge of arithmetic and spreadsheets, without having to know or understand fully the mathematics that the process is based on.
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    Improvement of the software systems development life cycle of the credit scoring process at a financial institution through the application of systems engineering
    (2016-10-11) Meyer, Nadia
    The research centred on improving the current software systems development life cycle (SDLC) of the credit scoring process at a financial institution based on systems engineering principles. The research sought ways to improve the current software SDLC in terms of cost, schedule and performance. This paper proposes an improved software SDLC that conforms to the principles of systems engineering. As decisioning has been automated in financial institutions, various processes are developed according to a software SDLC in order to ensure accuracy and validity thereof. This research can be applied to various processes within financial institutions where software development is conducted, verified and tested. A comparative analysis between the current software SDLC and a recommended SDLC was performed. Areas within the current SDLC that did not comply with systems engineering principles were identified. These inefficiencies were found during unit testing, functional testing and regression testing. An SDLC is proposed that conforms to systems engineering principles and is expected to reduce the current SDLC schedule by 20 per cent. Proposed changes include the sequence of processes within the SDLC, increasing test coverage by extracting data from the production environment, filtering and sampling data from the production environment, automating functional testing using mathematical algorithms, and creating a test pack for regression testing which adequately covers the software change.
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    Utilising the Software Engineering Methods and Theory framework to critically evaluate software engineering practice in the South African banking industry
    (2016-03-17) Le Roux, Alistair Graham
    In recent years, software has become the cornerstone of banking and new business products are directly dependant on software. The delivery cycles for new features is now related to market share. This drive to use software as a vehicle for competitive advantage has created an environment in which software development of new business systems are increasingly on the critical path of many projects. An organisation’s portfolio of software intensive projects is situated within this complexity and organisations attempt to mitigate the risks associated with these complexities by implementing software development processes and practices. A key problem facing the modern bank is how to define and build a software development process that caters for both the traditional and increasingly agile genres of software development characteristics in a consistent and manageable way. The banks attempt to address this problem through continuous methodology and process improvements. Comparing and assessing non-standardised software engineering lifecycle models without a common framework is a complex and subjective task. A standardised language is important for simplifying the task for developing new methods and practices or for analysing and documenting existing practices. The Software Engineering Methods and Theory (SEMAT) initiative has developed a standardised kernel of essential concepts, together with a language that describes the essence of software engineering. This kernel, called the Essence, has recently become an Object Management Group (OMG) standard. The Essence kernel, together with its language, can be used as the underpinning theory to analyse an existing method and help provide insights that can drive method enhancements. The research report proposes a simple, actionable analysis framework to assist organisations to assess, review and develop their software engineering methods. The core concepts of the methodology are identified and mapped to the Essence concepts. The governance model of the Essence is mapped to the governance model of the industry model and a set of practices is identified and documented in the Essence language. The mapping and resulting analysis can be used to test the validity of the Essence theory in practice and identify areas for improvement in both the method and the Essence standard. The analysis framework has been applied to an operational software development lifecycle of a large South African bank. A mapping of the Essence concepts to the governance model and method documented in the lifecycle was completed. This mapping revealed that the Essence is a valid tool and can be used to describe a method in practice. Furthermore it is useful as an analysis framework to assess the governance model that manages and measures the progress of an endeavour in the Bank. The case study and resulting analysis demonstrate that the Essence standard can be used to analyse a methodology and identify areas for improvement. The analysis also identified areas for improvement in the Essence specification.