3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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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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    Developing a mobile phone GIS-based application to assist in automobile least cost route planning :a case study of the City of Johannesburg municipal area
    (2018) Naidoo, Veneshree
    The use of cellular phones pervades most technological aspects in daily life. More than 80% of users use their mobile phones for some form of navigation. The objective of this project was to develop a standard automobile routing application for Android mobile phones. The application development process was constrained to a minimal financial budget. This was the main parameter that informed the use of open source application development software and mapping data service providers. The purpose of the routing application is to allow the user to choose the type of routing preferred between shortest path or fastest time. The study area was focused on the City of Johannesburg. OpenStreetMaps has an updated and comprehensive road network which can be relied on for the City of Johannesburg. The application was created for an Android operating system since this is the more common smart mobile phone operating system. The application was built in Android Studio using the Mapbox plugin which is focused on open street routing and pulls from the Open Street Routing Machine for the actual route. The application allows for most standard features such as traffic flow information, geolocation and turn-by-turn directions.
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    A methodology for evaluating capability, effort and ease of implementation in modular web content management systems
    (2017) Ramnath, Aveer
    Modular web content management systems (WCMS) are widely adopted software plat- forms that facilitate the creation of web applications through a process of con guration and assembly of add-on modules. Although WCMSs have been used in a variety of ap- plication domains (e-commerce, news) no clear guidance as to when it is suitable to use a WCMS could be found. This work proposes a methodology to evaluate the suitability of a WCMS in a particular context. This is done by evaluating the suitability indicators (capability, e ort and ease of implementation) for a given WCMS application. The met- hodology evaluates each indicator per application requirement. Capability is evaluated on a Yes/No basis. E ort is evaluated using e ort level, a relative indicator of e ort. E ort levels are de ned in terms of increasing e ort, varying from 0 (feature present in the product) through to 5 (feature requires a custom module to be written). Ease of implementation is evaluated using a qualitative measure (easy, moderate or di cult) of the implementation di culty. The methodology has been successfully validated through the development and evaluation of a web application for a school within a university faculty. In this instance the WCMS capability was evaluated at 100%, as all require- ments could be implemented. The e ort level analysis showed 16% of requirements were present by default in the core product, 22% required some con guration of the core pro- duct, 32% required a single add-on module to be installed, and 30% required multiple add-on modules to be installed. The ease of implementation analysis showed that 86% of requirements were easy, 7% moderate and 7% di cult. The analysis is presented in order to demonstrate the operation of the methodology. Further data would be nee- ded to extrapolate general trends. With repeated use of the methodology in various contexts, it would be possible to build up a useful reference for those considering the use of a WCMS. In addition, this data would permit analysis of overall strengths and weaknesses of a particular WCMS.
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    A MATLAB based analysis tool for clearance and thermal violations in transmission power lines
    (2016) Mabuza, Ndumiso Simon
    Clearances are an important aspect of High Voltage (HV) transmission line design, construction and maintenance. A software tool that combines clearance violation analysis and optimum loading operating conditions for power lines could save power utilities the capital cost of refurbishing transmission power lines that marginally exceed maximum power line clearance distances. This can be achieved by operating the power lines at an optimum amperage level for any given set of weather conditions. This research project proposes a low cost MATLAB® based software tool that detects clearance violations and determines operational limits on transmission power lines using prevalent weather conditions as well as the power line amperage. Various power lines around the states of Missouri and Illinois in the United States of America are analysed to test the viability and functionality of the software. In order to validate the accuracy of the program, the results obtained were compared to results from PLSCADD ®. Key Words: conductor, clearance, sag, software, temperature
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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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    Object oriented development a logical approach to control system software design
    (2016-08-26) Bricker, R I
    Automation is currently being used to an ever increasing degree in industrial plants. However most of these applications require only a few basic control concepts repeated for each piece of equipment. There is often a fair amount of interaction between pieces of equipment in terms of safety interlocking and sequencing. Despite this each piece of software remains an autonomous entity receiving the necessary external data it requires. The principles of OBJECT ORIENTED DESIGN are suited to the development of this type of software. This dissertation will demonstrate that object oriented development has distinct benefits over more classical design techniques. Generalized software for controlling a minerals processing plant will be conceptually designed, using techniques implemented in C++ to demonstrate the basic hypothesis. This will attempt to encompass all the available design techniques of object oriented design into an area that has traditionally developed its own software development paradigm.
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    Quality aspects of software product supply and support using the Internet
    (1998) Braude, Bruce Shaun
    This project explores the use of the Internet to supply and support software products within a quality management system. The Software Engineering Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at the University of the Witwatersrand is in the process of developing various software products that will be commercially distributed in the near future. The SEAL has chosen to use the Internet to supply and support these products. A system has been developed for this task and has been named the Internet System for the Supply and Support of Software (IS4). The SEAL is committed to developing and supplying software within a quality management system. Consequently an investigation was undertaken into the quality characteristics and requirements based on the ISO 9001 standard for quality assurance and the ISO/lEC JTG1/SC7 software engineering standards. The investigation focused on quality requirements for processes related to supplying and supporting software as well as on the quality characteristics of the IS4 and the IS4 development process. These quality concerns have been incorporated into the SEAL's quality management system, the design and development of the IS4 and the development process for SEAL products. Major technical issues that have influenced the design of the IS4 have been the control of the supply and licensing of the supplied products and the transaction processing of the on-line sales. To control the supply and licenSing of the supplied products, various issues such as unlock keys, Internet based registration, controlled access and hardware control have been investigated. The advantages and disadvantages of each have been investigated and a suitable lmplernentat'on has been used in the IS4. To process the on-line transactions the IS4 will be developed to be compliant with the recently released 'Secure Electronic Transactions' (SET) standard. The project has been managed in accordance with the SEAL's Quality Management System (QMS) which is ISO 9001 compliant. The system contains a Shopper Interface for purchasing of SEAL products and a Manager Interface for administration of the system. The Microsoft BackOffice® set of software has formed the foundation on which the system has been developed. One of the focuses of the project was maintainability of the IS4. Documentation and procedures have been developed to aid in administration and perfective maintenance in the future.
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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.
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