Understanding the product knowledge acquisition process in multiprovider software evolution scenarios: An exploratory study

IF 3.8 2区计算机科学 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Information and Software Technology Pub Date : 2025-03-31 DOI:10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107738

Anelis Pereira-Vale, Tomás Vera , Carlos Vásquez , Daniel Perovich, Jocelyn Simmonds, Sergio F. Ochoa

{"title":"Understanding the product knowledge acquisition process in multiprovider software evolution scenarios: An exploratory study","authors":"Anelis Pereira-Vale, Tomás Vera , Carlos Vásquez , Daniel Perovich, Jocelyn Simmonds, Sergio F. Ochoa","doi":"10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107738","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>The life cycle of a custom software system involves multiple evolution projects, where each one can be carried out by a different provider, i.e., software development company. When the provider changes, the new one should understand the structure and functionality of the product to evolve, in order to determine the scope, effort, risks and uncertainties of the next evolution project. Regardless of its relevance in practice, product comprehension has received little attention, particularly in multiprovider evolution scenarios. This limits the ability of researchers and practitioners to understand and improve this process.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To understand the process performed by software teams to discover and assimilate the knowledge about the structure, functionality, and quality aspects of a custom system developed by another team.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>We conducted an exploratory study that answered four research questions considering two particular software evolution scenarios. The study involved interviews with 19 project leaders from Chilean and Brazilian small and medium-sized enterprises, who regularly participate in this type of project.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>For each evolution scenario, we identified: (1) the underlying structure and dynamic of the product knowledge acquisition process, (2) the knowledge gathering activities and software artifacts used by the development teams, and (3) how effective these teams were when performing these activities. The study also identifies causes of low effectiveness of teams in this process and promising research avenues to address them.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The product knowledge acquisition process is usually informal and has low cost-effectiveness. Provider switching results in an important loss of information and knowledge about the structure and functionality of the product, which limits comprehension and evolution of the system. The results show a clear need to change the status-quo in the customer-provider relationship in the study scenarios, and open several research opportunities to improve this process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54983,"journal":{"name":"Information and Software Technology","volume":"183 ","pages":"Article 107738"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information and Software Technology","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584925000771","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Context

The life cycle of a custom software system involves multiple evolution projects, where each one can be carried out by a different provider, i.e., software development company. When the provider changes, the new one should understand the structure and functionality of the product to evolve, in order to determine the scope, effort, risks and uncertainties of the next evolution project. Regardless of its relevance in practice, product comprehension has received little attention, particularly in multiprovider evolution scenarios. This limits the ability of researchers and practitioners to understand and improve this process.

Objective

To understand the process performed by software teams to discover and assimilate the knowledge about the structure, functionality, and quality aspects of a custom system developed by another team.

Method

We conducted an exploratory study that answered four research questions considering two particular software evolution scenarios. The study involved interviews with 19 project leaders from Chilean and Brazilian small and medium-sized enterprises, who regularly participate in this type of project.

Results

For each evolution scenario, we identified: (1) the underlying structure and dynamic of the product knowledge acquisition process, (2) the knowledge gathering activities and software artifacts used by the development teams, and (3) how effective these teams were when performing these activities. The study also identifies causes of low effectiveness of teams in this process and promising research avenues to address them.

Conclusion

The product knowledge acquisition process is usually informal and has low cost-effectiveness. Provider switching results in an important loss of information and knowledge about the structure and functionality of the product, which limits comprehension and evolution of the system. The results show a clear need to change the status-quo in the customer-provider relationship in the study scenarios, and open several research opportunities to improve this process.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Information and Software Technology 工程技术-计算机：软件工程

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

7.70%

发文量

164

审稿时长

9.6 weeks

期刊介绍： Information and Software Technology is the international archival journal focusing on research and experience that contributes to the improvement of software development practices. The journal''s scope includes methods and techniques to better engineer software and manage its development. Articles submitted for review should have a clear component of software engineering or address ways to improve the engineering and management of software development. Areas covered by the journal include: • Software management, quality and metrics, • Software processes, • Software architecture, modelling, specification, design and programming • Functional and non-functional software requirements • Software testing and verification & validation • Empirical studies of all aspects of engineering and managing software development Short Communications is a new section dedicated to short papers addressing new ideas, controversial opinions, "Negative" results and much more. Read the Guide for authors for more information. The journal encourages and welcomes submissions of systematic literature studies (reviews and maps) within the scope of the journal. Information and Software Technology is the premiere outlet for systematic literature studies in software engineering.