Risk management in Software Engineering, Lecture notes of Software Engineering

Download Risk management in Software Engineering and more Lecture notes Software Engineering in PDF only on Docsity!

Risk Management in

Software

Engineering

Sunil Sapkota

Advanced Software Engineering

Risk Management in Software Engineering

Introduction:

The term risk is defined as the potential future harm that may arise due to some present actions as explained in Wikipedia. Risk management in software engineering is related to the various future harms that could be possible on the software due to some minor or non-noticeable mistakes in software development project or process. “Software^ projects have a high probability of failure so effective software development means dealing with risks adequately (www.thedacs.com).” Risk management is the most important issue involved in the software project development. This issue is generally managed by Software Project Management (SPM). During the life cycle of software projects, various risks are associated with them. These risks in the software project is identified and managed by software risk management which is a part of SPM. Some of the important aspects of risk management in software engineering are software risk management, risk classification and strategies for risk management.

Software Risk Management:

Since there could be various risks associated with the software development projects, the key to identify and manage those risks is to know about the concepts of software risk management. Many concepts about software risk management could be identified but the most important are risk index, risk analysis, and risk assessment (Hoodat, H. & Rashidi, H.).

1. (^) Risk Index: Generally risks are categorized into two factors namely impact of risk events and probability of occurrence. Risk index is the multiplication of impact and

the maximum risk. A best and most scientific way of approaching risks is to classify them based on risk attributes. Risk classification is considered as an economical way of analyzing risks and their causes by grouping similar risks together into classes (Hoodat, H. & Rashidi, H.). Software risks could be classified as internal or external. Those risks that come from risk factors within the organization are called internal risks whereas the external risks come from out of the organization and are difficult to control. Internal risks are project risks, process risks, and product risks. External risks are generally business with the vendor, technical risks, customers’ satisfaction, political stability and so on. In general, there are many risks in the software engineering which is very difficult or impossible to identify all of them. Some of most important risks in software engineering project are categorized as software requirement risks, software cost risks, software scheduling risk, software quality risks, and software business risks. These risks are explained detail below (Hoodat, H. & Rashidi, H.).

• (^) SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT RISKS 1.Lack of analysis for change of requirements. 2.Change extension of requirements 3.Lack of report for requirements 4.Poor definition of requirements 5.Ambiguity of requirements 7.Change of requirements 8.Inadequate of requirements 9.Impossible requirements 10.Invalid requirements

• SOFTWARE COST RISKS

1.Lack of good estimation in projects

2. Unrealistic schedule 3.The hardware does not work well 4.Human errors 5.Lack of testing
3. Lack of monitoring 7.Complexity of architecture 8.Large size of architecture 9.Extension of requirements change 10.The tools does not work well 11.Personnel change, Management change, technology change, and environment change 12.Lack of reassessment of management cycle

• SOFTWARE SCHEDULING RISKS

1.Inadequate budget 2.Change of requirements and extension of requirements 3.Human errors 4.Inadequate knowledge about tools and techniques 5.Long-term training for personnel

namely careful, typical, and flexible (Boban, M. et.). Generally, careful risk management strategy is projected for new and inexperienced organizations whose software development projects are connected with new and unproven technology; typical risk management strategy is well-defined as a support for mature organizations with experience in software development projects and used technologies, but whose projects carry a decent number of risks; and flexible risk management strategy is involved in experienced software development organizations whose software development projects are officially defined and based on proven technologies (Boban, M. et.).

Conclusion:

In this way, software risk management, risks classification, and strategies for risk management are clearly described in this paper. If risk management process is in place for each and every software development process then future problems could be minimized or completely eradicated. Hence, understanding various factors under risk management process and focusing on risk management strategies explained above could help in building risk free products in future.

References:

1. Hoodat, H., & Rashidi, H. (2009). “ Classification and Analysis of Risks in Software Engineering”. World Academy of Science, Engineering & Technology, 56446-452. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

2. Boban, M., Pozgaj, Z., Sertic, H. “ Strategies for successful software development risk management”, <www.efst.hr/management/Vol8No2-2003/4-boban-pozgaj-sertic.doc>
3. “Risk Management” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_management
4. “Software Engineering Risk: Understanding & Management (SERUM)” <http:// www.thedacs.com/databases/url/key/270/277/3535>.