Abstract Quantum software systems represent a new realm in software engineering, utilizing quantum bits (Qubits) and quantum gates (Qgates) to solve the complex problems more efficiently than classical counterparts. Agile software development approaches are considered to address many inherent challenges in quantum software development, but their effective integration remains unexplored. This study investigates key causes of challenges that could hinders the adoption of traditional agile approaches in quantum software projects and develop an Agile-Quantum Software Project Success Prediction Model (AQSSPM). Firstly, we identified 19 causes of challenging factors discussed in our previous study, which are potentially impacting agile-quantum project success. Secondly, a survey was conducted to collect expert opinions on these causes and applied Genetic Algorithm (GA) with Naive Bayes Classifier (NBC) and Logistic Regression (LR) to develop the AQSSPM. Utilizing GA with NBC, project success probability improved from 53.17 to 99.68%, with cost reductions from 0.463 to 0.403%. Similarly, GA with LR increased success rates from 55.52 to 98.99%, and costs decreased from 0.496 to 0.409% after 100 iterations. Both methods result showed a strong positive correlation (rs = 0.955) in causes ranking, with no significant difference between them ( t = 1.195, p = 0.240 > 0.05). The AQSSPM highlights critical focus areas for efficiently and successfully implementing agile-quantum projects considering the cost factor of a particular project.

Abstract The value of data to a company means that it must be protected. When it comes to safeguarding their local and worldwide databases, businesses face a number of challenges. To systematically review the literature to highlight the difficulties in establishing, implementing, and maintaining secure databases. In order to better understand database system problems, we did a systematic mapping study (SMS). We’ve analyzed 100 research publications from different digital libraries and found 20 issues after adopting inclusion and exclusion criteria. This SMS study aimed to identify the most up-to-date research in database security and the different challenges faced by users/clients using various databases from a software engineering perspective. In total, 20 challenges were identified related to database security. Our results show that “weak authorization system”, “weak access control”, “privacy issues/data leakage”, “lack of NOP security”, and “database attacks” as the most frequently cited critical challenges. Further analyses were performed to show different challenges with respect to different phases of the software development lifecycle, venue of publications, types of database attacks, and active research institutes/universities researching database security. The organizations should implement adequate mitigation strategies to address the identified database challenges. This research will also provide a direction for new research in this area.

The majority of organisations are globalising their software development activities by following the ideas of global software development (GSD). The motivation behind the adoption of GSD phenomena are the list of benefits gained by the software industry. However, there are different challenges face by the GSD organisations, particularly the issues related to software process improvement (SPI). The aim of this study is the identification and classification into categories of the success factors that can impact SPI initiatives taken in GSD organisations. The systematic literature review (SLR) method has been used to extract the success factors from the literature. SLR phases, ‘planning, conducting, and reporting the review’ have been followed to perform this study. Totally, 15 success factors were identified and classified into the six main categories. The authors have also reported the critical success factors of SPI, i.e. management commitment, staff involvement, roles and responsibilities, communication, and resources allocation. This article also reported the similarities and differences between the success factors classified on the bases of client‐vendor organisation and size of the organisation. The identified factors can contribute towards the implementation of SPI programme in both client and vendor GSD organisations because these factors represent key areas of process improvement.

Abstract Context It has been observed that software process improvement (SPI) initiatives have been around for more than a decade, yet many companies are still facing SPI implementation challenges. Objective In this paper, a systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted, and the results are compared with the previously collected data of SPI implementation success factors. The overarching objective of this research is to gain an in‐depth understanding of success factors that play a positive role in SPI implementation; this will assist SPI managers in better designing and managing SPI programs. We are interested to discover if there are any differences in the success factors identified by the three research strategies used, that is, informal literature review, SLR, and interviews. Method Data were collected and analyzed using the three research strategies. For informal literature review, the snowballing technique was used. The SLR was conducted for formal literature reviews. For an empirical study, interviews were conducted with Australian SPI practitioners. Results Results show that (i) senior management commitment and (ii) staff involvement are the frequently cited common SPI success factors in all three research strategies. The results also uncover similarities and differences among the three research strategies regarding the importance of the SPI success factors: (i) SPI awareness is a frequently cited common SPI success factor in interviews and formal literature review, and the Spearman's rank‐order correlation isrs(37) = 0.413,p = 0.011; (ii) reviews are a frequently cited common SPI success factor in formal and informal literature reviews, and the Spearman's rank‐order correlation isrs(37) = 0.517,p = 0.001; and (iii) training and mentoring is a frequently cited common SPI success factor in interviews and an informal literature review, and the Spearman's rank‐order correlation isrs(37) = 0.195,p = 0.247. Conclusions The understanding of these factors can help both researchers and software development organizations in successfully planning and implementing SPI initiatives. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.