Abstract Global software development (GSD) refers to developing software with a distributed team spanning multiple locations and time zones. Based on relationships, there are four types of outsourcing: dyadic (one client–one vendor), multi‐vendor (one client–many vendors), co‐sourcing (many clients–one vendor), and complex outsourcing (many clients–many vendors). Compared to the other types of outsourcing contracts, complex outsourcing contracts are the hardest to work on and have the highest risk of project failure. This paper presents a model, the complex outsourcing relationships management model (CORMM), to assist the complex outsourcing stakeholders (both the clients and vendors) in managing their relationships in the context of GSD. This paper aims to develop a CORMM to assist the complex outsourcing relationships management stakeholders in GSD. Also, we are interested in identifying the applicability and effectiveness of the CORMM in the real‐world industry. The research approach follows a structured methodology comprising multiple phases. Initially, it leverages a systematic literature review (SLR) as its primary research method. The second phase involves the validation of the SLR findings via an empirical study. Subsequently, in the third phase, a model is developed. Finally, the proposed research approach is validated by incorporating two industrial case studies to assess the organization's relationship management utilizing the Motorola tool. The case study results show that CORMM can successfully point out relationship management issues in a complex outsourcing context. The feedback received from the participants of both companies indicates several positive and valuable insights about the CORMM and its application in the context of complex outsourcing relationships. The results highlight that CORMM serves as an assessment tool for evaluating an organization's relationship management capability and a means for organizations to enhance their position. Through CORMM, complex outsourcing organizations (many clients–many vendors) can identify strengths and weaknesses in their relationship management practices, enabling targeted improvement efforts.

Abstract Crowdsource software development has become more and more popular in recent years in the software industry. Crowdsourcing is an open‐call technique for outsourcing tasks to a broad and undefined crowd. Crowdsourcing provides numerous advantages including reduced costs, fast project completion, talent identification, diversity of solutions, top‐quality, and access to problem‐solving creativity. Despite of the benefits gained from crowdsourcing, there are numerous issues like lack of experienced workers, lack of confidentiality, copyright issues, software sustainability, and so forth. There is also less focus on the long‐term sustainability of software development because of new ideas emerging in crowdsourcing software development. Furthermore, in literature, lack of guidelines towards sustainable software crowdsourcing is highlighted as one of the limitations in the software standards. This study aims to identify the factors that influence sustainability aspects in crowdsourced software development. We have conducted a systematic literature review for identification of these factors. In this paper, we present findings of the systematic literature review in the form of a list of 11 factors extracted from a sample of 45 finally selected papers. Among these factors, six of the factors are ranked as critical factors. These critical factors are “Lack of coding standard in documentation,” “Use of popular programming tools,” “Crowd Lack of knowledge and awareness about sustainability,” “Energy‐efficient coding,” “Lack of awareness about sustainable software engineering practices,” and “Lack of coordination/communication between client and crowd.”

Abstract The trend toward global software development (GSD) has grown tremendously in recent years because of the rapid acceleration in information and communication technologies (ICTs). The reason for the changing trend toward GSD is to develop high‐quality software with minimum cost and time with round the clock. Despite the benefits gained from GSD, there are certain challenges associated with it. Literature reveals that software integration is an integral challenge in the GSD domain and vendors face numerous difficulties in integrating the software components to build the final product. The main aim of this research study is to develop a software integration model (SIM) that will assist GSD vendors to address the factors linked with various stages of software integration. This model is basically designed for GSD vendor organizations to assess and improve their software integration‐related activities. However, it is also beneficial for GSD client organizations in getting knowledge about the status of the GSD vendor organization's software integration capabilities. The research design is composed of well‐known research strategies including systematic literature review (SLR), questionnaire survey, and case study approach. This research study yielded the SIM. We identified nine critical success factors (CSFs) and 10 critical barriers (CBs) in software integration through SLR‐1 by extracting the data from a sample of 105 papers. Similarly, we also identified a total of 132 practices/solutions, for the identified CSFs and CBs in software integration, through SLR‐2 from a sample of 40 papers. These identified factors and practices were validated from 96 global software industry experts/practitioners through online survey. The identified CSFs, CBs, and their associated practices have been arranged adequately across the six software integration levels of SIM. We have adapted SIM structure from capability maturity model integration (CMMI), implementation maturity model (IMM), and software outsourcing vendors readiness model (SOVRM). We also conducted six case studies in the software industry for SIM applicability and validity. The participants' feedback from the six case studies in GSD vendor's organizations portray that the SIM is beneficial for GSD vendors to assess their software integration capability.

Abstract Data protection is the most prior and valuable concern as stealing personal/organizational data by cyber criminals may arise issues ranging from privacy disclosure to system hacking. Blockchain is considered a top leading technology with the influence to reshape future industries, but like other revolutionary technologies, blockchain has its merits and demerits as well. However, due to its nascent stage, blockchain technology poses numerous challenges that hinder the effective development of blockchain. To uncover this potential hindrance and group the relevant barriers, a total of 12 challenges that may hinder the progress of blockchain application development have been identified from a sample of 52 primary studies. Based on the results of our research, the six challenges are considered critical an account for more than 30% occurrence. The critical challenges are “Lack of Proper Development Tools and Technology,” “Security Precaution Measures,” “Lack of Governance and Standards,” “Lack of Professional Expertise with Essential Skills and Knowledge,” “Lack of Organizational Support,” and “Interoperability Integration.” Using a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) and a questionnaire survey, a list of 65 solutions/practices has been identified to address the challenges that were identified. These solutions/practices will help blockchain developers to address the identified challenges and develop benign blockchain application in future. The results of our questionnaire survey largely align with the findings of the SLR. However, there are variations in the ranking of the challenges between the two datasets. The finding of this paper is to provide insights that can assist in streamlining and optimizing the development process of blockchain applications with greater ease and efficiency.

Various new technologies have developed as software security solutions have become more critical. One of the essential parts of software quality is the product's security. Though providing examples covering all phases of secure software development is necessary, very few of these situations have been documented. More than a few approaches have been proposed and implemented to handle software security, but only a few of them provide valid evidence for developing secure software applications. This paper presents the results of a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS), which was carried out to determine the existence of software security metrics, tools, standards, and security-related research topics mainly discussed and addressed. A total of 116 studies were chosen for inclusion in this review. Selected studies led us to discover 55 Secure Software Engineering (SSE) metrics, 68 SSE tools, 33 SSE standards, and 12 SSE research topics that have been discussed and addressed. This effort will aid software development firms in better understanding existing security measures employed in creating secure software. It can also serve as a foundation for researchers to build and create new software security solutions and identify new research directions.

Secure Software Development (SSD) is becoming a major challenge, due to the increasing complexity, openness and extensibility of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). These make the overall security requirements analysis very difficult. Many techniques have been theoretically developed, however, there is a lack of empirical evidence of its application in building secure software system. A Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) has been conducted in this paper to examine the existence of software security frameworks, models and methods. In total, we selected 116 primary studies. After examining the selected studies, we identified 37 Secure Software Engineering (SSE) paradigms/frameworks/models. The results show that the most frequently used SSE frameworks/models are "Microsoft Software Development Life Cycle (MS-SDL)", "Misuse case modeling", "Abuse case modeling", "Knowledge Acquisition for Automated Specification", "System Security Engineering-Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CMM)" and "Secure Tropos Methodology". This work will help organizations in the development of software to better understand existing security initiatives used in the development of secure software. It can also provide researchers with a basis for designing and developing new methods of software security and identifying new axis of research.

Global software development (GSD) is in a booming stage from the last decade with the advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). Despite of the benefits gained from GSD, the developer organizations still face a lot of difficulties in integrating the software components, developed by various GSD teams, into a final product. In our previous study we identified a list of nine critical success factors (CSFs) in the software integration process for GSD vendors, using systematic literature review (SLR) method. In order to validate findings of the SLR, we conducted an empirical study using a questionnaire survey in GSD industry. The findings of our industrial survey are mostly coherent with the SLR findings. However, there is a difference in ranks of the various CSFs across the two data sets (SLR and Industrial Survey).

Context The advances in information and communication technologies have revolutionized the software development environment from local to global software development (GSD). This revolution also created challenges for vendor organizations. Vendors face challenges in integrating the components developed independently by GSD teams into a final working product. Objective The objectives of the current study is to find out those critical barriers/challenges that hinder the integration process at any stage in the GSD environment for different types and size of projects. Methodology For achieving the objectives we initially conducted a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR). We searched 6 digital libraries and also followed the snowballing technique. The data was extracted from a total of 88 finally selected papers. Findings of the SLR study were then empirically validated through a questionnaire survey in GSD industry. A total of 96 experts from 22 different countries participated in the survey. Results We have found a total of 16 barriers/challenges among which ten barriers are ranked as critical barriers/challenges. Some of the top ranked barriers are “lack of communication,” “lack of proper documentation,” “lack of compatibility,” and “architecture mismatch.” The findings of our industrial survey are mostly coherent with the SLR findings. However, there is a difference in ranks of the various barriers/challenges across the 2 data sets (SLR and industrial survey). The identified challenges need to be properly addressed by software vendors to reduce the complexity of the integration process in GSD projects. Conclusion We found that the severity of these barriers increases in large size projects. On the other hand, bespoke products are more affected by “lack of communication,” while off-the-shelf–based projects face integration problems due to “lack of compatibility,” “architecture mismatch,” and “wrong off the shelf product selection and customization”.