Despite various research efforts originating from both academia and industry, software projects have a high rate of failure, more specific, software projects often do not comply with the traditional standard measurements of success, namely time, cost and requirements specification. Thus, there is a need for new methods and measures to support the software project management process.Globalisation and advances in computing technologies has changed the software project management environment. Currently software projects are developed and deployed in distributed, pervasive and collaborative environments and traditional project management methods cannot, and do not, address the added complexities inherent to this environment.In this paper the utilisation of stationary and mobile software agents is investigated as a potential tool to assist with the improvement of software project management processes. In particular we propose and discuss a software agent framework to support software project management. Although still in its initial phases, this research shows promise of significant results in enabling software developers to meet market expectations, and produce projects on time, within budget and to users' satisfaction.

No abstract

Software technology and computing resources have evolved and developed considerably over the past years and may be considered as the backbone of many business ventures today. However, the software project management environment has also changed and is continuously evolving. Currently software projects are developed and deployed in distributed, pervasive and collaborative environments. This means that traditional software project management methods cannot, and do not, address the added complexities found in a pervasive, distributed global environment. Projects thus have a high rate of failure. More specifically, software projects often do not comply with the traditional standard measurements of success, namely time, cost and specifications. There is thus a need for new methods and measures to support software project management.In this paper, software agent technology is explored as a potential tool for enhancing software project management practices in general. We propose and discuss a software agent framework, specifically to support software quality management. Although still in its initial phases, research indicates some promise in enabling software developers to meet market expectations and produce projects timeously, within budget and to users' satisfaction.

Despite various research efforts originating from both academia and industry, software projects have a high rate of failure, more specific, software projects often do not comply with the traditional standard measurements of success, namely time, cost and requirements specification. Thus, there is a need for new methods and measures to support the software project management process.Globalisation and advances in computing technologies has changed the software project management environment. Currently software projects are developed and deployed in distributed, pervasive and collaborative environments and traditional project management methods cannot, and do not, address the added complexities inherent to this environment.In this paper the utilisation of stationary and mobile software agents is investigated as a potential tool to assist with the improvement of software project management processes. In particular we propose and discuss a software agent framework to support software project management. Although still in its initial phases, this research shows promise of significant results in enabling software developers to meet market expectations, and produce projects on time, within budget and to users' satisfaction.

No abstract