Abstract
High-maturity software development processes and development environments with automated data collection can generate significant amounts of data that can be periodically analyzed to identify performance problems, determine their root causes, and devise improvement actions. However, conducting the analysis manually is challenging because of the potentially large amount of data to analyze, the effort and expertise required, and the lack of benchmarks for comparison. In this article, we present ProcessPAIR, a novel method with tool support designed to help developers analyze their performance data with higher quality and less effort. Based on performance models structured manually by process experts and calibrated automatically from the performance data of many process users, it automatically identifies and ranks performance problems and potential root causes of individual subjects, so that subsequent manual analysis for the identification of deeper causes and improvement actions can be appropriately focused. We also show how ProcessPAIR was successfully instantiated and used in software engineering education and training, helping students analyze their performance data with higher satisfaction (by 25%), better quality of analysis outcomes (by 7%), and lower effort (by 4%), as compared to a traditional approach (with reduced tool support).

Abstract

Abstract
To ensure interoperability and the correct behavior of heterogeneous distributed systems in key scenarios, it is important to conduct automated integration tests, based on distributed test components (called local testers) that are deployed close to the system components to simulate inputs from the environment and monitor the interactions with the environment and other system components. We say that a distributed test scenario is locally controllable and locally observable if test inputs can be decided locally and conformance errors can be detected locally by the local testers, without the need for exchanging coordination messages between the test components during test execution (which may reduce the responsiveness and fault detection capability of the test harness). DCO Analyzer is the first tool that checks if distributed test scenarios specified by means of UML sequence diagrams exhibit those properties, and automatically determines a minimum number of coordination messages to enforce them. The demo video for DCO Analyzer can be found at https://youtu.be/LVIusK36_bs.

Abstract
Forecasts of the effort or delivery date can play an important role in managing software projects, but the estimates provided by development teams are often inaccurate and time-consuming to produce. This is not surprising given the uncertainty that underlies this activity. This work studies the use of Monte Carlo simulations for generating forecasts based on project historical data. We have designed and run experiments comparing these forecasts against what happened in practice and to estimates provided by developers, when available. Comparisons were made based on the mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE). We did also analyze how the forecasting accuracy varies with the amount of work to be forecasted and the amount of historical data used. To minimize the requirements on input data, delivery date forecasts for a set of user stories were computed based on takt time of past stories (time elapsed between the completion of consecutive stories); effort forecasts were computed based on full-time equivalent (FTE) hours allocated to the implementation of past stories. The MMRE of delivery date forecasting was 32% in a set of 10 runs (for different projects) of Monte Carlo simulation based on takt time. The MMRE of effort forecasting was 20% in a set of 5 runs of Monte Carlo simulation based on FTE allocation, much smaller than the MMRE of 134% of developers' estimates. A better forecasting accuracy was obtained when the number of historical data points was 20 or higher. These results suggest that Monte Carlo simulations may be used in practice for delivery date and effort forecasting in agile projects, after a few initial sprints. © 2021 ACM.

Abstract
Risk management is one of the ten knowledge areas discussed in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which serves as a guide that should be followed to increase the chances of project success. The popularity of research regarding the application of risk management in software projects has been consistently growing in recent years, particularly with the application of machine learning techniques to help identify risk levels or risk factors of a project before the project development begins, with the intent of improving the likelihood of success of software projects. This paper provides an overview of various concepts related to risk and risk management in software projects, including traditional techniques used to identify and control risks in software projects, as well as machine learning techniques and methods which have been applied to provide better estimates and classification of the risk levels and risk factors that can be encountered during the development of a software project. The paper also presents an analysis of machine learning oriented risk management studies and experiments found in the literature as a way of identifying the type of inputs and outputs, as well as frequent algorithms used in this research area.

Abstract
Over the past decades, software engineering has reached a level of maturity which entails great challenges in its education. Universities must prepare students to real-life challenges by offering courses to aid students in developing several vital skills which go beyond hard skills (e.g., communication skills and self-management). At the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, a pioneering course, dubbed Project Management Laboratory, offers the proper environment for students to develop such skills by inviting industry to be closely involved in the education of the students. This course integrates practice and theory in a setting close to what the students will face when they move into industry. This paper reports on the experience, results, and benefits of this innovative course.