Robert Hans

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Robert Hans is a lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology and his area of research interest is project managemnt in ICT.

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W Ork Breakdown Structure :Atool for Soft Ware Project Scope Verification

Software project scope verification is a very important process in project scope management and i... more Software project scope verification is a very important process in project scope management and it needs to be performed properly and thoroughly so as to avoid project rework and scope creep. Moreover, software scope verification is crucial in the process of delivering exactly what the customer requested and minimizing project scope changes. Well defined software scope eases the process of scope verification and contributes to project success. Furthermore, a deliverable-oriented WBS provides a road map to a well defined software scope of work. It is on the basis of this that this paper extends the use of deliverableoriented WBS to that of scope verification process. This paper argues that a deliverable-oriented WBS is a tool for software scope verification

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Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, Oct 3, 2023

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful deliver... more Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model's functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study's purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study's claim in a real-world project setup.

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Mapping of Studies on Ethical Responsibilities of Software Engineers

2023 IEEE AFRICON

Using a web-based application to teach students Earned Value Management concepts

The literature has numerous research studies which cite the benefits of computer-based training f... more The literature has numerous research studies which cite the benefits of computer-based training for enhancing skills, knowledge and capabilities of students in a given discipline. The system called EaVaMa, is a web-based application aimed at providing first year project management students with hands-on project performance analysis knowledge on Earned Value Management (EVM) concepts. This study is aimed at investigating on how the above-mentioned proven model of training may help project management students better understand EVM concepts. This paper represents a work in progress as the development of the system is currently underway. Once developed, the system will then be evaluated for its effectiveness in enhancing learning experience of students with regard to Earned Value Management in the project management discipline.

Work Breakdown Structure: A Tool for Software Project Scope Verification

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 7, 2018

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IEEE AFRICON Conference

AFRICON, 2009

A framework for improving the recognition of project teams as key stakeholders in information and communication technology projects

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2019

Project teams, as key project stakeholders and knowledge contributors, play an important role in ... more Project teams, as key project stakeholders and knowledge contributors, play an important role in the success of projects in the field of information and communication technology. However, research studies have shown that project managers pay little attention to the needs and concerns of these key stakeholders, resulting in project teams becoming 'forgotten' key stakeholders. This neglect has resulted in a number of challenges in projects in this field, including high turnover of team members. Therefore, the primary aim of this paper is to address this neglect of attention given to project teams by project managers and thus not treating them as project key stakeholders. To achieve this objective, a framework informed by the project stakeholder management strategy framework, and feedback from project managers and their project teams who were interviewed during the data collection for this study, was developed.

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Work in Progress - The Impact of the Student Scrum Master on Quality and Delivery Time on Students' Projects

2017 International Conference on Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering (LaTICE), 2017

Various studies have been carried out to determine the impact of Scrum in students' projects.... more Various studies have been carried out to determine the impact of Scrum in students' projects. Many of these studies assign the role of the Scrum master to a lecturer or a mentor. This may have unintended consequences on the students' team, including making them feeling micro-managed and also not allowing the agile team self-organization which is a key requirement in Scrum. Furthermore, students may feel they are not in charge of their work.This paper investigates the impact that a student Scrum master has on the quality and delivery time on students' projects. The preliminary results of the investigation show that the student Scrum master plays a positive enabling role in assisting the team to meet both quality and time project constraints.

A secured model for changing a vehicle's ownership

2016 International Conference on Advances in Computing and Communication Engineering (ICACCE), 2016

A secured system for the change of vehicle ownership will assist in fighting vehicle theft crime ... more A secured system for the change of vehicle ownership will assist in fighting vehicle theft crime in South Africa. The current system used for change of ownership for a vehicle is open to fraud. In the current system a vehicle may be registered in someone's name without the knowledge of the owner. This research paper proposes a model that seeks to address this problem by ensuring that the seller is actively involved in the process by seeking the seller's consent. The experimental test results obtained from testing the prototype which implements the key component of the model show that the model does achieve the intended results.

Deliverable-Oriented Work Breakdown Structure: A Software Project Scope Verification Tool

Software project scope verification is an essential aspect in project scope management that must ... more Software project scope verification is an essential aspect in project scope management that must be completed correctly to prevent project rework and improve project scope control. A software project scope is defined as the work that needs to be carried out to create the required product with its necessary functions and features. Moreover, software scope verification is crucial in the process of delivering exactly what the customer requested and minimizing project scope changes. Well-defined software scope eases the process of scope verification and contributes to project success. A deliverable-oriented WBS often serves as a roadmap to a well-defined software scope of work. This chapter expands the use of deliverable-oriented WBS to the scope verification process on the basis of this. A deliverable-oriented WBS, according to this article, is a method for software scope verification.

Students' Experiences on Using Nerepa: A Web-Based System for Students to Learn Financial Analysis Methods

2015 International Conference on Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering, 2015

The aim of NeRePa, a web-based interactive system, is to enhance students' understanding and ... more The aim of NeRePa, a web-based interactive system, is to enhance students' understanding and learning experience on financial analysis methods and concepts. The system provides first year project management students with hands-on problem-solving skills and knowledge on financial analysis methods such as Net Present Value, Return On Investment and Payback Period methods which are used in evaluating and selecting a suitable project. This study reports on the students' experiences on using the NeRePa system. The findings indicate that the majority of students have found the system to be useful in improving their knowledge of financial analysis methods and as a result are performing much better in the subject assessment. This study has also established that many students find the system to be user friendly. However, some students have expressed their frustration at the slow response rate of the systems at times.

Are software projects evaluated using software teams’ success criteria? A systematic literature review

Procedia Computer Science

The South African software industry lacking project critical success factors: a project team perspective

International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering

Perceived levels of ethical responsibilities for a software engineer: computing academics' perspective

2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Energy Technologies (ICECET), 2021

Software engineering codes of ethics and standards of practice are a way for the profession to ex... more Software engineering codes of ethics and standards of practice are a way for the profession to express its position about the responsibilities of software engineers in the production of software. It is therefore expected that software engineering companies will take responsibility at an organizational level. Equally, at individual level, we expect software engineers to take ethical responsibility for the work they do. Studies indicate the importance of evaluating how these responsibilities are shared to ensure that all the role players understand the kind and level of their responsibilities. The study surveyed educators in a computing faculty to determine what they perceive as appropriate levels of responsibilities, and how they attribute the responsibilities to the role players. The paper reveals a distributive order of responsibility in terms of the measures used in the study. It also shows that educators believe software engineers are responsible for the quality of their work, and that the public interest is of paramount importance. Furthermore, people in authority who approve decisions around functionality, and other role players such as designers, test engineers and users, need to take responsibility as well.

A descriptive analytics tool for improving project human resource management: The importance of discerning a project team member's sentiments

2017 IEEE AFRICON, 2017

Recent research studies indicate a gap in research regarding descriptive and diagnostic analytics... more Recent research studies indicate a gap in research regarding descriptive and diagnostic analytics across project management knowledge areas. As a result there is mismatch between the information needed by project managers for good decision making and what the current tools provide. This research study purports that a project management intelligence (PMInt) tool which is aimed at assisting project manager to make informed decisions attempts to close this gap. Furthermore, the research proposes additional functional capabilities for the PMInt tool which enables it to fully provide project managers with insightful information (such as trends and patterns of sentiments over time, duration of expressed sentiments) and not just inform managers about sentiment polarity, namely, positive or negative or neutral. The proposed improvements have been incorporated in the prototype of the PMInt tool. The preliminary test results obtained from testing the prototype indicate that the tool will provide project managers with insightful information which will assist project managers to arrive at informed decisions regarding project team members' concerns and views and hence help in stabilizing project teams.

Computing Academics’ Perceived Level of Awareness and Exposure to Software Engineering Code of Ethics: A Case Study of a South African University of Technology

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2021

The need for awareness on ethical computing is increasingly becoming important. As a result this ... more The need for awareness on ethical computing is increasingly becoming important. As a result this challenges all stakeholders in the software engineering profession, including educators, to improve their efforts on the awareness of professional codes of ethics which provide framework for ethical reference. However, the several compromises in the software engineering practice suggest that there are some in the profession, who are not familiar with the profession's codes of ethics and subsequently not able to practice and teach students about them. This research work investigates the extent of codes of ethics awareness by practitioners who are teaching software development courses in an academic environment. An online questionnaire with indicators for measuring awareness on software engineering code of ethics was deployed and responded to by 44 educators. Graphical, univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted on the data to determine the profile of the respondents and the extent of their level of awareness on the codes of ethics. The results indicate that majority of the lecturers (54.5 %) are not aware of software engineering codes of ethics, and those who are aware, majority of them were exposed to through self-study or personal development. Furthermore, the inclusion of codes of ethics in the learning activities is minimal as inhibited by lack of awareness and failure to apply the codes practically. This study recommends that lecturing staff as part of the professional software engineers serving as academic corps, should be placed on programmes for exposing them to professional software engineering codes of ethics. Moreover, the study calls for accreditation of software engineering courses, as it is the case with other professional engineering disciplines, to improve awareness and subsequent practical application of the codes of ethics.

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Work in progress — Design and development of a project management intelligence (PMInt) tool

2016 International Conference on Advances in Computing and Communication Engineering (ICACCE), 2016

The need for project managers to use project management intelligence tools has been extensively a... more The need for project managers to use project management intelligence tools has been extensively argued in the literature. Software project managers also need what can be called ‘project intelligence’ tools, in the same way that business managers need business intelligence (BI) tools to assist them make intelligent decisions. This research paper builds on the previous research work which proposed a project management intelligence (PMInt) tool which is aimed at assisting project manager take informed decisions. This research paper designs and also develops a prototype of the PMInt tool. The preliminary test results obtained from testing the prototype show that the PMInt tool will provide project managers with insight regarding project team members' concerns and views.

To What Extent Do South African Software Organizations Lack Project Success Factors?

2019 International Conference on contemporary Computing and Informatics (IC3I), 2019

The concept of project success has been studied extensively over the years. Project success crite... more The concept of project success has been studied extensively over the years. Project success criteria that pertain to assessment measurements aimed at determining project success and project success factors that are input influencers to achieve project-desired outcome are two dimensions from which project success has been researched. This research study was set to investigate the extent to which software development organizations lack project success stimulating factors as considered by software project teams. Defined methodologies, team inclusion in decision-making and proper communication were found to be project success factors missing in some of the software organizations in South Africa. Based on the implications presented by the absence of these factors, recommendations have been made and these include formalizing and defining their project methodologies, project managers practicing shared decision-making in their projects and improving their communication levels with their project teams.This research study will be of interest to software development organizations that seek to improve their project success rate by paying attention to project success factors.

Assessment of a Model using a Framework for the Validation of Information System Artefacts

Interdisciplinary Research in Technology and Management, 2021

Perspectives on adherence to ethics standards and behaviour in software development

Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Considering the powerful position assumed in creating software that changes human lives and socie... more Considering the powerful position assumed in creating software that changes human lives and society; it is compelling that in addition to technical standards, ethical standards, especially those captured in codes of ethics and practice be adhered to by software engineers. Despite efforts by professional bodies on ethical standards awareness, it is alleged that software engineers are not able to uphold ethical standards in software development projects. This research study probed lecturers concerned with the teaching of software development courses to determine their perceived levels of ethical standards and behavior. The findings show that the importance of ethical standards is recognized. The respondents reported high levels of ethical standards of their own work, colleagues’ work and their students’ work. Although in general the respondents reported high ethical standards, elements of lesser perceived ethical standards on students indicate the need for improvements. The findings o...

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Robert Hans

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