Table Of Content

A RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS FOR NOVICE SOFTWARE SIMULATION MODELLERS PROCESS Rizwan Ahmed A thesis in fulfilment the the submitted partial of requirements of University Hertfordshire for the degree Doctor Philosophy of of of The in the School programme of research was carried out of Computer Science, Faculty Engineering Information of and Sciences, University Hertfordshire of December 2005 Table of contents LIST OF FIGURES 7 ...................................................................................................................................... LIST OF TABLES 8 ........................................................................................................................................ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 ........................................................................................................................ LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 11 ........................................................................................................................ ABSTRACT 12 ................................................................................................................................................. PART I: BACKGROUND 13 .......................................................................................................................... 1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 14 .............................................................................................. I. I. AN (SPSM) 14 OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING .................................. 1.1.1. The 15 software process ............................................................................................................. 1.1.2. Simulation 15 modelling ............................................................................................................. 1.1.3. Software (SPSM) 17 process simulation modelling .................................................................... 1.2. RESEARCH 19 PROJECT MOTIVATION ............................................................................................... 1.3. STATEMENT 20 OF CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 1.4. HYPOTHESIS 20 ................................................................................................................................ 1.5. RESEARCH 21 QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................ 1.6. OBJECTIVES RSMP 22 OF THE ......................................................................................................... 1.7. METHODOLOGY 23 .......................................................................................................................... I. S. THESIS 25 ORGANISATION ............................................................................................................... 1.8.1. Part 1: Background 27 ................................................................................................................ 1.8.2. Part II: Methodology 27 ............................................................................................................. 1.8.3. Part III: Results, interpretations 28 analysis, and ..................................................................... 1.8.4. Part IV. Conclusions 29 - ............................................................................................................. 2. CHAPTER TWO: SIMULATION MODELLING AND MODELLING PROCESS 30 ................. 2.1. SOFTWARE 30 PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING ........................................................................... 2.1.1. Discrete 31 event simulation ........................................................................................................... 2.1.2. Continuous 32 models ..................................................................................................................... 2.1.3. Hybrid 35 models ............................................................................................................................ 2.2. APPLICATION 35 AREAS OF SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING ..................................... 2.2.1. Strategic 36 management of software process/projects ............................................................. 2.2.2. Software 37 project planning ..................................................................................................... 2.2.3. Control 38 and operational management ................................................................................... 2.2.4. Process improvement technology 38 and adoption .................................................................... 2.2.5. Understanding 39 software processes ........................................................................................ 2.2.6. Training in 40 and education software engineering ................................................................... 2.3. MODES 40 OF SIMULATION PRACTICE .............................................................................................. 2.3.1. Simulation 41 as software engineering ...................................................................................... 2.3.2. Simulation 41 as process of organisational change ................................................................... 2.3.3. Simulation facilitation 43 as ....................................................................................................... 2.4. SIMULATION A 43 MODELLING: BACKGROUND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 2.4.1. Simulation 43 modelling process ................................................................................................ 2.4.2. Simulation 44 and creativity ....................................................................................................... 2.4.3. Discipline in 46 vs. creativity simulation ................................................................................... 2.4.4. Potential issues due to in the 49 arising weakness modelling process ....................................... 2.5. MODELLING 52 PROCESSES REPORTED IN THE LITERATURE ............................................................. 2.5.1. Modelling in 52 processes software process simulation ............................................................ 2.5.2. Modelling in 53 processes operational research simulation ...................................................... 2.5.3. Limitations in the 54 reported modelling processes ................................................................... 2 2.6. SIMULATION 55 MODELLING PROCESS FOR NOVICE SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLERS 2.6.1. Anderson's 56 theory of cognitive skills acquisition .................................................................. 2.6.2. Novices Experts 56 vs. ................................................................................................................. 2.6.3. Why for 57 a simulation modelling process novices? ................................................................. 2.7. CONCLUSION 59 ............................................................................................................................... PART II: METHODOLOGY 61 ..................................................................................................................... 3. CHAPTER THREE: BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62 ............................ 3.1. INTRODUCTION 62 ........................................................................................................................... 3.2. EMPIRICAL 62 RESEARCH ................................................................................................................. 3.2.1. Qualitative 64 and quantitative research methods ..................................................................... 3.2.2. Combining 67 the research methods .......................................................................................... 3.3. GROUNDED (GT) 68 THEORY ........................................................................................................... 3.3.1. Theoretical 70 sampling ............................................................................................................. 3.3.2. Place literature in theory 73 of grounded .................................................................................. 3.3.3. Evaluating 74 the theory outcome of grounded research ........................................................... 3.4. DATA 75 COLLECTION METHODS ..................................................................................................... 3.4.1. Survey 75 .................................................................................................................................... 3.4.2. Interviews 78 .............................................................................................................................. 3.4.2.1. Informal Interviews 78 ........................................................................................................................... 3.4.2.2. Formal Interviews 78 ............................................................................................................................. 3.4.2.3. Interviewing 80 administration ............................................................................................................. 3.4.3. Experiments 81 ........................................................................................................................... 3.4.4. Expert 83 panel questionnaire . .................................................................................................... 3.4.5. Questionnaire design 84 ............................................................................................................. 3.5. DATA 86 ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................... 3.5.1. Qualitative data in theory 86 analysis grounded ....................................................................... 3.5.1.1. Constant 86 comparative method .......................................................................................................... 3.5.1.2. Coding 87 ................................................................................................................................................ 3.5.2. Quantitative data 90 analysis ..................................................................................................... 3.5.2.1. Cohen's kappa 90 measurement of agreement ..................................................................................... 3.5.2.2. Spearman's Rho for 91 test correlation ................................................................................................ 3.5.2.3.1-test for 92 statistical significance ........................................................................................................ 3.6. PILOTING 92 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT ....................................................................................... 3.7. CONCLUSION 93 ............................................................................................................................... 4. CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH STRATEGY AND EXECUTION 94 ............................................ 4.1. INTRODUCTION 94 ........................................................................................................................... 4.2. RESEARCH 94 STRATEGY ............................................................................................................... .. 4.3. CONCEPTUALISATION 97 ............................................................................................................... .. 4.3.1. Literature 97 review ................................................................................................................. .. 4.3.2. Preliminary 98 survey .............................................................................................................. .. 4.3.2.1. The 98 survey respondents .................................................................................................................... 4.3.2.2. Questionnaire design 99 ...................................................................................................................... ... 4.3.3. Success 100 criteria .................................................................................................................... 4.4. FORMULATING THE RSMP 100 ........................................................................................................ 4.4.1. Data 100 collection .................................................................................................................... 4.4.1.1. Semi-structured interviews 100 ............................................................................................................ . 4.4.1.2. Theoretical 101 sampling ...................................................................................................................... . 4.4.1.3. Pilot 103 study ....................................................................................................................................... . 4.4.2. Data 106 analysis ....................................................................................................................... 4.4.3. Closure data 107 of collection ................................................................................................... 4.4.4. Comparison literature 107 the with ........................................................................................... 4.5. EVALUATING RSMP 107 THE .......................................................................................................... 4.5.1. Controlled 110 experiments ....................................................................................................... 4.5.1.1. Experiments design 110 ........................................................................................................................ . 4.5.1.2. Experiment 111 subjects ....................................................................................................................... . 3 4.5.1.3. Representativeness the 113 of experiment sample ............................................................................... 4.5.1.4. Experimental 114 setting ...................................................................................................................... . 4.5.1.5. The 116 model assessment criteria ....................................................................................................... . 4.5 1.6. Questionnaire design 117 . ...................................................................................................................... . 4.5 1.7. Pilot 117 experiment . ............................................................................................................................. . 4.5 1.8. Threats to the 118 validity of experiments . .......................................................................................... . 4.5.2. EXPERT 121 PANEL EVALUATION ..................................................................................................... 4.5 2.1. The 121 expert panel . ............................................................................................................................. . 4.5 2.2. Questionnaire design 122 . ...................................................................................................................... . 4.6. CONCLUSION 125 ............................................................................................................................. PART III: RESULTS, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATIONS 126 ........................................................ 5. CHA PTER FIVE: PRELIMINARY SURVEY 127 ............................................................................. 5.1. INTRODUCTION 127 ......................................................................................................................... 5.2. THE 128 PRELIMINARY SURVEY ....................................................................................................... 5.2.1. The 129 respondents ................................................................................................................... 5.2.2. Questionnaire 130 results .......................................................................................................... 5.2.3. Further the 137 analysis of results ............................................................................................. 5.3. DISCUSSION 139 OF THE RESULTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH .............................................................. 5.4. CONCLUSION 142 ............................................................................................................................. 6. CHAPTER SIX: THE CONTEXTS AND PRACTICES OF SIMULATION I%IODELLERS. 144 6.1. INTRODUCTION 144 ......................................................................................................................... 6.2. THE PARTICIPANTS 145 ................................................................................................................... 6.3. CONTEXT 147 OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................... 6.3.1. Type 148 of models ..................................................................................................................... 6.3.2. Modelling tools 151 ......................................................................................................:............ 6.3.3. Modelling 154 techniques .......................................................................................................... 6.3.4. Size 155 ofsimtdation models .................................................................................................... 6.3.5. Complexity 158 of simulation models ......................................................................................... 6.3.6. Teamwork 161 and collaboration .............................................................................................. 6.4. PRACTICES 163 OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................. 6.4.1. Documentation 163 .................................................................................................................... 6.4.2. Maintenance 168 ........................................................................................................................ 6.4.3. Evaluation 169 ........................................................................................................................... 6.5. CONCLUSION 171 ............................................................................................................................. 7. CHAPTER SEVEN: DEVELOPING THE RSAIP 174 ....................................................................... 7.1. INTRODUCTION 174 ......................................................................................................................... 7.2. ANALYSING SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS OF THE PARTICIPANTS 175 ..................................... 7.2.1. Comparison SPSM OR 179 the of contexts and practices of and participants ........................... 7.2.2. Consolidation 185 ofprocess matrix .......................................................................................... 7.3. DEFINITION OF THE RSMP 191 ........................................................................................................ 7.3.1. The RSMP 195 core phases ........................................................................................................ 7.3.2. KPA-1: Client 200 contact .......................................................................................................... 7.3.3. KPA-11: Documentation 200 ....................................................................................................... 7.4. COMPARISON WITH THE LITERATURE 201 ........................................................................................ 7.4.1. The RSMP Rus [2003] 203 and et al. ......................................................................................... 7.4.2. The RSMP Pfahl Ruhe [2002] 205 and and ............................................................................... 7.4.3. The RSMP Robinson [2004J 206 and ......................................................................................... 7.4.4. The RSMP Law Kelton [2000] 208 and and .............................................................................. 7.4.5. The RSMP Shannon [1998] 209 and .......................................................................................... 7.4.6. The RSMP Nordgren [1995] 210 and ........................................................................................ 7.4.7. Comparison the RSMP: Discussion 211 of ................................................................................ 7.5. CONCLUSION 215 ............................................................................................................................. 4 8. CHAPTER EIGHT: EVALUATING THE RSNIP WITH NOVICES 217 ........................................ 217 8.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 218 8.2. THE EXPERIMENTS .................................................................................................................... 8.3. RESULTS: ASSESSMENT OF THE MODELS PRODUCED BY THE SUBJECTS 220 ..................................... 8.3.1. Syntactic the 221 quality of models ............................................................................................ 8.3.2. Models' Semantic design 222 quality and .................................................................................. 8.3.3. Quality documentation 225 the of .............................................................................................. 8.3.4. Maintainability 227 .................................................................................................................... 8.4. RESULTS: ANALYSIS OF SUBJECTS' PATTERN OF ACTIVITIES 229 ..................................................... 8.4.1. Client 230 contact ...................................................................................................................... 8.4.2. Tool 232 use ............................................................................................................................... 8.4.3. Documentation 234 .................................................................................................................... 8.4.4. Other 236 activities .................................................................................................................... 8.4.5. Analysis documents 238 of ......................................................................................................... 8.5. EVALUATING RSMP 239 THE .......................................................................................................... 8.5.1. Evaluation Understandability the RSMP 239 criteria: of .......................................................... 8.5.2. Evaluation Usability the RSMP 240 criteria: of ......................................................................... 8.5.3. Evaluation Usefulness the RSMP 243 criteria: of ...................................................................... 8.5.4. Evaluating the RSMP: Summary keyfindings 247 of ................................................................. 249 8.6. SUBJECTS' PERSPECTIVE ON THE EXPERIMENTS ........................................................................ 8.7. CONCLUSION 252 ............................................................................................................................. 9. CHAPTER NINE: EVALUATING THE RSMP WITH EXPERTS 253 .......................................... 253 9.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 9.2. EVALUATION 1: SCOPE RSMP 255 CRITERIA OF THE ....................................................................... 9.3. EVALUATION 2: UNDERSTANDABILITY RSMP 256 CRITERIA OF THE .............................................. 9.4. EVALUATION 3: USABILITY RSMP 258 CRITERIA OF THE ................................................................ 9.5. EVALUATION 4: USEFULNESS RSMP 259 CRITERIA OF THE ............................................................. 9.6. EVALUATION CRITERIA 5: TAILORABILITY OF THE RSMP 261 ........................................................ 262 9.7. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 9.8. CONCLUSION 265 ............................................................................................................................. PART IV: CONCLUSION 267 ....................................................................................................................... 10. CHAPTER TEN: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK 268 .................................................... 10.1. OVERVIEW 268 OF THE WORK .......................................................................................................... 10.2. SUMMARY 270 OF RESEARCH FINDINGS ........................................................................................... 10.2.1. RQI: What 270 the are contexts of simulation modellers? ................................................... 271 10.2.2. RQ2: What the are practices of simulation modellers? .................................................. 10.2.3. RQ3: What by investigating the process emerges contexts and practices of simulation 272 modellers? 10.2.4. RQ4: Will help a simulation modelling process novice software process simulation 273 to improve their modellers simulation modelling? ............................................................................ 10.3. THE 275 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................................ 10.4. CRITIQUE 276 OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 10.4.1. Use interview data 276 of only .............................................................................................. 10.4.2. One to interview to focus discussions 277 one as opposed group ......................................... 10.4.3. A large followed by the interviews 277 scale survey ............................................................. 10.4.4. The RSMP 277 evaluation ..................................................................................................... 10.5. FUTURE 278 WORK .......................................................................................................................... 10.5.1. Further development the RSMP 278 of .................................................................................. 10.5.2. Other issues 279 methodological ........................................................................................... REFERENCES 281 .......................................................................................................................................... 295 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................... 5 APPENDIX A 1: GLOSSARY 296 OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................ APPENDIX A2: PRELIMINARY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 300 .......................................................................... APPENDIX A3: RESULTS 303 OF SPEARMAN'S CORRELATION TEST ON SURVEY DATA .................................... APPENDIX B 1: INTERVIEW 307 QUESTIONNAIRE SENT TO THE PARTICIPANTS ................................................ APPENDIX B2: INTERVIEW 308 SCRIPT USED DURING THE INTERVIEW ........................................................... APPENDIX B3: SKIRMISH TEST QUESTIONNAIRE 31 1 ...................................................................................... APPENDIX B4: INTER-CODER APPLYING COHEN'S KAPPA 314 RELIABILITY TEST: STATISTIC ........................ APPENDIX B5: INDEXING 322 THE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS ......................................................................... APPENDIX B6: AN 323 EXAMPLE OF OPEN CODING ........................................................................................ APPENDIX B7: EXAMPLE 325 OF AXIAL CODING ............................................................................................ APPENDIX B8: DEFINITION OF THEMES IDENTIFIED FROM INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 327 ............................... APPENDIX B9: GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES OF INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS 333 ......................................................................................................................................... APPENDIX Cl: THE RSMP 340 TUTORIAL DOCUMENT ................................................................................... APPENDIX C2: PROBLEM STATEMENT FOR THE SE EXPERIMENTS 358 ........................................................... APPENDIX Cl PROBLEM OR 360 STATEMENT FOR THE EXPERIMENTS .......................................................... APPENDIX C4: TIIE RSMP 361 PRE EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................ APPENDIX C5: EXPERIMENT 363 EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................... APPENDIX C6: THE RSMP 365 POST EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE .............................................................. APPENDIX C7: PEER 367 ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................. APPENDIX C8: CLIENT 369 ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................. APPENDIX C9: MODEL 371 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA ........................................................................................ APPENDIX C 10: SPSS 375 OUTPUT FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE ............................................................. APPENDIX D1: EXPERT 379 PANEL QUESTIONNAIRE ...................................................................................... 6 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.1: THESIS 26 ORGANISATION ............................................................................................................... FIGURE 2.1: AN [HUFF 1997] 32 EXAMPLE OF DISCRETE EVENT MODEL ............................................................. FIGURE 2.2: A (CAUSE-EFFECT [LEHMAN RAMIL 19 99] SOFTWARE EVOLUTION PROCESS RELATIONSHIP) AND 34 ........................................................................................................................ FIGURE 2.3: A (LEVEL RAMIL 1999] 34 SOFTWARE EVOLUTION PROCESS AND FLOW DIAGRAM)[LEHMAN AND FIGURE 4.1: THREE 95 PHASES OF RESEARCH STRATEGY .................................................................................... FIGURE 5.1: SURVEY 129 RESPONDENTS ............................................................................................................. FIGURE 5.2: RESPONDENTS' 130 EXPERIENCE PROFILE IN SIMULATION MODELLING ........................................... FIGURE 6.1: PARTICIPANTS' 146 EDUCATIONAL PROFILE .................................................................................... FIGURE 6.2: PARTICIPANTS' 147 PROFESSIONAL ROLES ...................................................................................... FIGURE 6.3: LIFE 151 OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS ......................................................... FIGURE 6.4: DEMOGRAPHICS 154 OF MODELLING TECHNIQUES USED BY THE PARTICIPANTS .............................. FIGURE 6.5: DEMOGRAPHICS OF MODEL SIZE DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS 155 ........................................ FIGURE 6.6: DEMOGRAPHICS 159 OF MODEL COMPLEXITY DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS .......................... FIGURE 7.1: THREE 189 PHASES OF SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS .............................................................. FIGURE 7.2: FACTORS AFFECTING SIMULATION MODEL SIZE AND COMPLEXITY 193 ........................................... FIGURE 7.3: AN (BROOKS EXAMPLE OF SIMULATION MODEL OF SMALL SIZE AND LOW COMPLEXITY LAW) [MADACHY 2005] 194 ............................................................................................................................... FIGURE 7.4: AN EXAMPLE OF SIMULATION MODEL OF MEDIUM SIZE AND COMPLEXITY (SOFTWARE [LEHMAN RAMIL 1999] 194 EVOLUTION) AND .......................................................................................... FIGURE 7.5: HIGH (RSMP)............ 195 LEVEL STRUCTURE OF THE RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES FIGURE 7.6: DETAILED (RSMP) 196 STRUCTURE OF TILE RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES ............... FIGURE 7.7: 10 [LAW KELTON 2000] 208 STEPS IN A SIMULATION STUDY AND .................................................. FIGURE 8.1: NON-RSMP RSMP GROUPS 218 AND AND SUBJECTS LABELS ........................................................ FIGURE 8.2: SE SUBJECTS' 225 PERCEPTION OF THE DOCUMENTATION THEY PRODUCED ................................... FIGURE 8.3: OR SUBJECTS' 227 PERCEPTION OF THE DOCUMENTATION THEY PRODUCED .................................. FIGURE 8.4: RSMPSE RSMP 243 SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USABILITY OF THE ........................................ FIGURE 8.5: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USABILITY OF THE RSMP 243 ....................................... LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1: MODES OF SIMULATION PRACTICE [ROBINSON 2002] 42 .................................................................. TABLE 3.1: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE PARADIGMS [BLAXTER 2001]........ 65 .. TABLE 3.2: ADVANTAGES (BERNARD [2000]) 81 AND DISADVANTAGES OF FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEWS ......... .. TABLE 3.3: ADVANTAGES (BERNARD [2000]) 81 AND DISADVANTAGES OF TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS .............. .. TABLE 3.4: COHEN'S KAPPA AGREEMENT BENCHMARKS 91 ........................................................................... .. TABLE 4.1: PHASE-ACTIVITY-RATIONALE 96 MATRIX OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS ........................................... .. TABLE 4.2: SAMPLE SKIRMISH TEST QUESTIONS 105 .......................................................................................... TABLE 4.3: EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR THE RSMP 109 .................................................................................... TABLE 4.4: GOAL 124 AND ATTRIBUTES TO BE ASSESSED ................................................................................... TABLE 5.1: DESCRIBE 131 YOURSELF AS A MODELLER ....................................................................................... TABLE 5.2: DESCRIBE 131 THE MODELS YOU DEVELOP ....................................................................................... TABLE 5.3: DESCRIBE 132 THE PROBLEMS YOU MODEL ...................................................................................... TABLE 5.4: DESCRIBE 133 THE TYPICAL WAY YOU MODEL ................................................................................. TABLE 5.5: DESCRIBE 134 YOUR MODELLING PROCESS ...................................................................................... TABLE 5.6: MOST URGENT ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED IN SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING (SPSM) 136 .............................................................................................................................................. TABLE 5.7: THE AREA OF MODELLING PROCESS NEEDS MORE ATTENTION 136 ................................................... TABLE 5.8: CORRELATION 138 MATRIX OF VARIABLES ....................................................................................... TABLE 6.1: PARTICIPANTS 145 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................... TABLE 6.2: GROUP 146 WISE PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................. TABLE 6.3: TYPES 150 OF MODELS PRODUCED BY EACH PARTICIPANT ............................................................... TABLE 6.4: DEMOGRAPHICS 152 OF MODELLING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED BY THE PARTICIPANTS ............ TABLE 6.5: SIZE 156 OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS, AND POSSIBLE MEASURES OF SIZE .... TABLE 6.6: COMPLEXITY OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS, AND POSSIBLE MEASURES OF 160 COMPLEXITY - ....................................................................................................................................... TABLE 6.7: DOCUMENTATION 165 PRACTICES OF THE PARTICIPANTS ................................................................. TABLE 7.1: CONTEXT PROCESS 177 AND MATRIX OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................ TABLE 7.2: CONSOLIDATED RSMP 186 PROCESS MATRIX .................................................................................. TABLE 7.3. CONSOLIDATION 187 OF PROCESS MATRIX ....................................................................................... TABLE 7.4: THE RSMP 202 COMPARISON MATRIX WITH THE LITERATURE ......................................................... TABLE 8.1: SE SUBJECTS' 222 PERCEPTION OF THE MODELS THEY PRODUCED ................................................... TABLE 8.2: OR SUBJECTS' 222 PERCEPTION OF THE MODELS THEY PRODUCED .................................................. TABLE 8.3: CLIENT SE 223 ASSESSMENT OF MODEL'S SEMANTIC QUALITY AND DESIGN FOR EXPERIMENTS ...... TABLE 8.4: CLIENT OR 223 ASSESSMENT OF MODEL'S SEMANTIC QUALITY AND DESIGN FOR EXPERIMENTS ..... TABLE 8.5: CLIENT SE 225 ASSESSMENT OF THE DOCUMENTATION PRODUCED BY SUBJECTS ............................ TABLE 8.6: CLIENT OR 226 ASSESSMENT OF THE DOCUMENTATION PRODUCED BY THE SUBJECTS .................... TABLE 8.7: SE 228 EXPERIMENTS, PEER ASSESSMENT FOR MAINTAINABILITY OF THE MODELS .......................... TABLE 8.8: OR 228 EXPERIMENTS, PEER ASSESSMENT FOR MAINTAINABILITY OF THE MODELS ......................... TABLE 8.9: CLIENT CONTACT BY SE SUBJECTS 230 ............................................................................................ TABLE 8.10: CLIENT CONTACT BY OR SUBJECTS 231 ......................................................................................... TABLE 8.11: USE OF TOOL BY THE SE SUBJECTS 232 .......................................................................................... TABLE 8.12: TOOL USAGE BY OR SUBJECTS 232 ................................................................................................ TABLE 8.13: DOCUMENTATION SE 235 TIME BY SUBJECTS ................................................................................. TABLE 8.14: DOCUMENTATION OR 235 TIME BY SUBJECTS ................................................................................ TABLE 8.15: OTHER ACTIVITIES BY SE SUBJECTS 236 ........................................................................................ TABLE 8.16: OTHER OR 236 ACTIVITIES BY SUBJECTS ....................................................................................... TABLE 8.17: SE 238 EXPERIMENTS, ACTIVITIES TRACED FROM ROUGH WORK .................................................... TABLE 8.18: OR ACTIVITIES 238 EXPERIMENTS, TRACED FROM ROUGH WORK .................................................. TABLE 8.19: UNDERSTANDING OF THE RSMP BY RSMPSE SUBJECTS 240 .......................................................... TABLE 8.20: UNDERSTANDING OF THE RSMP BY THE RSMPOR SUBJECTS 240 .................................................. TABLE 8.21: RSMPSE SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP BEFORE EXPERIMENTS 245 TABLE 8.22: RSMPSE SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP AFTER EXPERIMENTS... 246 TABLE 8.23: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP BEFORE EXPERIMENTS 246 TABLE 8.24: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP AFTER EXPERIMENTS.. 246 TABLE 8.25: EXPERIMENT EVALUATION BY THE SE SUBJECTS 250 ..................................................................... TABLE 8.26: EXPERIMENT OR 250 EVALUATION BY THE SUBJECTS .................................................................... TABLE 9.1: EXPERT PANEL DEMOGRAPHICS 254 ............................................................................................... TABLE 9.2: SCOPE RSMP [FROM PART I 255 OF THE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] ................................................... TABLE 9.3: SCOPE OF THE RSMP [FROM PART I OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 256 ................................................... TABLE 9.4: UNDERSTANDABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART II OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 257 ......................... TABLE 9.5: USABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART III OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 259 ......................................... TABLE 9.6: USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP [FROM PART IV OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 260 ...................................... TABLE 9.7: TAILORABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART V OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 262 ................................... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate Atia Anjtm, father Jamshed Ali; I is this to work my mother and everything ant because love of your and care. I to the University Hertfordshire for funding this am very grateful of research and during the providing an excellent working environment whole period of my study. My deepest to Dr. Tracy Hall, invaluable gratitude goes my principal supervisor whose has throughout this guidance, support, and encouragement course of research enabled me finish to this thesis. My Dr. Paul Wernick Prof. Stewart Robinson (Warwick secondary supervisors, and Business School) for insights into in their valuable and guidance simulation modelling software engineering and operational research. I to Prof. Jill Hewitt Dr. Caroline Lyon for flexibility extend my gratitude and providing in hours, has been immense help in finishing this thesis time. my working which an on My heartiest to Khadija Ahmed (fiance the time for appreciation my wife at of write up) her love and support. Thanks to Dr. Nathan Baddoo, Dr. Sarah Beecham, Jennifer Swan, Dorota Jagielska, and Angela Thurnham for informal discussions My friends, and advices. colleagues, and lunch Dr. Mahmood Shah, Nilay Oza, Samarasena Buchala, club members, and Srinivasan Srimath. Working have been with you guys and socialising with you always fun. My housemates Hasnain Qayyum, Eisha Hasnain, Rizwan Qayyum, Sohail and Khan for home; Eisha, thanks to providing a great environment at a special your cooking life My best friend, Zafar Sadiq, for this thesis. made very easy while writing up proving to be friend And the friends a wonderful always and a source of encouragement. all other in Hatfield love immensely keep for to three whose and support contributed me going years. I like to thank Sam Groves (FEIS) Richard Winter (LIS) for would also and always technical help the I providing and equipment needed, readily and enthusiastically. I in thank the the also all expert simulation modellers who participated my study and from University Hertfordshire Warwick Business School for students of and participating in the experiments. 10

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Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information. Sciences, University of guidance, support, and encouragement throughout this course of research has enabled me to finish this thesis. Drappa and Ludewig [1999] developed an interactive animated simulation model aiming to provide a
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A RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS FOR NOVICE SOFTWARE SIMULATION MODELLERS PROCESS Rizwan Ahmed A thesis in fulfilment the the submitted partial of requirements of University Hertfordshire for the degree Doctor Philosophy of of of The in the School programme of research was carried out of Computer Science, Faculty Engineering Information of and Sciences, University Hertfordshire of December 2005 Table of contents LIST OF FIGURES 7 ...................................................................................................................................... LIST OF TABLES 8 ........................................................................................................................................ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 ........................................................................................................................ LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 11 ........................................................................................................................ ABSTRACT 12 ................................................................................................................................................. PART I: BACKGROUND 13 .......................................................................................................................... 1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 14 .............................................................................................. I. I. AN (SPSM) 14 OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING .................................. 1.1.1. The 15 software process ............................................................................................................. 1.1.2. Simulation 15 modelling ............................................................................................................. 1.1.3. Software (SPSM) 17 process simulation modelling .................................................................... 1.2. RESEARCH 19 PROJECT MOTIVATION ............................................................................................... 1.3. STATEMENT 20 OF CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 1.4. HYPOTHESIS 20 ................................................................................................................................ 1.5. RESEARCH 21 QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................ 1.6. OBJECTIVES RSMP 22 OF THE ......................................................................................................... 1.7. METHODOLOGY 23 .......................................................................................................................... I. S. THESIS 25 ORGANISATION ............................................................................................................... 1.8.1. Part 1: Background 27 ................................................................................................................ 1.8.2. Part II: Methodology 27 ............................................................................................................. 1.8.3. Part III: Results, interpretations 28 analysis, and ..................................................................... 1.8.4. Part IV. Conclusions 29 - ............................................................................................................. 2. CHAPTER TWO: SIMULATION MODELLING AND MODELLING PROCESS 30 ................. 2.1. SOFTWARE 30 PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING ........................................................................... 2.1.1. Discrete 31 event simulation ........................................................................................................... 2.1.2. Continuous 32 models ..................................................................................................................... 2.1.3. Hybrid 35 models ............................................................................................................................ 2.2. APPLICATION 35 AREAS OF SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING ..................................... 2.2.1. Strategic 36 management of software process/projects ............................................................. 2.2.2. Software 37 project planning ..................................................................................................... 2.2.3. Control 38 and operational management ................................................................................... 2.2.4. Process improvement technology 38 and adoption .................................................................... 2.2.5. Understanding 39 software processes ........................................................................................ 2.2.6. Training in 40 and education software engineering ................................................................... 2.3. MODES 40 OF SIMULATION PRACTICE .............................................................................................. 2.3.1. Simulation 41 as software engineering ...................................................................................... 2.3.2. Simulation 41 as process of organisational change ................................................................... 2.3.3. Simulation facilitation 43 as ....................................................................................................... 2.4. SIMULATION A 43 MODELLING: BACKGROUND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 2.4.1. Simulation 43 modelling process ................................................................................................ 2.4.2. Simulation 44 and creativity ....................................................................................................... 2.4.3. Discipline in 46 vs. creativity simulation ................................................................................... 2.4.4. Potential issues due to in the 49 arising weakness modelling process ....................................... 2.5. MODELLING 52 PROCESSES REPORTED IN THE LITERATURE ............................................................. 2.5.1. Modelling in 52 processes software process simulation ............................................................ 2.5.2. Modelling in 53 processes operational research simulation ...................................................... 2.5.3. Limitations in the 54 reported modelling processes ................................................................... 2 2.6. SIMULATION 55 MODELLING PROCESS FOR NOVICE SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLERS 2.6.1. Anderson's 56 theory of cognitive skills acquisition .................................................................. 2.6.2. Novices Experts 56 vs. ................................................................................................................. 2.6.3. Why for 57 a simulation modelling process novices? ................................................................. 2.7. CONCLUSION 59 ............................................................................................................................... PART II: METHODOLOGY 61 ..................................................................................................................... 3. CHAPTER THREE: BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 62 ............................ 3.1. INTRODUCTION 62 ........................................................................................................................... 3.2. EMPIRICAL 62 RESEARCH ................................................................................................................. 3.2.1. Qualitative 64 and quantitative research methods ..................................................................... 3.2.2. Combining 67 the research methods .......................................................................................... 3.3. GROUNDED (GT) 68 THEORY ........................................................................................................... 3.3.1. Theoretical 70 sampling ............................................................................................................. 3.3.2. Place literature in theory 73 of grounded .................................................................................. 3.3.3. Evaluating 74 the theory outcome of grounded research ........................................................... 3.4. DATA 75 COLLECTION METHODS ..................................................................................................... 3.4.1. Survey 75 .................................................................................................................................... 3.4.2. Interviews 78 .............................................................................................................................. 3.4.2.1. Informal Interviews 78 ........................................................................................................................... 3.4.2.2. Formal Interviews 78 ............................................................................................................................. 3.4.2.3. Interviewing 80 administration ............................................................................................................. 3.4.3. Experiments 81 ........................................................................................................................... 3.4.4. Expert 83 panel questionnaire . .................................................................................................... 3.4.5. Questionnaire design 84 ............................................................................................................. 3.5. DATA 86 ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................... 3.5.1. Qualitative data in theory 86 analysis grounded ....................................................................... 3.5.1.1. Constant 86 comparative method .......................................................................................................... 3.5.1.2. Coding 87 ................................................................................................................................................ 3.5.2. Quantitative data 90 analysis ..................................................................................................... 3.5.2.1. Cohen's kappa 90 measurement of agreement ..................................................................................... 3.5.2.2. Spearman's Rho for 91 test correlation ................................................................................................ 3.5.2.3.1-test for 92 statistical significance ........................................................................................................ 3.6. PILOTING 92 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT ....................................................................................... 3.7. CONCLUSION 93 ............................................................................................................................... 4. CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH STRATEGY AND EXECUTION 94 ............................................ 4.1. INTRODUCTION 94 ........................................................................................................................... 4.2. RESEARCH 94 STRATEGY ............................................................................................................... .. 4.3. CONCEPTUALISATION 97 ............................................................................................................... .. 4.3.1. Literature 97 review ................................................................................................................. .. 4.3.2. Preliminary 98 survey .............................................................................................................. .. 4.3.2.1. The 98 survey respondents .................................................................................................................... 4.3.2.2. Questionnaire design 99 ...................................................................................................................... ... 4.3.3. Success 100 criteria .................................................................................................................... 4.4. FORMULATING THE RSMP 100 ........................................................................................................ 4.4.1. Data 100 collection .................................................................................................................... 4.4.1.1. Semi-structured interviews 100 ............................................................................................................ . 4.4.1.2. Theoretical 101 sampling ...................................................................................................................... . 4.4.1.3. Pilot 103 study ....................................................................................................................................... . 4.4.2. Data 106 analysis ....................................................................................................................... 4.4.3. Closure data 107 of collection ................................................................................................... 4.4.4. Comparison literature 107 the with ........................................................................................... 4.5. EVALUATING RSMP 107 THE .......................................................................................................... 4.5.1. Controlled 110 experiments ....................................................................................................... 4.5.1.1. Experiments design 110 ........................................................................................................................ . 4.5.1.2. Experiment 111 subjects ....................................................................................................................... . 3 4.5.1.3. Representativeness the 113 of experiment sample ............................................................................... 4.5.1.4. Experimental 114 setting ...................................................................................................................... . 4.5.1.5. The 116 model assessment criteria ....................................................................................................... . 4.5 1.6. Questionnaire design 117 . ...................................................................................................................... . 4.5 1.7. Pilot 117 experiment . ............................................................................................................................. . 4.5 1.8. Threats to the 118 validity of experiments . .......................................................................................... . 4.5.2. EXPERT 121 PANEL EVALUATION ..................................................................................................... 4.5 2.1. The 121 expert panel . ............................................................................................................................. . 4.5 2.2. Questionnaire design 122 . ...................................................................................................................... . 4.6. CONCLUSION 125 ............................................................................................................................. PART III: RESULTS, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATIONS 126 ........................................................ 5. CHA PTER FIVE: PRELIMINARY SURVEY 127 ............................................................................. 5.1. INTRODUCTION 127 ......................................................................................................................... 5.2. THE 128 PRELIMINARY SURVEY ....................................................................................................... 5.2.1. The 129 respondents ................................................................................................................... 5.2.2. Questionnaire 130 results .......................................................................................................... 5.2.3. Further the 137 analysis of results ............................................................................................. 5.3. DISCUSSION 139 OF THE RESULTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH .............................................................. 5.4. CONCLUSION 142 ............................................................................................................................. 6. CHAPTER SIX: THE CONTEXTS AND PRACTICES OF SIMULATION I%IODELLERS. 144 6.1. INTRODUCTION 144 ......................................................................................................................... 6.2. THE PARTICIPANTS 145 ................................................................................................................... 6.3. CONTEXT 147 OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................... 6.3.1. Type 148 of models ..................................................................................................................... 6.3.2. Modelling tools 151 ......................................................................................................:............ 6.3.3. Modelling 154 techniques .......................................................................................................... 6.3.4. Size 155 ofsimtdation models .................................................................................................... 6.3.5. Complexity 158 of simulation models ......................................................................................... 6.3.6. Teamwork 161 and collaboration .............................................................................................. 6.4. PRACTICES 163 OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................. 6.4.1. Documentation 163 .................................................................................................................... 6.4.2. Maintenance 168 ........................................................................................................................ 6.4.3. Evaluation 169 ........................................................................................................................... 6.5. CONCLUSION 171 ............................................................................................................................. 7. CHAPTER SEVEN: DEVELOPING THE RSAIP 174 ....................................................................... 7.1. INTRODUCTION 174 ......................................................................................................................... 7.2. ANALYSING SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS OF THE PARTICIPANTS 175 ..................................... 7.2.1. Comparison SPSM OR 179 the of contexts and practices of and participants ........................... 7.2.2. Consolidation 185 ofprocess matrix .......................................................................................... 7.3. DEFINITION OF THE RSMP 191 ........................................................................................................ 7.3.1. The RSMP 195 core phases ........................................................................................................ 7.3.2. KPA-1: Client 200 contact .......................................................................................................... 7.3.3. KPA-11: Documentation 200 ....................................................................................................... 7.4. COMPARISON WITH THE LITERATURE 201 ........................................................................................ 7.4.1. The RSMP Rus [2003] 203 and et al. ......................................................................................... 7.4.2. The RSMP Pfahl Ruhe [2002] 205 and and ............................................................................... 7.4.3. The RSMP Robinson [2004J 206 and ......................................................................................... 7.4.4. The RSMP Law Kelton [2000] 208 and and .............................................................................. 7.4.5. The RSMP Shannon [1998] 209 and .......................................................................................... 7.4.6. The RSMP Nordgren [1995] 210 and ........................................................................................ 7.4.7. Comparison the RSMP: Discussion 211 of ................................................................................ 7.5. CONCLUSION 215 ............................................................................................................................. 4 8. CHAPTER EIGHT: EVALUATING THE RSNIP WITH NOVICES 217 ........................................ 217 8.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 218 8.2. THE EXPERIMENTS .................................................................................................................... 8.3. RESULTS: ASSESSMENT OF THE MODELS PRODUCED BY THE SUBJECTS 220 ..................................... 8.3.1. Syntactic the 221 quality of models ............................................................................................ 8.3.2. Models' Semantic design 222 quality and .................................................................................. 8.3.3. Quality documentation 225 the of .............................................................................................. 8.3.4. Maintainability 227 .................................................................................................................... 8.4. RESULTS: ANALYSIS OF SUBJECTS' PATTERN OF ACTIVITIES 229 ..................................................... 8.4.1. Client 230 contact ...................................................................................................................... 8.4.2. Tool 232 use ............................................................................................................................... 8.4.3. Documentation 234 .................................................................................................................... 8.4.4. Other 236 activities .................................................................................................................... 8.4.5. Analysis documents 238 of ......................................................................................................... 8.5. EVALUATING RSMP 239 THE .......................................................................................................... 8.5.1. Evaluation Understandability the RSMP 239 criteria: of .......................................................... 8.5.2. Evaluation Usability the RSMP 240 criteria: of ......................................................................... 8.5.3. Evaluation Usefulness the RSMP 243 criteria: of ...................................................................... 8.5.4. Evaluating the RSMP: Summary keyfindings 247 of ................................................................. 249 8.6. SUBJECTS' PERSPECTIVE ON THE EXPERIMENTS ........................................................................ 8.7. CONCLUSION 252 ............................................................................................................................. 9. CHAPTER NINE: EVALUATING THE RSMP WITH EXPERTS 253 .......................................... 253 9.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 9.2. EVALUATION 1: SCOPE RSMP 255 CRITERIA OF THE ....................................................................... 9.3. EVALUATION 2: UNDERSTANDABILITY RSMP 256 CRITERIA OF THE .............................................. 9.4. EVALUATION 3: USABILITY RSMP 258 CRITERIA OF THE ................................................................ 9.5. EVALUATION 4: USEFULNESS RSMP 259 CRITERIA OF THE ............................................................. 9.6. EVALUATION CRITERIA 5: TAILORABILITY OF THE RSMP 261 ........................................................ 262 9.7. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 9.8. CONCLUSION 265 ............................................................................................................................. PART IV: CONCLUSION 267 ....................................................................................................................... 10. CHAPTER TEN: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK 268 .................................................... 10.1. OVERVIEW 268 OF THE WORK .......................................................................................................... 10.2. SUMMARY 270 OF RESEARCH FINDINGS ........................................................................................... 10.2.1. RQI: What 270 the are contexts of simulation modellers? ................................................... 271 10.2.2. RQ2: What the are practices of simulation modellers? .................................................. 10.2.3. RQ3: What by investigating the process emerges contexts and practices of simulation 272 modellers? 10.2.4. RQ4: Will help a simulation modelling process novice software process simulation 273 to improve their modellers simulation modelling? ............................................................................ 10.3. THE 275 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................................ 10.4. CRITIQUE 276 OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 10.4.1. Use interview data 276 of only .............................................................................................. 10.4.2. One to interview to focus discussions 277 one as opposed group ......................................... 10.4.3. A large followed by the interviews 277 scale survey ............................................................. 10.4.4. The RSMP 277 evaluation ..................................................................................................... 10.5. FUTURE 278 WORK .......................................................................................................................... 10.5.1. Further development the RSMP 278 of .................................................................................. 10.5.2. Other issues 279 methodological ........................................................................................... REFERENCES 281 .......................................................................................................................................... 295 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................... 5 APPENDIX A 1: GLOSSARY 296 OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................ APPENDIX A2: PRELIMINARY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 300 .......................................................................... APPENDIX A3: RESULTS 303 OF SPEARMAN'S CORRELATION TEST ON SURVEY DATA .................................... APPENDIX B 1: INTERVIEW 307 QUESTIONNAIRE SENT TO THE PARTICIPANTS ................................................ APPENDIX B2: INTERVIEW 308 SCRIPT USED DURING THE INTERVIEW ........................................................... APPENDIX B3: SKIRMISH TEST QUESTIONNAIRE 31 1 ...................................................................................... APPENDIX B4: INTER-CODER APPLYING COHEN'S KAPPA 314 RELIABILITY TEST: STATISTIC ........................ APPENDIX B5: INDEXING 322 THE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS ......................................................................... APPENDIX B6: AN 323 EXAMPLE OF OPEN CODING ........................................................................................ APPENDIX B7: EXAMPLE 325 OF AXIAL CODING ............................................................................................ APPENDIX B8: DEFINITION OF THEMES IDENTIFIED FROM INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 327 ............................... APPENDIX B9: GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES OF INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS 333 ......................................................................................................................................... APPENDIX Cl: THE RSMP 340 TUTORIAL DOCUMENT ................................................................................... APPENDIX C2: PROBLEM STATEMENT FOR THE SE EXPERIMENTS 358 ........................................................... APPENDIX Cl PROBLEM OR 360 STATEMENT FOR THE EXPERIMENTS .......................................................... APPENDIX C4: TIIE RSMP 361 PRE EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................ APPENDIX C5: EXPERIMENT 363 EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................... APPENDIX C6: THE RSMP 365 POST EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE .............................................................. APPENDIX C7: PEER 367 ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................. APPENDIX C8: CLIENT 369 ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................. APPENDIX C9: MODEL 371 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA ........................................................................................ APPENDIX C 10: SPSS 375 OUTPUT FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE ............................................................. APPENDIX D1: EXPERT 379 PANEL QUESTIONNAIRE ...................................................................................... 6 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.1: THESIS 26 ORGANISATION ............................................................................................................... FIGURE 2.1: AN [HUFF 1997] 32 EXAMPLE OF DISCRETE EVENT MODEL ............................................................. FIGURE 2.2: A (CAUSE-EFFECT [LEHMAN RAMIL 19 99] SOFTWARE EVOLUTION PROCESS RELATIONSHIP) AND 34 ........................................................................................................................ FIGURE 2.3: A (LEVEL RAMIL 1999] 34 SOFTWARE EVOLUTION PROCESS AND FLOW DIAGRAM)[LEHMAN AND FIGURE 4.1: THREE 95 PHASES OF RESEARCH STRATEGY .................................................................................... FIGURE 5.1: SURVEY 129 RESPONDENTS ............................................................................................................. FIGURE 5.2: RESPONDENTS' 130 EXPERIENCE PROFILE IN SIMULATION MODELLING ........................................... FIGURE 6.1: PARTICIPANTS' 146 EDUCATIONAL PROFILE .................................................................................... FIGURE 6.2: PARTICIPANTS' 147 PROFESSIONAL ROLES ...................................................................................... FIGURE 6.3: LIFE 151 OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS ......................................................... FIGURE 6.4: DEMOGRAPHICS 154 OF MODELLING TECHNIQUES USED BY THE PARTICIPANTS .............................. FIGURE 6.5: DEMOGRAPHICS OF MODEL SIZE DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS 155 ........................................ FIGURE 6.6: DEMOGRAPHICS 159 OF MODEL COMPLEXITY DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS .......................... FIGURE 7.1: THREE 189 PHASES OF SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESS .............................................................. FIGURE 7.2: FACTORS AFFECTING SIMULATION MODEL SIZE AND COMPLEXITY 193 ........................................... FIGURE 7.3: AN (BROOKS EXAMPLE OF SIMULATION MODEL OF SMALL SIZE AND LOW COMPLEXITY LAW) [MADACHY 2005] 194 ............................................................................................................................... FIGURE 7.4: AN EXAMPLE OF SIMULATION MODEL OF MEDIUM SIZE AND COMPLEXITY (SOFTWARE [LEHMAN RAMIL 1999] 194 EVOLUTION) AND .......................................................................................... FIGURE 7.5: HIGH (RSMP)............ 195 LEVEL STRUCTURE OF THE RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES FIGURE 7.6: DETAILED (RSMP) 196 STRUCTURE OF TILE RAPID SIMULATION MODELLING PROCESSES ............... FIGURE 7.7: 10 [LAW KELTON 2000] 208 STEPS IN A SIMULATION STUDY AND .................................................. FIGURE 8.1: NON-RSMP RSMP GROUPS 218 AND AND SUBJECTS LABELS ........................................................ FIGURE 8.2: SE SUBJECTS' 225 PERCEPTION OF THE DOCUMENTATION THEY PRODUCED ................................... FIGURE 8.3: OR SUBJECTS' 227 PERCEPTION OF THE DOCUMENTATION THEY PRODUCED .................................. FIGURE 8.4: RSMPSE RSMP 243 SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USABILITY OF THE ........................................ FIGURE 8.5: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USABILITY OF THE RSMP 243 ....................................... LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1: MODES OF SIMULATION PRACTICE [ROBINSON 2002] 42 .................................................................. TABLE 3.1: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE PARADIGMS [BLAXTER 2001]........ 65 .. TABLE 3.2: ADVANTAGES (BERNARD [2000]) 81 AND DISADVANTAGES OF FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEWS ......... .. TABLE 3.3: ADVANTAGES (BERNARD [2000]) 81 AND DISADVANTAGES OF TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS .............. .. TABLE 3.4: COHEN'S KAPPA AGREEMENT BENCHMARKS 91 ........................................................................... .. TABLE 4.1: PHASE-ACTIVITY-RATIONALE 96 MATRIX OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS ........................................... .. TABLE 4.2: SAMPLE SKIRMISH TEST QUESTIONS 105 .......................................................................................... TABLE 4.3: EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR THE RSMP 109 .................................................................................... TABLE 4.4: GOAL 124 AND ATTRIBUTES TO BE ASSESSED ................................................................................... TABLE 5.1: DESCRIBE 131 YOURSELF AS A MODELLER ....................................................................................... TABLE 5.2: DESCRIBE 131 THE MODELS YOU DEVELOP ....................................................................................... TABLE 5.3: DESCRIBE 132 THE PROBLEMS YOU MODEL ...................................................................................... TABLE 5.4: DESCRIBE 133 THE TYPICAL WAY YOU MODEL ................................................................................. TABLE 5.5: DESCRIBE 134 YOUR MODELLING PROCESS ...................................................................................... TABLE 5.6: MOST URGENT ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED IN SOFTWARE PROCESS SIMULATION MODELLING (SPSM) 136 .............................................................................................................................................. TABLE 5.7: THE AREA OF MODELLING PROCESS NEEDS MORE ATTENTION 136 ................................................... TABLE 5.8: CORRELATION 138 MATRIX OF VARIABLES ....................................................................................... TABLE 6.1: PARTICIPANTS 145 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................... TABLE 6.2: GROUP 146 WISE PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................. TABLE 6.3: TYPES 150 OF MODELS PRODUCED BY EACH PARTICIPANT ............................................................... TABLE 6.4: DEMOGRAPHICS 152 OF MODELLING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED BY THE PARTICIPANTS ............ TABLE 6.5: SIZE 156 OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS, AND POSSIBLE MEASURES OF SIZE .... TABLE 6.6: COMPLEXITY OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED BY THE PARTICIPANTS, AND POSSIBLE MEASURES OF 160 COMPLEXITY - ....................................................................................................................................... TABLE 6.7: DOCUMENTATION 165 PRACTICES OF THE PARTICIPANTS ................................................................. TABLE 7.1: CONTEXT PROCESS 177 AND MATRIX OF THE PARTICIPANTS ............................................................ TABLE 7.2: CONSOLIDATED RSMP 186 PROCESS MATRIX .................................................................................. TABLE 7.3. CONSOLIDATION 187 OF PROCESS MATRIX ....................................................................................... TABLE 7.4: THE RSMP 202 COMPARISON MATRIX WITH THE LITERATURE ......................................................... TABLE 8.1: SE SUBJECTS' 222 PERCEPTION OF THE MODELS THEY PRODUCED ................................................... TABLE 8.2: OR SUBJECTS' 222 PERCEPTION OF THE MODELS THEY PRODUCED .................................................. TABLE 8.3: CLIENT SE 223 ASSESSMENT OF MODEL'S SEMANTIC QUALITY AND DESIGN FOR EXPERIMENTS ...... TABLE 8.4: CLIENT OR 223 ASSESSMENT OF MODEL'S SEMANTIC QUALITY AND DESIGN FOR EXPERIMENTS ..... TABLE 8.5: CLIENT SE 225 ASSESSMENT OF THE DOCUMENTATION PRODUCED BY SUBJECTS ............................ TABLE 8.6: CLIENT OR 226 ASSESSMENT OF THE DOCUMENTATION PRODUCED BY THE SUBJECTS .................... TABLE 8.7: SE 228 EXPERIMENTS, PEER ASSESSMENT FOR MAINTAINABILITY OF THE MODELS .......................... TABLE 8.8: OR 228 EXPERIMENTS, PEER ASSESSMENT FOR MAINTAINABILITY OF THE MODELS ......................... TABLE 8.9: CLIENT CONTACT BY SE SUBJECTS 230 ............................................................................................ TABLE 8.10: CLIENT CONTACT BY OR SUBJECTS 231 ......................................................................................... TABLE 8.11: USE OF TOOL BY THE SE SUBJECTS 232 .......................................................................................... TABLE 8.12: TOOL USAGE BY OR SUBJECTS 232 ................................................................................................ TABLE 8.13: DOCUMENTATION SE 235 TIME BY SUBJECTS ................................................................................. TABLE 8.14: DOCUMENTATION OR 235 TIME BY SUBJECTS ................................................................................ TABLE 8.15: OTHER ACTIVITIES BY SE SUBJECTS 236 ........................................................................................ TABLE 8.16: OTHER OR 236 ACTIVITIES BY SUBJECTS ....................................................................................... TABLE 8.17: SE 238 EXPERIMENTS, ACTIVITIES TRACED FROM ROUGH WORK .................................................... TABLE 8.18: OR ACTIVITIES 238 EXPERIMENTS, TRACED FROM ROUGH WORK .................................................. TABLE 8.19: UNDERSTANDING OF THE RSMP BY RSMPSE SUBJECTS 240 .......................................................... TABLE 8.20: UNDERSTANDING OF THE RSMP BY THE RSMPOR SUBJECTS 240 .................................................. TABLE 8.21: RSMPSE SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP BEFORE EXPERIMENTS 245 TABLE 8.22: RSMPSE SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP AFTER EXPERIMENTS... 246 TABLE 8.23: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP BEFORE EXPERIMENTS 246 TABLE 8.24: RSMPOR SUBJECTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP AFTER EXPERIMENTS.. 246 TABLE 8.25: EXPERIMENT EVALUATION BY THE SE SUBJECTS 250 ..................................................................... TABLE 8.26: EXPERIMENT OR 250 EVALUATION BY THE SUBJECTS .................................................................... TABLE 9.1: EXPERT PANEL DEMOGRAPHICS 254 ............................................................................................... TABLE 9.2: SCOPE RSMP [FROM PART I 255 OF THE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] ................................................... TABLE 9.3: SCOPE OF THE RSMP [FROM PART I OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 256 ................................................... TABLE 9.4: UNDERSTANDABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART II OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 257 ......................... TABLE 9.5: USABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART III OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 259 ......................................... TABLE 9.6: USEFULNESS OF THE RSMP [FROM PART IV OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 260 ...................................... TABLE 9.7: TAILORABILITY OF THE RSMP [FROM PART V OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE] 262 ................................... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate Atia Anjtm, father Jamshed Ali; I is this to work my mother and everything ant because love of your and care. I to the University Hertfordshire for funding this am very grateful of research and during the providing an excellent working environment whole period of my study. My deepest to Dr. Tracy Hall, invaluable gratitude goes my principal supervisor whose has throughout this guidance, support, and encouragement course of research enabled me finish to this thesis. My Dr. Paul Wernick Prof. Stewart Robinson (Warwick secondary supervisors, and Business School) for insights into in their valuable and guidance simulation modelling software engineering and operational research. I to Prof. Jill Hewitt Dr. Caroline Lyon for flexibility extend my gratitude and providing in hours, has been immense help in finishing this thesis time. my working which an on My heartiest to Khadija Ahmed (fiance the time for appreciation my wife at of write up) her love and support. Thanks to Dr. Nathan Baddoo, Dr. Sarah Beecham, Jennifer Swan, Dorota Jagielska, and Angela Thurnham for informal discussions My friends, and advices. colleagues, and lunch Dr. Mahmood Shah, Nilay Oza, Samarasena Buchala, club members, and Srinivasan Srimath. Working have been with you guys and socialising with you always fun. My housemates Hasnain Qayyum, Eisha Hasnain, Rizwan Qayyum, Sohail and Khan for home; Eisha, thanks to providing a great environment at a special your cooking life My best friend, Zafar Sadiq, for this thesis. made very easy while writing up proving to be friend And the friends a wonderful always and a source of encouragement. all other in Hatfield love immensely keep for to three whose and support contributed me going years. I like to thank Sam Groves (FEIS) Richard Winter (LIS) for would also and always technical help the I providing and equipment needed, readily and enthusiastically. I in thank the the also all expert simulation modellers who participated my study and from University Hertfordshire Warwick Business School for students of and participating in the experiments. 10

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Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information. Sciences, University of guidance, support, and encouragement throughout this course of research has enabled me to finish this thesis. Drappa and Ludewig [1999] developed an interactive animated simulation model aiming to provide a
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