Abstract—The major challenge for software project control is to adapt to the associated control practices in order to achieve sustainability for the software project. This paper reviews software project control practices in a number of control perspectives, namely organizational controls, project management, software engineering and cybernetic management. The aim is to extend the concept of controlling software project towards adapting appropriate control practices. A number of basic control components are identified to better understand the control practices. We found that (a) control elements create its own complexities on software project control; (b) communication between the controller and controlee is important in identifying and understanding control direction; (c) each individual has their own roles in practicing software project control; and (d) there is a needs for organizing complexities in managing software project control practices. The principal recommendation is to understand proper control practices in studies of various complex situations of software project control.
Index Terms—Control Components, Cybernetics, Software Process, Software Project Control.
Rohaya Ahmad is an IT officer at Public Service Department of Malaysia. She is now a PhD student at Faculty of Technology and Information Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (e-mail: arohaya@gmail.com).
Hasmiah Kasimin she is now an Associate Professor at School of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (e-mail: h_kasimin@yahoo.com).
Maryati Mohd Yusof is now an Associate Professor and as a Head of Information Systems Program at the School of Computer Science, Faculty of Technology and Information Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (e-mail: mmy@ftsm.ukm.my).
Abdul Razak Hamdan is now a Professor and as a Dean of Faculty of Information Science & Technology, National University of Malaysia (e-mail: arh@ftsm.ukm.my).
Cite: Rohaya Ahmad, Hasmiah Kasimin, Maryati Mohd Yusof, and Abdul Razak Hamdan, "Organizing Software Project Control Practices," International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 170-177, 2011.