Automated runtime change management and business adaptation for distributed software systems

市场需求和技术进步导致现代商业的数字化程度不断提高，软件在其中发挥着核心作用，并出现在越来越多的活动中。与此同时，软件本身正变得比以往任何时候都更加模块化、分布式和动态，因此我们谈论的是系统的系统和软件生态系统。在这种情况下，频繁的更改可能会对业务造成严重破坏，特别是当系统组件的所有权是分散的并且决策是独立的时候。企业的核心挑战是构建和管理一个软件系统，该系统将健壮地应对变化，在面对不断变化时保持每个质量和盈利能力。该建议的主要论点是，这一挑战可以通过集成软件、开发、运营管理和业务管理的各种过程来解决。拟议的研究将通过开发具有技术（质量、性能、安全）和经济（价格、广告、成本）参数的混合模型，实现DevOps（开发/运营）与BizOps（业务运营）的集成。这些模型将被合并到决策支持系统中，并最终开发和运行时管理工具中，以促进涉众在高度分布和动态的环境中同时维护其软件的质量和盈利能力。开发的平台将为各种实践者（开发人员、IT人员、QA专家、管理人员）提供他们的软件及其操作环境的系统视图。信息通信技术是加拿大乃至全世界发展最快的行业之一。随着数字经济的普及，并成为联邦层面的战略目标，以软件为中心或软件密集型的公司越来越多。虽然企业渴望采用新技术，但各自的商业模式，或者它们必须如何适应新环境，目前尚不清楚。拟议研究的经济效益具有很高的潜力。早期的研究表明，占就业和GDP贡献很大一部分的中小企业特别能从这些工具中受益。对于大公司来说，好处在于拥有更强大的客户生态系统，尤其是在竞争日益激烈的市场中。最后，所提出的方法可用于非货币指标，如收益和风险，并有助于围绕软件变更的大多数业务决策。

Market needs and technological advancements have led to an increased digitization of modern business, where software plays a central role and is present in an increasing number of activities. At the same time, software itself is becoming more modular, distributed and dynamic than ever, so that we talk about systems of systems and software ecosystems. In this setting, frequent changes can be highly disruptive for business, especially when ownership of the system components is distributed and decision-making is independent. The core challenge for a business is to build and manage a software system, which will be robust against change maintaining each quality and profitability in the face of constant change.The main argument of this proposal is that this challenge can be addressed by integrating the various processes of software, development, operations management and business management. The proposed research will achieve this integration of DevOps (development/operations) with BizOps (business operations) by developing hybrid models, with both technical (quality, performance, security) and economic (price, advertisement, cost) parameters. These models will be incorporated in decision-support systems and eventually development and runtime management tools to facilitate stakeholders with maintaining both the quality of their software and its profitability at the same time in a highly distributed and dynamic environment. The developed platforms will provide the various practitioners (developers, IT staff, QA experts, managers) with a systemic view of their software and its operating environment. ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors in Canada and worldwide. With digital economy gaining prevalence and becoming a strategic goal on a federal level, there is an increasing number of software-centric or software-intensive companies. While companies are eager to adopt new technologies, the respective business models or how they have to be adapted in the new conditions are not yet clear. The economic benefits from the proposed research can be of high potential. Early research has shown that SMEs, which account for a large portion of employment and contribution to GDP, can particularly benefit from such tools. For bigger companies, the benefit comes in the form of a stronger client ecosystem, especially in an increasingly competitive market. Finally, the proposed methods can be used with non-monetary indices, like benefit and risk, and assist with most business decision around software change.