title: Software project management tools in global software development: a systematic mapping study.
abstract: Global software development (GSD) which is a growing trend in the software industry is characterized by a highly distributed environment. Performing software project management (SPM) in such conditions implies the need to overcome new limitations resulting from cultural, temporal and geographic separation. The aim of this research is to discover and classify the various tools mentioned in literature that provide GSD project managers with support and to identify in what way they support group interaction. A systematic mapping study has been performed by means of automatic searches in five sources. We have then synthesized the data extracted and presented the results of this study. A total of 102 tools were identified as being used in SPM activities in GSD. We have classified these tools, according to the software life cycle process on which they focus and how they support the 3C collaboration model (communication, coordination and cooperation). The majority of the tools found are standalone tools (77%). A small number of platforms (8%) also offer a set of interacting tools that cover the software development lifecycle. Results also indicate that SPM areas in GSD are not adequately supported by corresponding tools and deserve more attention from tool builders.
authors.affiliation: Software Project Management Research Team, ENSIAS, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Saad Yasser
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chadli
authors.affiliation: Software Project Management Research Team, ENSIAS, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Idri
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Joaquín Nicolás
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Ros
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fernández-Alemán
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan M Carrillo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de Gea
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics and Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ambrosio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toval
keywords: Global software development; SPM tool; Software project management; Systematic mapping study