75,260 research outputs found
Effects of ES-enabled standardization and integration on business process agility
Agility has become a key organizational capability today as businesses face an uncertain and volatile environment. Enterprise systems, a key component of IT infrastructure in a majority of orrganizations today, have delivered cost efficiencies, control and consistent execution. Using a case study approach, this research reports on the investigation of the influence of enterprise system-enabled environment on business process agility. According to study, integration, standardization, best practices and process orientation, the key characteristics of ES-enabled environment have mixed and varying effect on business process agility and that is dependent upon the extent and type of standardization and integration implemented in the organization and the nature of business processes. Tight coupling of systems, structures and processes resulting from ES implementation restricts a firm’s ability to reconfigure and deploy business processes. Study noted the positive effect of process orientation on organizational ability to identify, reconfigure and deploy business processes. The study found that the best practices embedded in an enterprise system do not have any direct influence on process agility. Recognizing that it is not after all necessary for all processes to be agile, study pointed out some of the challenges in identification, configuration and effective deployment of agile processes
Addressing challenges to teach traditional and agile project management in academia
In order to prepare students for a professional IT career, most universities attempt to provide a current
educational curriculum in the Project Management (PM) area to their students. This is usually based on
the most promising methodologies used by the software industry. As instructors, we need to balance
traditional methodologies focused on proven project planning and control processes leveraging widely
accepted methods and tools along with the newer agile methodologies. Such new frameworks
emphasize that software delivery should be done in a flexible and iterative manner and with significant
collaboration with product owners and customers. In our experience agile methodologies have
witnessed an exponential growth in many diverse software organizations, and the various agile PM tools
and techniques will continue to see an increase in adoption in the software development sector.
Reflecting on these changes, there is a critical need to accommodate best practices and current methodologies in our courses that deliver Project Management content. In this paper we analyse two of the most widely used methodologies for traditional and agile software development – the widely used
ISO/PMBOK standard provided by the Project Management Institute and the well-accepted Scrum
framework. We discuss how to overcome curriculum challenges and deliver a quality undergraduate PM
course for a Computer Science and Information systems curricula. Based on our teaching experience
in Europe and North America, we present a comprehensive comparison of the two approaches. Our research covers the main concepts, processes, and roles associated with the two PM frameworks and recommended learning outcomes. The paper should be of value to instructors who are keen to see their computing students graduate with a sound understanding of current PM methodologies and who can deliver real-world software products.Accepted manuscrip
An agile business process and practice meta-model
Business Process Management (BPM) encompasses the discovery, modelling, monitoring, analysis and improvement of business processes. Limitations of traditional BPM approaches in addressing changes in business requirements have resulted in a number of agile BPM approaches that seek to accelerate the redesign of business process models. Meta-models are a key BPM feature that reduce the ambiguity of business process models. This paper describes a meta-model supporting the agile version of the Business Process and Practice Alignment Methodology (BPPAM) for business process improvement, which captures process information from actual work practices. The ability of the meta-model to achieve business process agility is discussed and compared with other agile meta-models, based on definitions of business process flexibility and agility found in the literature. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V
An agile business process improvement methodology
Adoption of business process improvement strategies are now a concern of most organisations. Organisations are still facing challenges and finding transient solutions to immediate problems. The misalignment between IT solutions and organisational aspects evolves across space and time showing discrepancies. Unfortunately, existing business process approaches are not according with continuous business process improvement involving business stakeholders. Considering this limitation in well-known Business Process (BP) methodologies, this paper presents a comparative study of some approaches and introduces agility in the Business Process and Practice Alignment Methodology (BPPAM). Our intention is to present observed problems in existing approaches and introduce agility in our proposal to address features, like the alignment between daily work practices and business process descriptions, in a simple and agile way. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V
<i>Trace++</i>: A Traceability Approach for Agile Software Engineering
Agile methodologies have been introduced as an alternative to traditional software engineering methodologies. However, despite the advantages of using agile methodologies, the transition between traditional and agile methodologies is not an easy task. There are several problems associated with the use of agile methodologies. Examples of these problems are related to (i) lack of metrics to measure the amount of rework that occurs per sprint, (ii) interruption of a project after several iterations, (iii) changes in the requirements, (iv) lack of documentation, and (v) lack of management control. In this paper we present Trace++, a traceability technique that extends traditional traceability relationships with extra information in order to support the transition between traditional and agile software development. The use of Trace++ has been evaluated in two real projects of different software development companies to measure the benefits of using Trace++ to support agile software development
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Harnessing agile concepts for the development of intelligent systems
Traditional and current approaches to intelligent systems design, have led to the creation of sophisticated and computationally-intensive packages and environments, for a wide range of applications. This paper proposes methods with which to extend the functionality of such systems, borrowing knowledge management concepts from the field of Agile Manufacturing. As such, this paper proposes that the future of intelligent systems design should be based not only upon the continuing development of artificial intelligence techniques, but also effective methods for harnessing human skills and core competencies to achieve these aims
Migrating agile methods to standardized development practice
Situated process and quality frame-works offer a way to resolve the tensions that arise when introducing agile methods into standardized software development engineering. For these to be successful, however, organizations must grasp the opportunity to reintegrate software development management, theory, and practice
Safety-Critical Systems and Agile Development: A Mapping Study
In the last decades, agile methods had a huge impact on how software is
developed. In many cases, this has led to significant benefits, such as quality
and speed of software deliveries to customers. However, safety-critical systems
have widely been dismissed from benefiting from agile methods. Products that
include safety critical aspects are therefore faced with a situation in which
the development of safety-critical parts can significantly limit the potential
speed-up through agile methods, for the full product, but also in the
non-safety critical parts. For such products, the ability to develop
safety-critical software in an agile way will generate a competitive advantage.
In order to enable future research in this important area, we present in this
paper a mapping of the current state of practice based on {a mixed method
approach}. Starting from a workshop with experts from six large Swedish product
development companies we develop a lens for our analysis. We then present a
systematic mapping study on safety-critical systems and agile development
through this lens in order to map potential benefits, challenges, and solution
candidates for guiding future research.Comment: Accepted at Euromicro Conf. on Software Engineering and Advanced
Applications 2018, Prague, Czech Republi
Flexible Global Software Development (GSD): Antecedents of Success in Requirements Analysis
Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements change, facilitation by vendor and client site-coordinators, control, and computer-mediated communication. The impact of these factors on success of requirements analysis projects in a “flexible” global setting is tested using two quasi-experiments involving students from Management Development Institute, India and Marquette University, USA. Results indicate that formal modes of control significantly influence project success during requirements analysis. Further, facilitation by both client and vendor site coordinators positively impacts requirements analysis success
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