2 research outputs found
Investigating the relationship between software process improvement, situational change, and business success in software SMEs
While we have learned a great deal from Software Process Improvement (SPI) research to date, no earlier study has been designed from the outset to examine the relationship between SPI and business success in software development small- to- medium- sized companies (software SMEs). Since business processes are generally acknowledged as having an important role to play in supporting business success, it follows that the software development process (a large and complex component of the overall business process) has an important contribution to make in supporting business success in software development companies. However, to date we have very little evidence regarding the role of SPI in supporting business success, especially for software SMEs.
The need for SPI is dependent on the extent of situational change in a software development setting, and therefore any examination of the relationship between SPI and business success would be deficient if it did not also examine the extent of situational change. Therefore, this thesis describes a novel approach to examining SPI, situational change and business success in software development companies. Furthermore, having discharged this new approach to 15 software SMEs, this thesis makes the important new discovery that the amount of SPI implemented in a software SME is positively associated with the extent of business success – especially when the degree of situational change is taken into account.
This thesis describes the first published study to examine the relationship between SPI, situational change and business success in software SMEs. The findings suggest that there are business benefits to implementing SPI in software SMEs, with the degree of situational change being an important factor informing SPI initiatives. Furthermore, this research has yielded valuable new insights into the nature of SPI, situational change and business success in software SMEs
Referencial de apoio à seleção de standards para organizações de desenvolvimento de software : caso de estudo da plataforma DeGóis
Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de InformaçãoOs standards estão presentes no dia-a-dia das organizações há bastante tempo, sendo a sua
importância amplamente reconhecida. A engenharia de software também envolve standards, os
chamados standards de Tecnologias de Informação (TI). Estes standards são um instrumento
privilegiado para fornecer credibilidade às organizações de desenvolvimento de software. Desde os
anos 70, estes têm vindo a sofrer significativos aumentos, sobreposições e fragmentações. Isto
dificulta o processo de seleção dos standards de TI a adotar, num cenário chamado por muitos de
“pântano”. A literatura é insuficiente e demasiado descritiva nas tentativas de estudar este problema.
É neste contexto que se justifica a realização desta dissertação, para propor um referencial para
organização dos standards de TI. Este referencial visa ajudar as organizações de desenvolvimento de
software a decidirem que standards adotar, quer para software genérico quer para aplicações web.
O questionário exploratório a 431 profissionais sugere que menos de 50% das organizações
de desenvolvimento de software adotam formalmente standards. Este instrumento e a revisão da
literatura permitiram identificar variáveis que afetam a adoção de standards, como por exemplo a
correlação positiva entre a adoção de standards e o número de médias e grandes organizações.
Os standards de TI “mais recorrentes”, resultantes desta investigação, são: Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI); International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001; Control
Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT); Information Technology Infrastructure
Library (ITIL); e Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
O referencial proposto é composto por 8 passos. O seu mapa concetual é baseado em
fatores críticos de sucesso (FCS). Os resultados obtidos sugerem que: o CMMI cobre idealmente a
maioria dos FCS da “gestão de projetos” e do “processo de desenvolvimento”; o ISO 9001 cobre
idealmente FCS como gestão de recursos, qualidade do produto e satisfação dos utilizadores; e o
WCAG20 cobre sobretudo FCS relacionados com a aplicação web, com foco em usabilidade e
navegação. O contexto da plataforma DeGóis é utilizado como caso de estudo para validação deste
referencial.Standards have been present in organizations’ day-to-day for a long time, and its importance
is widely recognized. Software engineering also involves standards, the so-called Information
Technology (IT) standards. These standards are a privileged instrument to provide credibility to
software development organizations. Since the 70s, these have been undergoing significant
increases, overlap and fragmentation. This complicates the selection process of the IT standards to
adopt, in a scenario which many call the "swamp". Literature is insufficient and too descriptive when
attempting to study this problem. It is in this context that justifies the need for this dissertation, to
propose a roadmap for organizing the IT standards. This roadmap aims to help software development
organizations decide which standards to adopt for both generic software and web applications.
The exploratory survey to 431 professionals suggests that less than 50% of software
development organizations formally adopted standards. This tool together with literature review
allowed for the identification of variables that affect the adoption of IT standards, such as the positive
correlation between the adoption of standards and the number of medium and large organizations.
The resulting "more common" IT standards from this research are: Capability Maturity Model
Integration (CMMI); International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001; Control Objectives for
Information and Related Technology (COBIT); Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL); and
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
The proposed roadmap consists in 8 steps. Its conceptual map is based on critical success
factors (CSF). The results suggest that: CMMI ideally covers most of the CSF of “project
management" and the "development process"; ISO 9001 covers ideally CSF as asset management,
product quality and user satisfaction; and WCAG20 covers mainly CSF related to web application, with
focus on usability and navigation. The context of the DeGóis platform is used as a case study for
validation of this roadmap