945 research outputs found
Agile, Web Engineering and Capability Maturity ModelI ntegration : A systematic literature review
Context
Agile approaches are an alternative for organizations developing software, particularly for those who develop Web applications. Besides, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) models are well-established approaches focused on assessing the maturity of an organization that develops software. Web Engineering is the field of Software Engineering responsible for analyzing and studying the specific characteristics of the Web. The suitability of an Agile approach to help organizations reach a certain CMMI maturity level in Web environments will be very interesting, as they will be able to keep the ability to quickly react and adapt to changes as long as their development processes get mature.
Objective
This paper responds to whether it is feasible or not, for an organization developing Web systems, to achieve a certain maturity level of the CMMI-DEV model using Agile methods.
Method
The proposal is analyzed by means of a systematic literature review of the relevant approaches in the field, defining a characterization schema in order to compare them to introduce the current state-of-the-art.
Results
The results achieved after the systematic literature review are presented, analyzed and compared against the defined schema, extracting relevant conclusions for the different dimensions of the problem: compatibility, compliance, experience, maturity and Web.
Conclusion
It is concluded that although the definition of an Agile approach to meet the different CMMI maturity levels goals could be possible for an organization developing Web systems, there is still a lack of detailed studies and analysis on the field
A hierarchy of SPI activities for software SMEs: results from ISO/IEC 12207-based SPI assessments
In an assessment of software process improvement (SPI) in 15 software small- and –medium-sized enterprises (software SMEs), we applied the broad spectrum of software specific and system context processes in ISO/IEC 12207 to the task of examining SPI in practice. Using the data collected in the study, we developed a four-tiered pyramidal hierarchy of SPI for software SMEs, with processes in the higher tiers undergoing SPI in more companies than processes on lower level tiers. The development of the hierarchy of SPI activities for software SMEs can facilitate future evolutions of process maturity reference frameworks, such as ISO/IEC 15504, in better supporting software development in software SMEs. Furthermore, the findings extend our body of knowledge concerning the practice of SPI in software SMEs, a large and vital sector of the software development community that has largely avoided the implementation of established process maturity and software quality management standards
Managerial commitment towards SPI in small and very small enterprises
This paper compares and contrasts the results of two similar studies into the software process practices in Irish Small and Very Small Enterprises. The first study contains rich findings in relation to the role and influence of managerial experience and style, with particular respect to the company founder and software development managers in small to medium seized enterprises (SMEs), whilst the second study contains extensive findings in relation to people and management involvement / commitment and SPI goal planning in very small enterprises (VSEs). By combining these results of these two studies of Irish SMEs/VSEs we can develop a rich picture of managerial commitment towards SPI and in particular explore the similarities between Small and Very Small Enterprises
Capability Maturity Model Integration (Cmmi) for Small Organizations
Software Process Improvement (SPI) is a large area of expertise that deals with software development standard processes and is a progression of proven methods of process improvement from many different methodologies. Personal Software Process (PSP) and Team Software Process (TSP) complement the implementation of Capability Maturity Model Implementation (CMMI) and can be applied gradually from the individual, to the team, and then to the organization. These solutions from Carnegie Melon\u27s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) are leading edge for the field of process improvement. Solutions like this consume many resources, are very complex, require years to implement, and can be costly. The SEI solutions offer an industry standard for SPI. Three case studies were analyzed to provide insight into the benefits of CMMI for small organizations. Decisions that steer these solutions generally involve scheduling, quality, and cost. Depending on the individual needs of an organization, the CMMI technology can fulfill what is required. The example case studies were examined and concluded that given favorable conditions, implementing CMMI is feasible for small organizations
Unleashing the Effectiveness of Process-oriented Information Systems: Problem Analysis, Critical Success Factors, Implications
Process-oriented information systems (IS) aim at the computerized support of business processes. So far, contemporary IS have often fail to meet this goal. To better understand this drawback, to systematically identify its rationales, and to derive critical success factors for business process support, we conducted three empirical studies: an exploratory case study in the automotive domain, an online survey among 79 IT professionals, and another online survey among 70 business process management (BPM) experts. This paper summarizes the findings of these studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that "process-orientation" is scarce and "process-awareness" is needed in IS engineering
7P. A Preliminary Study of the Use of Software Process Improvement Initiatives in Jamaica
Despite the acknowledged strides that information and communications technologies (ICT) have made, the information systems (IS) community has been plagued with the delivery of low quality information systems (IS). This phenomenon gave rise to a variety of software process improvement (SPI) interventions, aimed at reducing variability in the software production process, as a precursor to improving IS quality. However, SPI initiatives have targeted fairly large organizations and SPI research has been conducted mainly in developed countries, and very little in developing countries and smaller organizations such as those in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean. We sought in this research to ascertain the level of awareness and intention to use SPI programs in Jamaican software development firms. Preliminary indications of our study revealed that a large majority of these firms are not aware of SPI programs; neither do they intend to adopt any form of SPI effort in the near future. Our findings provided the basis to support the claim for future research to explore the underlying causes for this lack of awareness and non-adoption of SPI programs among Jamaican firms
Validating adequacy and suitability of business-IT alignment criteria in an inter-enterprise maturity model
Aligning requirements of a business with its information technology is currently a major issue in enterprise computing. Existing literature indicates important criteria to judge the level of alignment between business and IT within a single enterprise. However, identifying such criteria in an inter-enterprise setting – or re-thinking the existing ones – is hardly addressed at all. Business-IT alignment in such settings poses new challenges, as in inter-enterprise collaborations, alignment is driven by economic processes instead of centralized decision-making processes. In our research, we develop a maturity model for business-IT alignment in inter-enterprise settings that takes this difference into account. In this paper, we report on a multi-method approach we devised to confront the validation of the business-IT alignment criteria that we included in the maturity model. As independent feedback is critical for our validation, we used a focus group session and a case study as instruments to take the first step in validating the business-IT alignment criteria. We present how we applied our approach, what we learnt, and what the implications were for our model
Software Development Standard and Software Engineering Practice: A Case Study of Bangladesh
Improving software process to achieve high quality in a software development
organization is the key factor to success. Bangladeshi software firms have not
experienced much in this particular area in comparison to other countries. The
ISO 9001 and CMM standard has become a basic part of software development. The
main objectives of our study are: 1) To understand the software development
process uses by the software developer firms in Bangladesh 2) To identify the
development practices based on established quality standard and 3) To establish
a standardized and coherent process for the development of software for a
specific project. It is revealed from this research that software industries of
Bangladesh are lacking in target set for software process and improvement,
involvement of quality control activities, and standardize business expertise
practice. This paper investigates the Bangladeshi software industry in the
light of the above challenges.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 11 table
The adoption of software process improvement (SPI) program in the construction industry
Integrating the design process and automating the construction process are
called for in the Industrialised Building System (IBS) Roadmap 2003-2010
and the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP) 2006-2015. Hence, the
industry needs to improve the construction delivery process by having as many
processes utilizing advanced IT/ICT technologies. With a goal of producing
zero product failure and meeting the users’ requirement satisfaction, this is
an initial study into automating the construction tasks by studying a systematic
process management commonly used for software implementation. We present
a feasibility study on the use of a Software Process Improvement (SPI) Program
in an IT organization—assuming that the construction organization will
become an implementer of computer-integrated procedures in the future. Based
on a case study conducted at a local IT software company, it documents the
implementation of a SPI program to improve the internal software process
development. The study uses the Capability Maturity Model Integration
(CMMI) from Software Engineering Institute as SPI framework and IDEAL
model-SPI life cycle model for executing and managing SPI program. Results
show that the SPI Program model is successful in terms of the IT organization
increasing its work productivity, high end-user product satisfaction and
reduction of software defects. The paper concludes with discussions on how
we can bridge computer science approach into the construction industry,
thereby contributing to the development of future theoretical and application
methodologies towards applying IT/ICT initiatives in the local construction
industry
Exploring Organizations\u27 Software Quality Assurance Strategies
Poor software quality leads to lost profits and even loss of life. U.S. organizations lose billions of dollars annually because of poor software quality. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that quality assurance (QA) leaders in small software development organizations used for successful software quality assurance (SQA) processes. A case study provided the best research design to allow for the exploration of organizational and managerial processes. The target population group was the QA leaders of 3 small software development organizations who successfully implemented SQA processes, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The conceptual framework that grounded this study was total quality management (TQM) established by Deming in 1980. Face-to-face semistructured interviews with 2 QA leaders from each organization and documentation including process and training materials provided all the data for analysis. NVivo software aided a qualitative analysis of all collected data using a process of disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and concluding the data. The resulting major themes were Agile practices, documentation, testing, and lost profits. The results were in contrast to the main themes discovered in the literature review, although there was some overlap. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide QA leaders with the strategies to improve SQA processes, thereby allowing for improved profits, contributing to the organizations\u27 longevity in business, and strengthening the local economy
- …