1,145 research outputs found

    An Integrated Six-Sigma and CMMI framework for software process improvement

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    A process improvement framework such as Capability Maturity Model (CMM) can help develop the maturity of a software development organization over time to achieve predictable and repeatable process performance. However, in the absence of a methodology for process performance measurement, ongoing data-oriented process improvement is hard to institutionalize. For organizations following CMMI, this makes navigating their way through higher-level process management and optimization activities called forth in CMMI Level 4 and Level 5 especially challenging. Altogether, this constitutes a major stumbling block for software organizations striving for higher process maturity as Level 4 and Level 5 Process Areas are essential to institutionalizing process improvement in an organization. Six-Sigma introduces tremendous process measurability through its statistical error-control focus and offers compelling tools and techniques that have strong applicability to software development. Six-Sigma focus on data and metrics married with the CMMI coverage of all aspects of software development through its Process Areas can together provide a powerful process control and improvement framework. A CMMI and Six-Sigma hybrid framework has been presented as a means of achieving software development performance and productivity improvements through statistical error control. Such a hybrid CMMI and Six Sigma framework provides not just greater guidance and rigor in certain areas than CMMI alone but also an inherent flexibility by making an extensive toolset available for use in a wide variety of scenarios. This integrated framework demonstrates that CMMI and Six Sigma are highly complementary and are capable of adding greater value when used in conjunction with each other. This is partly because together they address the weaknesses that may become apparent when either framework is used alone. Six Sigma answers the \u27how\u27 for areas where CMMI only provides the \u27what\u27. Conversely, CMMI provides the overall vision and roadmap that is lacking from individual Six Sigma improvements. It is hoped that this will serve as a blueprint for an implementation of CMMI that makes use of relevant Six Sigma tools and techniques

    Intertwined Relationships between Systems Analysis & Design and Software Engineering

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    Systems Analysis & Design (SA&D) and Software Engineering (SE) are two comparable subjects taught in two different educational disciplines. SA&D is focused on developing an information system, while SE is focused on developing a software. Although only one course exists on SA&D, various courses are available in the field of Software Engineering. However,both of them discuss the same process models to develop a system or software. An information system cannot be built withoutbuilding a software. So why the need exist to address various subject areas within Software Engineering as compared to a single course in SA&D? What is the relationship between the two subject areasand what are differences? Our analysis shows that although the process models are same in both cases; however, focusing on the ‘quality’ of software is the key factor in the area of software engineering, whereas the organization of the chapters according to the water fall model is a major factor in the SA&D texts. We have identified that in addition to selecting a process model, a software engineer needs to focus on five Quality Management metrics (5QMMs) to develop a quality software. Furthermore, traditionally, SA&D was focused on developing business systems while SE was focused on developing large, complex, embedded, and real-time systems. However, this trend is changing in today’s software market, which is dominated by large business systems rather than traditional technical and governmental systems. As such, both SA&D and SE texts are verging towards a common direction to address the complex business needs of the information systems where big dollars are spent in the ever-growing market of demand and supply.Thus the SE texts should continue to address the topics that relate to large business systems including databases and web technologies. On the other hand, SA&D texts should continue to adapt many software engineering quality concepts and bring them in par with the SE texts.

    Analysis of engineering management characteristics employed in the defense industry

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    Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).An analysis of the engineering management characteristics present in companies in the defense industry was performed. These aspects include the organization characteristics of structure, hierarchy, and standards and procedures, as well as various features of company culture. This study revealed that the companies that make up most of the defense industry, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, have very similar organization characteristics. They mostly use a matrix structure to run their businesses. They exhibit group relationships, employ an intermediate degree of centralization, and issue a decreasing span of control with increasing power. Moreover, they follow the Department of Defense Acquisition Model, apply engineering management consistent with military standards, and use Capability Maturity Model Integration. However, defense companies are set apart by their cultures. Raytheon has the culture that is most conducive to running a successful company. It places a strong emphasis on its Six Sigma management philosophy, which is a major driving force for the whole organization's operations. Its culture also includes a great value placed on training and graduate education, a confident and customer-focused attitude, and a high regard for ethics. This has led it to have a net income per employee of $23,000 in 2008, the highest out of all four contractors. It also has the highest gross profit margin and revenue growth. While Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman also exhibit positive company culture traits, they do not measure up to Raytheon's. The differences in culture have influenced each company's position in the market.by Sara S. Gutierrez.S.B

    A Comparison of Communication Practices in Hazing and Domestic Violence Situations

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    Hazing is an extremely dangerous practice that has plagued society for thousands of years. Despite its extensive history, meaningful solutions are seriously lacking and instead the problem appears to be escalating in frequency and severity. By comparing hazing to domestic violence and using a social constructionist lens to examine the issue, this paper aims to propose solutions. Ultimately, the solution lies in a breaking of the cycle or disruption of the negative patterns in place. However, in order to accomplish this, changes are necessary both within the organizations that generally practice hazing and society

    Green BPM as a business-oriented discipline : a systematic mapping study and research agenda

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    Green Business Process Management (BPM) focuses on the ecological impact of business processes. This article provides a systematic mapping study of Green BPM literature to evaluate five attributes of the Green BPM research area: (1) scope, (2) disciplines, (3) accountability, (4) researchers and (5) quality control. The results allow developing a research agenda to enhance Green BPM as an approach for environmentally sustainable organizations. We rely on a dichotomy of knowledge production to present research directives relevant for both academics and practitioners in order to help close a rigor-relevance gap. The involvement of both communities is crucial for Green BPM to advance as an applied, business-oriented discipline

    Framework of Six Sigma implementation analysis on SMEs in Malaysia for information technology services, products and processes

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    For the past two decades, the majority of Malaysia’s IT companies have been widely adopting a Quality Assurance (QA) approach as a basis for self-improvement and internal-assessment in IT project management. Quality Control (QC) is a comprehensive top-down observation approach used to fulfill requirements for quality outputs which focuses on the aspect of process outputs evaluation. However in the Malaysian context, QC and combination of QA and QC as a means of quality improvement approaches have not received significant attention. This research study aims to explore the possibility of integrating QC and QA+QC approaches through Six Sigma quality management standard to provide tangible and measureable business results by continuous process improvement to boost customer satisfactions. The research project adopted an exploratory case study approach on three Malaysian IT companies in the business area of IT Process, IT Service and IT Product. Semi-structured interviews, online surveys, self-administered questionnaires, job observations, document analysis and on-the-job-training are amongst the methodologies employed in these case studies. These collected data and viewpoints along with findings from an extensive literature review were used to benchmark quality improvement initiatives, best practices and to develop a Six Sigma framework for the context of the SMEs in the Malaysian IT industry. This research project contributed to both the theory and practice of implementing and integrating Six Sigma in IT products, services and processes. The newly developed framework has been proven capable of providing a general and fundamental start-up decision by demonstrating how a company with and without formal QIM can be integrated and implemented with Six Sigma practices to close the variation gap between QA and QC. This framework also takes into consideration those companies with an existing QIM for a new face-lift migration without having to drop their existing QIM. This can be achieved by integrating a new QIM which addresses most weaknesses of the current QIM while retaining most of the current business routine strengths. This framework explored how Six Sigma can be expanded and extended to include secondary external factors that are critical to successful QIM implementation. A vital segment emphasizes Six Sigma as a QA+QC approach in IT processes; and the ability to properly manage IT processes will result in overall performance improvement to IT Products and IT Services. The developed Six Sigma implementation framework can serve as a baseline for SMEs to better manage, control and track business performance and product quality; and at the same time creates clearer insights and un-biased views of Six Sigma implementation onto the IT industries to drive towards operational excellence

    Capability Maturity Model Integration (Cmmi) for Small Organizations

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    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

    Evaluation and Measurement of Software Process Improvement -- A Systematic Literature Review

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    BACKGROUND: Software Process Improvement (SPI) is a systematic approach to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a software development organization and to enhance software products. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to identify and characterize evaluation strategies and measurements used to assess the impact of different SPI initiatives. METHOD: The systematic literature review includes 148 papers published between 1991 and 2008. The selected papers were classified according to SPI initiative, applied evaluation strategies, and measurement perspectives. Potential confounding factors interfering with the evaluation of the improvement effort were assessed. RESULTS: Seven distinct evaluation strategies were identified, wherein the most common one, "Pre-Post Comparison" was applied in 49 percent of the inspected papers. Quality was the most measured attribute (62 percent), followed by Cost (41 percent), and Schedule (18 percent). Looking at measurement perspectives, "Project" represents the majority with 66 percent. CONCLUSION: The evaluation validity of SPI initiatives is challenged by the scarce consideration of potential confounding factors, particularly given that "Pre-Post Comparison" was identified as the most common evaluation strategy, and the inaccurate descriptions of the evaluation context. Measurements to assess the short and mid-term impact of SPI initiatives prevail, whereas long-term measurements in terms of customer satisfaction and return on investment tend to be less used

    Framework of Six Sigma implementation analysis on SMEs in Malaysia for information technology services, products and processes

    Get PDF
    For the past two decades, the majority of Malaysia’s IT companies have been widely adopting a Quality Assurance (QA) approach as a basis for self-improvement and internal-assessment in IT project management. Quality Control (QC) is a comprehensive top-down observation approach used to fulfill requirements for quality outputs which focuses on the aspect of process outputs evaluation. However in the Malaysian context, QC and combination of QA and QC as a means of quality improvement approaches have not received significant attention. This research study aims to explore the possibility of integrating QC and QA+QC approaches through Six Sigma quality management standard to provide tangible and measureable business results by continuous process improvement to boost customer satisfactions. The research project adopted an exploratory case study approach on three Malaysian IT companies in the business area of IT Process, IT Service and IT Product. Semi-structured interviews, online surveys, self-administered questionnaires, job observations, document analysis and on-the-job-training are amongst the methodologies employed in these case studies. These collected data and viewpoints along with findings from an extensive literature review were used to benchmark quality improvement initiatives, best practices and to develop a Six Sigma framework for the context of the SMEs in the Malaysian IT industry. This research project contributed to both the theory and practice of implementing and integrating Six Sigma in IT products, services and processes. The newly developed framework has been proven capable of providing a general and fundamental start-up decision by demonstrating how a company with and without formal QIM can be integrated and implemented with Six Sigma practices to close the variation gap between QA and QC. This framework also takes into consideration those companies with an existing QIM for a new face-lift migration without having to drop their existing QIM. This can be achieved by integrating a new QIM which addresses most weaknesses of the current QIM while retaining most of the current business routine strengths. This framework explored how Six Sigma can be expanded and extended to include secondary external factors that are critical to successful QIM implementation. A vital segment emphasizes Six Sigma as a QA+QC approach in IT processes; and the ability to properly manage IT processes will result in overall performance improvement to IT Products and IT Services. The developed Six Sigma implementation framework can serve as a baseline for SMEs to better manage, control and track business performance and product quality; and at the same time creates clearer insights and un-biased views of Six Sigma implementation onto the IT industries to drive towards operational excellence
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