Software process improvement in a medium-sized company

For many organisations, software is a crucial component of their business as it provides a competitive advantage over other organisations. Hence, they are very keen to ensure that the software they employ is not only reliable and defect-free, but also cost-effective to produce and maintain. That is, organisations desire the highest quality of software, but at a minimum cost and time. Research into software engineering has shown that by improving software development or maintenance processes, there can be an improvement to the software quality. This thesis describes how software process improvement has been implemented in a medium-sized company where software is used to automate manufacturing processes. Prior to this study, there had not been any form of software process improvement in the company, although they followed company standards and procedures that have been in place for over a decade. The aim of this study is to use software development and maintenance projects in the company as cases for process improvement initiatives. Each case provides evidence in support of a hypothesis that is associated with it. For each case study, the problem is assessed, a diagnosis has been researched and actions have been taken based on that research. Each hypothesis is evaluated at the end of the thesis followed by conclusions of the whole research. The principle outcome of this research is that software practices of a medium-sized company can be improved using small-scale software process improvement. Using the CMM as a guide, software process initiatives were implemented to address specific areas of software engineering, i.e. maintenance, testing, planning and control, requirements management, and testing. Efforts have been made to raise the company's maturity in the CMM with respect to these areas. Collectively, the case studies achieve improvement of software practices by way of applying software process improvement in a systematic manner - in this case the IDEAL framework from the CMM

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

Adaptación de un proceso de desarrollo de software basado en buenas prácticas

Este proyecto presenta la construcción de un proceso de desarrollo de software para el área de sistemas de Comfamiliar Risaralda mediante la selección de las mejores prácticas obtenidas de las metodologías de Scrum, XP e ICONIX, tomando como marco de referencia al modelo de mejora y evaluación Capability maturity model integration para desarrollo (CMMI-DEV 1.3). Para este fin se evaluó el proceso actual, comparándolo con las prácticas ágiles provenientes de las metodologías, seleccionando las de mayor posibilidad de mejora, luego se diseñó el nuevo proceso usando estas prácticas seleccionadas. El nuevo proceso propuesto fue aplicado en una prueba piloto dentro de la institución y luego fue evaluado con respecto a CMMI como se hizo inicialmente para las metodologías ágiles mencionadas. Se obtuvo finalmente una matriz de comparación frente a CMMI en el cual se puede evaluar cualquier método o proceso de desarrollo, y un proceso estructurado de software formalmente definido mediante la herramienta Eclipse Process Framework. Se observa una mejora en el cumplimiento de prácticas frente a CMMI del 25% con respecto al proceso anterior aunque se encuentran dificultades al aplicar prácticas relacionadas con documentación extensiva y toma de medidasThis project presents the construction of a software development process for the área of Comfamiliar Risaralda systems by selecting the best practices obtained from Scrum, XP and ICONIX methodologies, taking as a framework of reference to the improvement and evaluation model Capability maturity model integration for development (CMMI-DEV 1.3). For this purpose, the current process was evaluated, comparing it with agile practices from methodologies, selecting those with the greatest possibility of improvement, then the new process was designed using these practices selected. The new proposed process was applied in a pilot test within the institution and was then evaluated against CMMI as was initially done for Agile methodologies mentioned. A comparison matrix was finally obtained against to CMMI in which any development method or process can be evaluated, and a structured software process formally defined using the Eclipse tool Process Framework. An improvement is observed in compliance with practices compared to CMMI 25% compared to the previous process although difficulties are encountered when applying practices related to extensive documentation and taking measurements

Measuring Software Process: A Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Measurement is essential to reach predictable performance and high capability processes. It provides support for better understanding, evaluation, management, and control of the development process and project, as well as the resulting product. It also enables organizations to improve and predict its process’s performance, which places organizations in better positions to make appropriate decisions. Objective: This study aims to understand the measurement of the software development process, to identify studies, create a classification scheme based on the identified studies, and then to map such studies into the scheme to answer the research questions. Method: Systematic mapping is the selected research methodology for this study. Results: A total of 462 studies are included and classified into four topics with respect to their focus and into three groups based on the publishing date. Five abstractions and 64 attributes were identified, 25 methods/models and 17 contexts were distinguished. Conclusion: capability and performance were the most measured process attributes, while effort and performance were the most measured project attributes. Goal Question Metric and Capability Maturity Model Integration were the main methods and models used in the studies, whereas agile/lean development and small/medium-size enterprise were the most frequently identified research contexts.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2- RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

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

Nurturing the acorn: helping a small software company onto the CMM ladder

We report on an interaction between a University and a small software development company within the framework of a Teaching Company Scheme. By exploiting the peculiar environment offered by a TCS, the University was able to help the company introduce measures to improve their software development process. Not only have these measures moved the company from level 1 to level 2 of the Capability Maturity Model; they are doubtless also responsible, at least in part, for the company's survival. The fundamental features of the environment which supported this success are discussed, and it is suggested how the approach might be applied elsewhere, either within or independently of a funding framework such as TCS

Designing a consulting services architecture model

textDuring my years of experience in the technology industry, it has become obvious that standard processes and methodologies within the engineering discipline are at a mature state. The realization though is that software engineering specifically lags behind. Most software engineering methodologies that I have studied focus on the mission of software development. It is this realization and the need for structure that led me to review existing methodologies used within my company's software services organization. The definition of what a successful software services methodology entails is rather limited. This report will provide a history of existing software engineering methodologies that I have studied, describe an initial services method that was being developed within my organization, develop a new model that addresses previous shortcomings and identify additional components required to further define a strong software services-oriented delivery methodology.Electrical and Computer Engineerin