Web-based support for managing large collections of software artefacts

There has been a long history of CASE tool development, with an underlying software repository at the heart of most systems. Usually such tools, even the more recently web-based systems, are focused on supporting individual projects within an enterprise or across a number of distributed sites. Little support for maintaining large heterogeneous collections of software artefacts across a number of projects has been developed. Within the GENESIS project, this has been a key consideration in the development of the Open Source Component Artefact Repository (OSCAR). Its most recent extensions are explicitly addressing the provision of cross project global views of large software collections as well as historical views of individual artefacts within a collection. The long-term benefits of such support can only be realised if OSCAR is widely adopted and various steps to facilitate this are described

Leveraging Global Resources: A Process Maturity Framework for Managing Distributed Software Product Development

Distributed software development is pervasive in the software industry as companies vie to leverage global resources. However popular quality and process frameworks do not specifically address the key processes needed for managing distributed software development. We develop an evolutionary process maturity framework for globally distributed software development that incorporates 24 new key process areas essential for managing distributed software product development We test the validity of our process framework using data collected from more than sixty large, distributed enterprise product development projects. We believe we have laid new ground for software process research by extending generic quality process frameworks to address the distributed development scenario

Component trustworthiness in an enterprise software platform ecosystem

Enterprise software packages are increasingly designed as ex-tendable software platforms. These platforms are characterised by modular architecture that allows third parties to innovate and create value through the development of complementary applications. The development process of complementary applications from scratch is resource-intensive. One way of optimising the development process is by using the component-based software engineering (CBSE) approach that focuses on software reuse and suggests building applications with reusable components. There is a considerable amount of literature on CBSE; however, there has been little discussion on how component-based software engineering can strengthen third-party application development in the context of an enterprise software platform ecosystem. Specifically, it is unclear how the challenge of component trustworthiness can be addressed in this context. To explore this, we conducted a design science research(DSR) study to answer the following question: What are design principles pertaining to component trustworthiness for implementing a component repository that facilitates component reuse in an enterprise software platform ecosystem? In our study, we have explored the potential for component reuse in the ecosystem of the global health software platform DHIS2 by designing and developing a prototype component repository. Duringthe design and development process, two design principles were identi-fied: Principle of component trustworthiness and Principle of balanced certification. These principles are to guide researchers and practitioners on how a component repository can be implemented in the context of an enterprise software platform ecosystem

Comparing Chinese and the Indian Software MNCs: Domestic and Export Market Strategies and Their Interplay

China and India are emerging as major new entrants in the international software industry. Both are rapidly learning through outsourcing with multinational enterprises from advanced nations. Yet, their paths to this dynamic sector are very different. Chinese software firms have focused on their domestic market by working with foreign MNCs, while they move cautiously abroad. Indian firms, despite already being large, continue to expand overseas as well as to climb the value chain. We show that a macro perspective on the global movement of work can be gained by utilizing concepts from different approaches to the MNC. At the same time, the innovation systems perspective is necessary to explain the foundations of the industry. The paper provides hypotheses and performs an initial validation of them. It concludes that the internationalization and learning processes are somewhat different in the Chinese and Indian MNCs, and provides explanations for the different patterns.outsourcing, software industry, industrial development, MNCs, MNEs, multinational enterprise, China, India

Supporting Virtual Software Projects on the Web

A growing share of all software development project work is being done by geographically distributed teams. To satisfy shorter product design cycles, expert team members for a development project may need to be r ecruited globally. Yet to avoid extensive travelling or r eplacement costs, distributed project work is preferred. Current-generation software engineering tools and ass ociated systems, processes, and methods were for the most part developed to be used within a single enterprise. Major innovations have lately been introduced to enable groupware applications on the Internet to support global collaboration. However, their deployment for distributed software projects requires further research. In partic ular, groupware methods must seamlessly be integrated with project and product management systems to make them attractive for industry. In this position paper we outline the major challenges concerning distributed (virtual) software projects. Based on our experiences with software process modeling and enactment environments, we then propose approaches to solve those challenges

The Global Crisis as Digital Transformation Motivator: from Lifecycle Optimization to Efficient Implementation Series

It is generally known that software system development lifecycle (SSDL) should be managed adequately. The global economy crisis and subsequent depression have taught us certain lessons on the subject, which is so vital for digital transformation, for Industry 4.0. The paper presents the adaptive methodology of enterprise SSDL, which allows to avoid local crises while producing large-scale software. The methodology is based on extracting common ERP module level patterns and applying them to series of heterogeneous implementations. The approach includes a lifecycle model, which extends conventional spiral model by formal data representation/management models and DSL-based low-level CASE tools supporting the formalisms. The methodology has been successfully implemented as a series of portal-based ERP systems in ITERA oil-and-gas corporation, and in a number of trading/banking enterprise smart applications for other enterprises. Semantic network-based air traffic planning system, and a 6D-model-driven nuclear power plant construction support system are currently in progress

Leveraging global resources: A distributed process maturity framework for software product development

Distributed software development is pervasive in the software industry as companies vie to leverage global resources. However popular quality and process frameworks do not specifically address the key processes needed for managing distributed software development. We develop an evolutionary process maturity framework for globally distributed software development that incorporates 24 new key process areas essential for managing distributed software product development We test the validity of our process framework using data collected from more than sixty large, distributed enterprise product development projects. We believe we have laid new ground for software process research by extending generic quality process frameworks to address the distributed development scenario

An Approach to Addressing the Usability and Local Relevance of Generic Enterprise Software

Designing for usability and locally relevant features for end-users in generic ‘product’ or ‘packaged’ enterprise software projects is challenging. On the generic level, designers must aim at supporting variety, which is contradictory to the specificity needed to make user interfaces usable, and functionality relevant to end-users within specific organizational contexts. Also, addressing these concerns during the implementation of generic software is difficult due to limitations in the design flexibility of the software, time and resource constraints, possible maintenance issues following customization, and a lack of design methods appropriate for the context of software implementation. Reporting from an ongoing Action Design Research project following a global generic health software, this paper conceptualizes a Generic Software Design Lab that aims to equip design on the level of software implementation with flexibility, tools, and methods to efficiently localize generic software. By conceptualizing the approach and discussing how it works to strengthen implementation-level designers’ ability to address usability and local relevance, the paper contributes with learnings to research and practice related to design, development, and implementation of generic software