Software Quality Skills in CMM-Based Development Environments

This paper examines the complex software development environment in which IS professionals commonly function today. Skills and competencies appropriate to this environment are increasingly related to managing change and adopting change agent roles. These skills and competencies are discussed in relation to complex and changing environments. Asurvey of IS professionals evaluates their perceptions of the importance of these competencies and their own capability in these areas. Observations and conclusions in this paper are primarily drawn from research on organizations that have initiated software process improvement initiatives (McGuire 1996a; 1996b; 1997)

Relationship between food industries maturity and quality certification

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the PDP (Product Development Process) maturity level in the food industry to identify the compatibility status of their quality certification and their maturity level.Design/methodology/approach: A bibliographical review was conducted about product development, maturity process, and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). An adapted method from CMMI was used, which allows evaluating the level of maturity, through a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were applied in five companies of this industry and then, an analysis of the information obtained in each company was carried out and compared, aiming to understand the sector maturity.Findings: After conducting the interviews in each company, the median of each group of questions was calculated, according to the methodology described. Data collected from this sector show consistency between certification time and maturity level. Research limitations/implications: Due to the low number of respondents, this data cannot be generalized to this sector, being considered only an indication of the situation of the food industry located in Curitiba region. Practical implications: This study shows the relationship between the maturity level of food industry and ISO 9001 quality certification. The study shows that for the company to obtain an ISO certification, it must have been at least maturity level 2, highlighting, as well, the main deficiencies of this sector. Originality/value: The original value is to show the relationship between the maturity level of food industry and ISO 9001 quality certification

Toward a Maturity Model for DSS Development Processes

Despite recent progress with Decision support systems (DSS) development methodologies, a gap still exist in terms of theability to assess the maturity of an organization with respect to its DSS development process. A need exist to be able todescribe DSS development processes at a meta-level. Equally important is the ability to provide organization withprescriptions to increase the maturity of their DSS development processes.In this paper, we propose a Decision Support System Maturity Model (DSS-MM). The model draws on extant literaturerelated to DSS development methodologies, practices and processes to identify pertinent DSS development practices anddefine maturity models for these practices. From a theoretical perspective, this research presents the first maturity modelspecifically targeting DSS development. From a practical perspective, the model provides a framework for organizations toassess their DSS development maturity level and devise process improvement initiatives to address any limitations withexisting practices

An analysis on key factors of Agile Project Management

Agile software development is a new method for developing and implementing software. It depends more on ad hoc approaches to planning and control in favor of the more organic processes of teamwork and mutual education. After reviewing several case studies of business initiatives, this chapter defines and describes agile project management. It discusses the historical context of the shift from conventional management's emphasis on top-down supervision and process standardization to agile's emphasis on self-managing teams, with all of the advantages and complications it entails. In this section, you will study the four cornerstones of agile project management: minimal critical specification, self-organizing teams, redundancy, and feedback and learning

A task based manufacturing knowledge maintenance method

The effective use of computer based tools to support decision making in manufacturing industry is critical to business success. One of the most critical areas is during product design and especially in design for manufacture. This research will help in understanding of how manufacturing knowledge can be effectively maintained for an existing knowledge base. The work will use modern product lifecycle management tools in combination with a knowledge based environment in order to explore the effectiveness of the methods produced. This work is a part of the SAMULET (Strategic Affordable Manufacturing in the UK through Leading Environmental Technologies) research program and was done in association with an aerospace manufacturing company. The main focus of this research is to define a novel method for maintaining the machining knowledge associated with manufacturing of Xtra Wide Body (XWB) High Pressure (HP) turbine blade. The four main elements explained in this thesis are, a) the literature review done on knowledge management and knowledge maintenance, b) industrial investigation done on a manufacturing facility, c) detailed explanation of a novel manufacturing knowledge maintenance method d) four iterative case studies used for the evaluation and iterative improvement of the method. The research concludes that the aspect of knowledge maintenance is important. It is imperative to set out a formalised and mandated knowledge maintenance process in an organisation to keep the knowledge up-to-date and relevant. It has been shown that a novel task based knowledge maintenance method comprising a Knowledge Maintenance Process (KMP) and a Knowledge Maintenance Template (KMT) provides an effective route to knowledge maintenance. Three maintenance tasks, check relevancy, knowledge filtering, and integrity checking have been considered in detail for successful knowledge maintenance. Four iterative case studies have been conducted for the experimental evaluation of the maintenance method. As the result of these evaluations a novel method for maintaining the machining knowledge of XWB HP turbine blade was defined

Realizing Business Benefits from Company IT Standardization: Case Study Research into the Organizational Value of IT Standards, Towards a Company IT Standardization Management Framework.

From a practical point of view, this research provides insight into how company IT standards affect business process performance. Furthermore it gives recommendations on how to govern and manage such standards successfully with regard to their selection, implementation and usage. After evaluating this research Business may wish to reconsider the way it currently views the value of company IT standards and the manner with which it deals with them.

Offshore Outsourcing: Is This Change in Corporate American Business as Smooth as What You Have Read?

The software industry is one of the fastest growing industries in today\u27s business world. The focus seems to be on the software industry now because there are so many other industries such as online retailers that are reliant on software and the information technology world. The purpose of this thesis is to extend the knowledge on current practices, methods and processes when application development is outsourced to offshore vendors. This thesis will also examine key steps to avoid when looking to outsource an application development project. Numerous risks will be discussed as well as the processes to be implemented and followed to abate these risks. Offshore development projects tend to have more risk, than do onshore projects and, therefore, need to be more closely monitored to achieve the organization\u27s goal

Identifying Factors Contributing Towards Information Security Maturity in an Organization

Information security capability maturity (ISCM) is a journey towards accurate alignment of business and security objectives, security systems, processes, and tasks integrated with business-enabled IT systems, security enabled organizational culture and decision making, and measurements and continuous improvements of controls and governance comprising security policies, processes, operating procedures, tasks, monitoring, and reporting. Information security capability maturity may be achieved in five levels: performing but ad-hoc, managed, defined, quantitatively governed, and optimized. These five levels need to be achieved in the capability areas of information integrity, information systems assurance, business enablement, security processes, security program management, competency of security team, security consciousness in employees, and security leadership. These areas of capabilities lead to achievement of technology trustworthiness of security controls, integrated security, and security guardianship throughout the enterprise, which are primary capability domains for achieving maturity of information security capability in an organization. There are many factors influencing the areas of capabilities and the capability domains for achieving information security capability maturity. However, there is little existing study done on identifying the factors that contribute to achievement of the highest level of information security capability maturity (optimized) in an organization. This research was designed to contribute to this area of research gap by identifying the factors contributing to the areas of capabilities for achieving the highest level of information security capability maturity. The factors were grouped under the eight capability areas and the three capability domains in the form of an initial structural construct. This research was designed to collect data on all the factors using an online structured questionnaire and analyzing the reliability and validity of the initial structural construct following the methods of principal components analysis (PCA), Cronbach Alpha reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling. A number of multivariate statistical tests were conducted on the data collected regarding the factors to achieve an optimal model reflecting statistical significance, reliability, and validity. The research was conducted in four phases: expert panel and pilot study (first phase), principal component analysis (PCA) and reliability analysis (RA) of the factor scales (second phase), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using LISREL (third phase), and structural equation modeling (SEM) using LISREL (fourth phase). The final model subsequent to completing the four phases reflected acceptance or rejection of the eleven hypotheses defined in the initial structural construct of this study. The final optimized model was obtained with the most significant factors loading on the capability areas of information integrity, information security assurance, business enablement, security process maturity, security program management, competency of security team, security conscious employees, and security leadership, including the most significant factors loading the three capability domains of security technology trustworthiness, security integration, and security guardianship. All the eleven hypotheses were accepted as part of the optimal structural construct of the final model. The model provides a complex integrated framework of information security maturity requiring multi-functional advancements and maturity in processes, people, and technology, and organized security program management and communications fully integrated with the business programs and communications. Information security maturity is concluded as a complex function of multiple maturity programs in an organization leading to organized governance structures, multiple maturity programs, leadership, security consciousness, and risk-aware culture of employees