Issue Creator

In the constant development of the technological industry, when it comes to product development in terms of software development new trends tend to motivate the evolution of the software through the analysis of user feedback from issue tracking systems. This is because the ultimate success of any software and, as consequence, for any technology-driven company, falls on whether or not the developed solutions manage to fulfill the expectation of the final users. E-goi is a company that provides a platform for multi-channel marketing automation that allows the integration of multiple channels from SMS and voice messages to e-mail and webpush. When it comes to SaaS companies such as E-goi, user feedback becomes of extreme importance in order to improve its products and create value for both the user and the company. When managing user feedback, it is often important how it will be delivered to the development teams in such a way that the problem at hand becomes easily understood with the maximum information possible, to be able to replicate the bugs and to create new features for the product. This, of course, must be achieved with minimal impact when it comes to the analysis of the issues and consequent development. However, the gathering and consequent delivery of this feedback to the product development teams, in E-goi, can come with some problems in both information standardization and duplicate prevention and extra costs when generated by the used tools when pursuing the objective of allowing the entire company to provide said feedback as well. So, to solve this problem, E-goi decided to create a tool that allows all the collaborators to submit issues - the Issue Creator. Nevertheless, other described problems still need to be solved. Here, is where this project comes into play by developing a revamp of this platform and enabling the creation of standardized issue reports, issue duplication prevention, and the implementation of other features that involve the integration of different platforms to simplify the actions that are essential to the product development teams. In this report, an introduction to the identified problem is described, along with the objectives and methodology followed. After this, a full contextualization on how the E-goi organizational departments are distributed, with an emphasis on the product development department, and their processes in software development. Subsequently, an analysis of the value of the solution and the requirements gathered through the elicitation phase as part of the requirements engineering practice is made, passing by a detailed view of the proposed design to develop the platform. Finally, the developed platform was evaluated both from the technical aspect through tests and quality aspects comprehended by the users, by taking advantage of the stakeholder answers gathered from inquiries performed.Com o constante desenvolvimento da indústria tecnológica, quando se trata de desenvolvimento de produtos, mais concretamente em termos de desenvolvimento de software, as novas tendências tendem a motivar a evolução do software através da análise do feedback dos clientes reunido nos sistemas de gestão de tarefas. Isto deve-se essencialmente ao facto do sucesso de qualquer software e de qualquer empresa tecnológica, depender do facto das soluções desenvolvidas conseguirem ou não atender às expectativas dos utilizadores finais. A E-goi é uma empresa que disponibiliza uma plataforma de automação de marketing multicanal que permite a integração de múltiplos canais desde SMS e mensagens de voz a e-mail e webpush. No que concerne empresas SaaS como a E-goi, o feedback dos utilizadores torna-se de extrema importância para melhorar os seus produtos e criar valor tanto para o utilizador como para a empresa. Ao gerir o feedback do utilizador, muitas vezes é importante como ele será entregue às equipas de desenvolvimento, de forma a que o problema em questão seja facilmente entendido com o máximo de informações possível, aquando se tenta reproduzir os bugs reportados ou mesmo desenvolver novas funcionalidades. Isso, é claro, deve ser alcançado com o mínimo de impacto aquando a análise das issues e consequente desenvolvimento. No entanto, a recolha e consequente entrega deste feedback às equipas de desenvolvimento de produto, no E-goi, pode acarretar alguns problemas quer na uniformização da informação, quer na prevenção de duplicações e custos extra gerados pela utilização das ferramentas de gestão de issues pelos diversos colaboradores da empresa, de forma a permitir que estes também possam reportar novos problemas. Assim, para resolver esta problemática, a E-goi decidiu criar uma ferramenta que permitisse a todos os colaboradores submeterem novas issues - o Issue Creator. No entanto, outros problemas descritos ficaram por resolver. É aqui que entra este projeto, ao desenvolver uma reformulação desta plataforma e permitir a criação de relatórios de issues standerdizados, prevenção de duplicação de relatórios e a implementação de outras funcionalidades que envolvem a integração de diferentes plataformas, de forma a simplificar as ações que são essenciais para as equipes de desenvolvimento de produtos. Neste relatório é descrita uma introdução ao problema identificado, bem como os objetivos e a metodologia seguida. A seguir, é feita uma contextualização completa de como estão distribuídos os departamentos da E-goi, com ênfase no departamento de desenvolvimento de produto e nos seus processos no desenvolvimento de software. Posteriormente, é feita uma análise de valor da solução e dos requisitos levantados na fase de elicitação como parte da prática de engenharia de requisitos, passando por uma visão detalhada do design proposto para o desenvolvimento da plataforma. Finalmente, a plataforma desenvolvida é avaliada tanto do aspeto técnico por meio de testes quanto dos aspetos de qualidade compreendidos pelos utilizadores, através da analise das respostas obtidas pela realização de questionários

A DISCUSSION ON ASSURING SOFTWARE QUALITY IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SOFTWARE ENTERPRISES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

Under the studies of general core activities including software inspection, review and testing to achieve quality objectives in small-medium size enterprises (SMEs), the paper presents a contemporary view of such companies against quality measures. The results from a local empirical investigation of quality standards in the Turkish software industry are reported.Around 150 software companies have been approached from which 17 detailed feedback inform that in order to ensure software quality, standards including internationally recognized International Standards Organization (ISO) and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) are given credit. However the substantial workload and resources required to obtain them are also reported as serious; downscaled frameworks of such large models proposed in the literature are not well known by the SMEs either. The paper also discusses "work around" that bypasses such standards to ease delivery of products while keeping certificates as labels just to acquire new jobs for the business

Digital Strategy Formulation: An Investigation with Design Sprints and Deep Learning

Since the invention of transistors, digital technologies have continued to have a profound impact on the global economy. Relentless performance improvements combined with convergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and cloud computing has led to a surge in scale and importance as a source for competitive advantage. However, in 2019, only around 16% of companies managed to realize a significant improvement in business performance from digital transformation (DT). The challenges that organizations face in succeeding at DT can be traced back to strategy formulation and execution. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop insights and tools to enhance the understanding and practice of digital strategy formulation. A comprehensive review of the literature demonstrated that DT, as an emerging body of knowledge, is lacking an in-depth and applied investigation of digital strategy formulation. The main knowledge gaps are: (1) a lack of guidance on digital strategy formulation process activities and outcomes; (2) limited consideration of the iterative nature of digital strategy formulation and validation; and (3) limited empirical investigation of digital strategy archetypes to guide the formulation process. Addressing this research gap was accomplished over three stages. First, an in-depth exploratory case study was conducted by investigating digital strategy formulation process with active participation research over six months. This investigation identified key process activities and highlighted the role of roadmapping in integrating the outcomes. Second, the findings were supplemented with literature review to design a conceptual framework for agile roadmapping to facilitate the digital strategy formulation process. This framework was then tested and calibrated over three pilot studies with companies across Europe attempting to start their DT journey. Finally, deep learning and natural language processing techniques were employed to empirically investigate the digital strategy of Fortune 500 companies from earnings call transcripts. This empirical investigation identified four digital strategy archetypes that are being employed by companies across various sectors. The findings from this research contribute to a better understanding of digital strategy formulation. It was identified that digital strategy formulation is an ongoing search process for an adequate strategic response to the DT of the economy. Specifically, incorporating agility into the formulation process is an effective way of managing the associated uncertainty of DT. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that proactively iterating between strategy formulation and validation can accelerate the realization of the emergent digital strategy. The proposed framework and the digital strategy archetypes provide a baseline for DT professionals toward a more robust digital strategy formulation.Ministry of Education - United Arab Emirate

A CMMI-compliant requirements management and development process

Requirements Engineering has been acknowledged an essential discipline for Software Quality. Poorly-defined processes for eliciting, analyzing, specifying and validating requirements can lead to unclear issues or misunderstandings on business needs and project’s scope. These typically result in customers’ non-satisfaction with either the products’ quality or the increase of the project’s budget and duration. Maturity models allow an organization to measure the quality of its processes and improve them according to an evolutionary path based on levels. The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) addresses the aforementioned Requirements Engineering issues. CMMI defines a set of best practices for process improvement that are divided into several process areas. Requirements Management and Requirements Development are the process areas concerned with Requirements Engineering maturity. Altran Portugal is a consulting company concerned with the quality of its software. In 2012, the Solution Center department has developed and applied successfully a set of processes aligned with CMMI-DEV v1.3, what granted them a Level 2 maturity certification. For 2015, they defined an organizational goal of addressing CMMI-DEV maturity level 3. This MSc dissertation is part of this organization effort. In particular, it is concerned with the required process areas that address the activities of Requirements Engineering. Our main goal is to contribute for the development of Altran’s internal engineering processes to conform to the guidelines of the Requirements Development process area. Throughout this dissertation, we started with an evaluation method based on CMMI and conducted a compliance assessment of Altran’s current processes. This allowed demonstrating their alignment with the CMMI Requirements Management process area and to highlight the improvements needed to conform to the Requirements Development process area. Based on the study of alternative solutions for the gaps found, we proposed a new Requirements Management and Development process that was later validated using three different approaches. The main contribution of this dissertation is the new process developed for Altran Portugal. However, given that studies on these topics are not abundant in the literature, we also expect to contribute with useful evidences to the existing body of knowledge with a survey on CMMI and requirements engineering trends. Most importantly, we hope that the implementation of the proposed processes’ improvements will minimize the risks of mishandled requirements, increasing Altran’s performance and taking them one step further to the desired maturity level

Best software test & quality assurance practices in the project life-cycle. An approach to the creation of a process for improved test & quality assurance practices in the project life-cycle of an SME

The cost of software problems or errors is a significant problem to global industry, not only to the producers of the software but also to their customers and end users of the software. There is a cost associated with the lack of quality of software to companies who purchase a software product and also to the companies who produce the same piece of software. The task of improving quality on a limited cost base is a difficult one. The foundation of this thesis lies with the difficult task of evaluating software from its inception through its development until its testing and subsequent release. The focus of this thesis is on the improvement of the testing & quality assurance task in an Irish SME company with software quality problems but with a limited budget. Testing practices and quality assurance methods are outlined in the thesis explaining what was used during the software quality improvement process in the company. Projects conducted in the company are used for the research in the thesis. Following the quality improvement process in the company a framework for improving software quality was produced and subsequently used and evaluated in another company

On Evidence-based Risk Management in Requirements Engineering

Background: The sensitivity of Requirements Engineering (RE) to the context makes it difficult to efficiently control problems therein, thus, hampering an effective risk management devoted to allow for early corrective or even preventive measures. Problem: There is still little empirical knowledge about context-specific RE phenomena which would be necessary for an effective context- sensitive risk management in RE. Goal: We propose and validate an evidence-based approach to assess risks in RE using cross-company data about problems, causes and effects. Research Method: We use survey data from 228 companies and build a probabilistic network that supports the forecast of context-specific RE phenomena. We implement this approach using spreadsheets to support a light-weight risk assessment. Results: Our results from an initial validation in 6 companies strengthen our confidence that the approach increases the awareness for individual risk factors in RE, and the feedback further allows for disseminating our approach into practice.Comment: 20 pages, submitted to 10th Software Quality Days conference, 201

Optimizing Product-Market Fit: A Digital Marketing Approach for Performance Measurement

In today's digital economy, digital marketing has grown in scope and now acts as a liaison connecting digital interactions and key start-up activities. The low investment and dynamic elements of digital marketing favor the start-up environment and enable a flexible match between digital interactions and start-up growth. However, start-ups are usually unfamiliar with all the possibilities digital marketing offers and connect its influence solely with marketing and sales. Digital marketing, powered by data analytics, can support start-ups in different key activities such as testing and experimentation, customer education, and others. This thesis first explores how digital marketing impacts start-up development within a set of growth drivers supporting different key activities and associated areas. Through a systematic literature review, the Macro- dynamic Framework was developed to identify and connect fifteen growth drivers and digital marketing impact for achieving start-up growth in four different areas. Secondly, as Product-Market fit is identified as one of the key drivers of start-up growth, this research focused on investigating how can product-market fit be influenced through digital marketing. One of the major challenges start-ups have in this perspective is measuring digital marketing performance and interpreting the collected data. As Product-Market fit and performance measurement both largely rely on the provided digital marketing analytics and received feedback, the DM_Optima framework is developed to connect the touchpoints of both areas. Through multiple case study research with nine start-ups, the thesis demonstrates this Framework application. The DM_Optima Framework is developed with a Balanced Scorecard and enables start-ups to test their ability to optimize product-market fit through digital marketing and performance measurement. The results of DM_Optima help start-up founders and managers to achieve or maintain their product-market fit and establish efficient practices of digital marketing performance measurement from an internal organizational perspective.Na economia digital de hoje, o marketing digital cresceu no seu âmbito e actua agora como um elo de ligação entre as interacções digitais e as principais actividades de arranque. O baixo investimento e os elementos dinâmicos do marketing digital favorecem o ambiente de arranque e permitem uma combinação flexível entre as interacções digitais e o crescimento de arranque. Contudo, as start-ups não estão normalmente familiarizadas com todas as possibilidades que o marketing digital oferece e ligam a sua influência apenas ao marketing e às vendas. O marketing digital, impulsionado pela análise de dados, pode apoiar start-ups em diferentes actividades chave como testes e experimentação, educação de clientes, e outras. Esta tese explora primeiro como o marketing digital tem impacto no desenvolvimento inicial dentro de um conjunto de factores de crescimento que apoiam diferentes actividades e áreas associadas. Através de uma revisão sistemática da literatura, a Estrutura Macrodinâmica foi desenvolvida para identificar e ligar quinze motores de crescimento e marketing digital para alcançar o crescimento inicial em quatro áreas diferentes. Em segundo lugar, uma vez que o ajuste Produto-Mercado é identificado como um dos principais motores do crescimento inicial, esta investigação centrou-se na investigação de como pode o ajuste produto-mercado ser influenciado através do marketing digital. Um dos maiores desafios que as novas empresas têm nesta perspectiva é medir o desempenho do marketing digital e interpretar os dados recolhidos. Uma vez que a adequação e a medição do desempenho do produto ao mercado dependem largamente da análise de marketing digital fornecida e do feedback recebido, a estrutura DM_Optima é desenvolvida para ligar os pontos de contacto de ambas as áreas. Através de múltiplos estudos de caso com nove start-ups, a tese demonstra esta aplicação da estrutura. A estrutura DM_Optima é desenvolvida com um Balanced Scorecard e permite às start-ups testar a sua capacidade de optimizar a adequação do produto ao mercado através do marketing digital e da medição do desempenho. Os resultados da DM_Optima ajudam os fundadores e gestores em fase de arranque a alcançar ou manter a sua adequação ao mercado de produtos e a estabelecer práticas eficientes de medição do desempenho do marketing digital de uma perspectiva organizacional interna