Standardization and certification of information systems development

Information Systems;Development;Standardization;management information systems

7P. A Preliminary Study of the Use of Software Process Improvement Initiatives in Jamaica

Despite the acknowledged strides that information and communications technologies (ICT) have made, the information systems (IS) community has been plagued with the delivery of low quality information systems (IS). This phenomenon gave rise to a variety of software process improvement (SPI) interventions, aimed at reducing variability in the software production process, as a precursor to improving IS quality. However, SPI initiatives have targeted fairly large organizations and SPI research has been conducted mainly in developed countries, and very little in developing countries and smaller organizations such as those in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean. We sought in this research to ascertain the level of awareness and intention to use SPI programs in Jamaican software development firms. Preliminary indications of our study revealed that a large majority of these firms are not aware of SPI programs; neither do they intend to adopt any form of SPI effort in the near future. Our findings provided the basis to support the claim for future research to explore the underlying causes for this lack of awareness and non-adoption of SPI programs among Jamaican firms

Using grounded theory to understand software process improvement: A study of Irish software product companies

Software Process Improvement (SPI) aims to understand the software process as it is used within an organisation and thus drive the implementation of changes to that process to achieve specific goals such as increasing development speed, achieving higher product quality or reducing costs. Accordingly, SPI researchers must be equipped with the methodologies and tools to enable them to look within organisations and understand the state of practice with respect to software process and process improvement initiatives, in addition to investigating the relevant literature. Having examined a number of potentially suitable research methodologies, we have chosen Grounded Theory as a suitable approach to determine what was happening in actual practice in relation to software process and SPI, using the indigenous Irish software product industry as a test-bed. The outcome of this study is a theory, grounded in the field data, that explains when and why SPI is undertaken by the software industry. The objective of this paper is to describe both the selection and usage of grounded theory in this study and evaluate its effectiveness as a research methodology for software process researchers. Accordingly, this paper will focus on the selection and usage of grounded theory, rather than results of the SPI study itself

Quality Certification and the Economics of Contract Software Development A Study of the Indian Software Industry

A significant amount of software development is being outsourced to countries such as India. Many Indian software firms have applied for and received quality certifications like the ISO9001, and the number of quality certified software firms has steadily increased. Despite its growing popularity among Indian software developers, there is very little systematic evidence on the relationship of ISO certification to organizational performance. Using data on 95 Indian software firms and their US clients, we develop a stylized model of a firm that develops software for others to articulate the different ways in which ISO certification can affect firm profits. We conclude that ISO certification enhances firm growth. The results provide partial support for the proposition that ISO certification also enhances revenue for a given size, suggesting that firms are receiving a higher price per unit of output. In turn, this is consistent with the notion that ISO certification also enhances the quality of output. Our field studies confirm that although most firms see ISO certification as a marketing ploy, some of them do proceed to institute more systematic and better-defined processes for software development.

Conceptualization and Measurement of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM): An Examination of Past Practices and Suggestions for Future Applications

The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) has obtained world-wide status as a premier process improvement framework. This influence has not gone unnoticed by the academic community who has utilized the CMM as a key construct representing a firm’s IT project management and development capabilities. However, an examination of the current state of research reveals no consensus on how to best operationalize CMM-based process capability; therefore, this study seeks to start a dialog in the academic community about how CMM-based process capability should be conceptualized and measured. While the results do suggest that CMM-based process capability is multidimensional, and that a process structure rather than a level structure may be the most appropriate; the main intent of this research is to call attention to the need for greater rigor in the measurement and conceptualization of CMM-based process capability in the academic literature. The hope is this research represents a first step in developing a fully refined and validated CMM-based process capability measure

Software project process management maturity and project performance: An examination of Taiwan\u27s software companies

Researchers and practitioners argue that an inadequate software development process is one critical factor accounting for high project failure rates. a result, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) was introduced by the Software Engineering Institute as a guideline for advancing project maturity and improving the odds of project success. To investigate the effectiveness of applying the principles of the CMM, a survey was conducted of 196 Information System managers in Taiwan. The results indicate that a more mature software development process reduces the extent of certain risks experienced during the project development and enables better project performance. Managerial implications regarding the CMM are described

On the Transition and Migration of Flight Functions in the Airspace System

Since ~400 BC, when man first replicated flying behavior with kites, up until the turn of the 20th century, when the Wright brothers performed the first successful powered human flight, flight functions have become available to man via significant support from man-made structures and devices. Over the past 100 years or so, technology has enabled several flight functions to migrate to automation and/or decision support systems. This migration continues with the United States NextGen and Europe s Single European Sky (a.k.a. SESAR) initiatives. These overhauls of the airspace system will be accomplished by accommodating the functional capabilities, benefits, and limitations of technology and automation together with the unique and sometimes overlapping functional capabilities, benefits, and limitations of humans. This paper will discuss how a safe and effective migration of any flight function must consider several interrelated issues, including, for example, shared situation awareness, and automation addiction, or over-reliance on automation. A long-term philosophical perspective is presented that considers all of these issues by primarily asking the following questions: How does one find an acceptable level of risk tolerance when allocating functions to automation versus humans? How does one measure or predict with confidence what the risks will be? These two questions and others will be considered from the two most-discussed paradigms involving the use of increasingly complex systems in the future: humans as operators and humans as monitors

Impact of the Journey: IS Employee Attitudes and Perceptions as Organizations Climb the CMM Ladder

We surveyed 736 IS professionals in organizations at varying levels of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) to investigate job attitudes and perceptions. Although anecdotal reports and the scant preliminary empirical studies to-date suggest job attitudes and perceptions improve for employees as organizations climb the CMM ladder, we found evidence of a more complex picture. IS workers reported significantly lower professional efficacy and affective commitment in organizations at CMM Level 3 than in organizations at Level 1, and reports of cynicism were higher in organizations at upper levels of the CMM

An Industrial Case Study of Immediate Benefits of Requirements Engineering Process Improvement at the Australian Center for Unisys Software

This paper describes an industrial experience in process improvement at one of the Unisys development labs in Australia. Following a capability maturity model (CMM) mini-assessment, the organization is undertaking significant changes in the requirements management process, which include the introduction of group session approaches to requirements analysis and a structured method for writing requirements. An empirical evaluation which investigated other aspects of the process improvement than the CMM model indicates tangible benefits as well as perceived long-term benefits during design and testing. Findings confirm that a more thorough requirements analysis results in more clearly defined, better understood and specified requirements, and an enhanced ability to address the market needs and product strategy requirements. The catalyst behind these improvements included project management leadership, managing the human dimension, collaboration among stakeholders and senior management support

A Conceptual MAP of Software Process Improvement

Software organisations have for many years struggled to mature engineering practices using a variety of approaches. Over the last decade a new approach, known as software process improvement (SPI), has emerged and become widely used in the software industry. In this paper we position SPI in the landscape of initiatives that can be used in software organisations to mature their operations. A map is offered describing the characteristic features of SPI initiatives, the benefits and risks related to such initiatives, and the relations to complementary approaches to professionalise the industry. The map highlights management, approach, and perspective as three main concerns of SPI and lists three key ideas for each of these concerns. The map is based on an extensive survey of the SPI literature combined with experiences from SPI practice. Practitioners can use the map strategically to make decisions on whether to initiate SPI initiatives, to integrate SPI efforts with other improvement initiatives, and, more generally, to create and manage improvement programs based on SPI ideas. Researchers can use the map to identify key questions and areas of knowledge that can fruitfully inform SPI theory and practice