Assessing Software Processes: Low Maturity or Sensible Practice

Software Process Improvement efforts rely heavily on the use of software capability maturity models. These models are used to identify problems in an organization’s software processes and point to, and prioritize, necessary improvements. Using models for this purpose will, however, automatically turn our attention to certain problems and issues and ignore others. In this paper we argue that the maturity models provide only one perspective on software processes and software process problems. We demonstrate how we, by looking at the organizational context of and the conflicts and uncertainties facing software projects may uncover alternative interpretations of software practices, and identify other problems. The implications for SPI and for the use of maturity models are discussed

Tradern: a collaborative model for improving small business participation in electronic commerce in sub-Saharan Africa.

The inception of the Internet has brought with it Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) practices which have greatly transformed the ways firms conduct businesses globally. Internet-based E-Commerce, particularly business-to-business (B2B) holds the key for small businesses to compete on a level playing field with their big business counterparts. Unfortunately, however, there is considerable evidence to show that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), have not been reaping the benefits of this new commerce opportunity as their counterparts in North America and Europe. This chasm has given rise to another form of Digital Divide. This research has identified the major factors responsible for this state of affairs as the low level of participation by the SMEs in the SSA region in this global E-Commerce trade. SSA region has been identified as a region with the lowest level of economic, technological and Internet development in the world. There are 49 Countries in this region inhabited by over 633 million people representing about 10% of the world's population. They are characterised by a low income, low-levels of human resource development, as well as severe structural, social, political and economic weaknesses. All these have combined to make the region the poorest region in the world. It has been established that SMEs form the bedrock of every economy. There is also considerable evidence to suggest that the introduction of new technologies into organisations of all kinds and sizes has a major impact on the structure and functioning of the organizations. Furthermore, it has been established that B2B E-Commerce is contributing more to the global economy than all other forms of E-Commerce transactions. Equipping SMEs in developing countries, particularly those in SSA, by with emerging B2B technologies could help improve their growth potential which will invariably place them in a better position to contribute to the region's economic advancement. Existing models have failed in attracting large numbers of SMEs in the region, partly due to the prohibitive costs of these technologies which make them unaffordable by the poor SMEs. This research has identified that the issues of Trust as well as the problems associated with Fraud and Security also play a part in making E-Commerce unattractive to a lot of SMEs in SSA. Current theoretical frameworks have been extended by developing a new taxonomy showing the various components of E-Business where the distinctions between E-Commerce, E-Government, Tele-Medicine and E-Learning are clearly identified. This thesis seeks to find solutions to the identified problems by finding ways of attracting more SMEs in SSA to participate in the global E-Commerce endeavour. This is with a view to enabling them to leverage and maximise their E-Commerce potential, which in turn would help them exploit today's global E-Commerce opportunities. This will ultimately help them in contributing to the economic growth of the region. As a way of making E-Commerce attractive, affordable and profitable, an architectural model has been designed which, it is believed, would make the deployment and implementation of B2B E-Commerce more achievable for the poor SMEs in SSA. This model, known as Tradern Model, combines the trado-cultural and modern methods of conducting business. This combination would help SMEs deploying the technology to conduct their businesses using both methods without compromising their growth. Over and above everything else there is the benefit of a level-playing field which the SMEs in developing economies, like Africa, and particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, can capitalise on to leapfrog, improve and sustain their economic development and global e-business participation as a step towards bridging the digital divide

Cmmi Implementation Framework

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2007Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2007Bu çalısmada, sistematik ve en iyi pratiklere dayanan bir süreç yönetimi yazılımı gelistirilmektir. Tasarlanan proses altyapısı ve gelistirilen yazılım, yazılım mühendisliginin proje yönetimi, gereksinim yönetimi, analiz ve tasarm, uygulama gelistirme, test, degisiklik yönetimi ve aktarım süreçlerinde gerekli olan spesifik tecrübeleri bir bütün içinde, yönetilebilir bir sekilde tutulmasını hedeflemektedir. CMMI modelinde yer alan temel özellik olan izlenebilirligin süreç altyapısına uygulanması ve uygulamada maksimum faydanın alınması amaçlanmaktadır. Orta ve küçük ölçekli firmaların süreç yönetimi konularına adaptasyonunu en hızlı ve en dogru yapabilecekleri bir ortam gelistirilmistir.This thesis studies the development of a systematic software solution to provide software engineering process management based on best practices. The said software solution which has been designed and developed for this study aims to provide specific practices for integrated management of project management, requirements management, analysis & design, implementation, testing, change management, and deployment. Accordingly, this thesis aims to establish an environment that provides fast and applicable adaptation to such software engineering processes for small and medium scale companies. The solution provided within this thesis study is based on one of the more popular models developed by Carnegie Mellon University (U.S.) Software Engineering Institute, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) model.Yüksek LisansM.Sc