Cloud enterprise resource planning development model based on software factory approach

Literature reviews revealed that Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (Cloud ERP) is significantly growing, yet from software developers’ perspective, it has succumbed to high management complexity, high workload, inconsistency software quality, and knowledge retention problems. Previous researches lack a solution that holistically addresses all the research problem components. Software factory approach was chosen to be adapted along with relevant theories to develop a model referred to as Cloud ERP Factory Model (CEF Model), which intends to pave the way in solving the above-mentioned problems. There are three specific objectives, those are (i) to develop the model by identifying the components with its elements and compile them into the CEF Model, (ii) to verify the model’s deployment technical feasibility, and (iii) to validate the model field usability in a real Cloud ERP production case studies. The research employed Design Science methodology, with a mixed method evaluation approach. The developed CEF Model consists of five components; those are Product Lines, Platform, Workflow, Product Control, and Knowledge Management, which can be used to setup a CEF environment that simulates a process-oriented software production environment with capacity and resource planning features. The model was validated through expert reviews and the finalized model was verified to be technically feasible by a successful deployment into a selected commercial Cloud ERP production facility. Three Cloud ERP commercial deployment case studies were conducted using the prototype environment. Using the survey instruments developed, the results yielded a Likert score mean of 6.3 out of 7 thus reaffirming that the model is usable and the research has met its objective in addressing the problem components. The models along with its deployment verification processes are the main research contributions. Both items can also be used by software industry practitioners and academician as references in developing a robust Cloud ERP production facility