Software process engineering in a multi-site environment:an architectural design of a software process engineering system
Abstract A fundamental problem in the software engineering community is how to achieve a state of continuous improvement. Over the last ten years a number of studies have been made concerning various tools, methods and software process improvement project life-cycle models, but the problem persists...
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| Format: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Oulu
1999
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| Online Access: | http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9514253035 http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:9514253035 |
| Summary: | Abstract
A fundamental problem in the software engineering community
is how to achieve a state of continuous improvement. Over the last
ten years a number of studies have been made concerning various
tools, methods and software process improvement project life-cycle models,
but the problem persists and in many cases the software process
improvement program dies off within a year.
This thesis takes the assumption that the answer cannot be
reduced to a single tool or method, as there are no silver bullets
to complex problems. Instead the entire Software Process Engineering
system should be studied to find out what elements are necessary
for sustaining improvement activity on a long-term basis. Through
understanding the fundamental elements of a Software Process Engineering
system, the organization can manage and improve the system, tune
it up to the environment and make it efficient and effective. When
the system is operational, the software process improvement program,
which is a part of the system, can be sustained.
This research studies a case in which the Software Process
Engineering system of a large, multi-site telecommunications company
was successfully revised to meet the increasing improvement challenges.
The revised system has proven to be capable of sustaining continuous
improvement and case is used here to derive architectural design
models of a Software Process Engineering system.
Two such models are established here. One is a system model
that is independent of implementation and identifies the main elements
of a Software Process Engineering system. With the help of this
model, those responsible for process improvement in their organizations
can design, evaluate, and revise complete Software Process Engineering
systems. The other model is a design of a multi-site Software Process
Engineering organization, and identifies not only the operative
part of the organization but also the key non-operative elements
that a Software Process Engineering system needs to work with. With the
help of this model a multi-site organization can set up the operative
Software Process Engineering organization and plan for strategies
for managing the cooperation with the interfacing entities up front,
rather than ending up managing such contacts on a reactive fashion.
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