143 research outputs found
Comparing global (multi-site) SPI program activities to SPI program models
No full textSoftware Process Improvement (SPI) methods have been used for years as means to try to solve the problems in software development. Number of SPI life cycle models exists, and some of them take a wider look to the problems. However, little information exists about how the SPI models apply to global level SPI programs in a multi-site environment. This article takes a historical look into one such case and compares how well IDEAL and ISO 15504-7 models match the actual activities. The results are naturally only indicative, but suggest that the literature models do not readily scale up and that a separate model may be needed to support setting up and guiding the execution of a multi-site SPI program.</p
Software process engineering systems: models and industry cases
No full textAbstract
The work with software processes has become an entire field of its own. It should be considered a process, where the product is process improvement and maintenance service to the host organization. The process professionals should also strive towards good product engineering practices in their work, apply the same quality criteria to their processes, and maintain and improve their own work practices. The time has come for Software Process Engineering.
A number of models and articles related to Software Process Engineering exist, mostly developed to support process improvement activities. Each model approaches the subject from its particular angle and as such they all have their own limitations and strengths.
For those responsible for process engineering efforts in their respective organisations, the multitude of choices can be sometimes confusing. The models and methods are at times conflicting or competing, operate at different granularity levels, and answer to different needs. There is a clear need for a study that gathers what has been published, categorises them and thus provides a wider perspective to what the Software Process Engineering literature has to offer for process engineers — mainly for operative and strategic managers — at large.
This literature study summarises what the literature has to offer. The models and articles are presented here in a concise form, to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice of Software Process Engineering models today
Stress monitoring technology survey - Mad@Work project
No full textThe dataset is empirical data about knowledge workers’ perceptions regarding sensor-based stress monitoring and well-being solutions in the work environment collected anonymously in spring 2020 using the Internet and the Questback Inc. online survey tool. In total, 181 responses were obtained from European knowledge workers living in 12 different counties.
The answers are listed on the first worksheet and the questions are listed on the second worksheet.This dataset has been used in the article: Kallio J, Vildjiounaite E, Kantorovitch J, Kinnula A, Bordallo López M. Unobtrusive Continuous Stress Detection in Knowledge Work—Statistical Analysis on User Acceptance. Sustainability. 2021; 13(4):2003. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1304200
Software process engineering systems: models and industry cases
Full text linkAbstractThe work with software processes has become an entire field of its own. It should be considered a process, where the product is process improvement and maintenance service to the host organization. The process professionals should also strive towards good product engineering practices in their work, apply the same quality criteria to their processes, and maintain and improve their own work practices. The time has come for Software Process Engineering.A number of models and articles related to Software Process Engineering exist, mostly developed to support process improvement activities. Each model approaches the subject from its particular angle and as such they all have their own limitations and strengths.For those responsible for process engineering efforts in their respective organisations, the multitude of choices can be sometimes confusing. The models and methods are at times conflicting or competing, operate at different granularity levels, and answer to different needs. There is a clear need for a study that gathers what has been published, categorises them and thus provides a wider perspective to what the Software Process Engineering literature has to offer for process engineers — mainly for operative and strategic managers — at large.This literature study summarises what the literature has to offer. The models and articles are presented here in a concise form, to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice of Software Process Engineering models today.Abstract
The work with software processes has become an entire field of its own. It should be considered a process, where the product is process improvement and maintenance service to the host organization. The process professionals should also strive towards good product engineering practices in their work, apply the same quality criteria to their processes, and maintain and improve their own work practices. The time has come for Software Process Engineering.
A number of models and articles related to Software Process Engineering exist, mostly developed to support process improvement activities. Each model approaches the subject from its particular angle and as such they all have their own limitations and strengths.
For those responsible for process engineering efforts in their respective organisations, the multitude of choices can be sometimes confusing. The models and methods are at times conflicting or competing, operate at different granularity levels, and answer to different needs. There is a clear need for a study that gathers what has been published, categorises them and thus provides a wider perspective to what the Software Process Engineering literature has to offer for process engineers — mainly for operative and strategic managers — at large.
This literature study summarises what the literature has to offer. The models and articles are presented here in a concise form, to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice of Software Process Engineering models today
Software process engineering in a multi-site environment : An architectural design of a software process engineering system
Full text linkAbstractA 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.Academic Dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, for public discussion in Raahensali (Auditorium L 10), on August 14th, 1999, at 12 noon.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
Work practice view to digitalization – A literature review
Full text linkInitially felt at the knowledge work, novel technologies are making headway beyond that, impacting employees from offices to factory floors. We review previous Information Systems research with the focus on introducing novel digital technologies in work practice. We provide an overview on the drivers for introducing the change, how the drivers transition into actual change at work practice, involved actors and role of workers in the change initiative, as well as outcomes and success factors for the initiatives. We highlight the need for the affected persons to participate in the planning and design of the technological changes as a critical component in digital transformations
Order-delivery process for modular consulting services
Full text linkThe aim of this thesis was to research how the service business, the service order-delivery process and service providers’ productivity can be developed. The research consists of theoretical study, an empirical case study and development recommendations for the case company.
The service business can be developed by productising the service offering to create prerequisites for repeatability and scalability, defining and implementing the order-delivery process for productive service delivery and improved process performance. Services should be managed more like tangible products, and evidence of service should be offered to the customer. Value delivery and capture should be taken into account when designing value delivery systems. The service delivery process should have a modular structure where the beginning (order) and the end (post-mortem) phases of the process are standard and the centre of the process is modular and can be tailored to fit the customer’s needs. The modular part of the service process is built from service process modules that are put together for each of the service modules or products. The service process blueprinting should be done using a product-service blueprint that directs the user to take all of the required aspects into account during the process design.
The case company’s main challenges in the service business revolved around the same topics as the challenges in the service business in general. Firstly, the case company had not productised its offering. Secondly, the order-delivery process for consulting services was not Lean or mature. Thirdly, the value delivery and the value capture were not managed.
A new order-delivery process for business consultation services of the case company was developed. The process is three-phased and includes the order, delivery and post-mortem process stages. The process is blueprinted using a product-service blueprint method and the process description includes tasks and documents that are required to deliver value to the customer and capture value for the service-providing company. Linkage between the process development and service productisation activities are also discussed.
The results of the study can be utilised for service business development, service order-delivery process development and service productization purposes. The results are applicable for consultative services and further research is required to verify the model’s suitability for other services.Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena on tutkia palveluliiketoimintaa, palveluiden tilaus-toimitusprosesseja ja sitä, miten palveluyritysten tuottavuutta voidaan parantaa. Tutkimus koostuu teoreettisesta tutkimuksesta, empiirisestä tapaustutkimuksesta ja kehityssuosituksista kohdeyritykselle.
Palveluliiketoimintaa voidaan kehittää ensinnäkin tuotteistamalla palvelutarjooma. Tuotteistus toimii edellytyksenä palveluiden toistettavuudelle ja skaalautuvuudelle. Toiseksi voidaan määrittää ja käyttöönottaa tilaus-toimitusprosessi, jonka avulla saavutetaan parempi tuottavuus ja prosessien suorituskyky. Palveluita tulisi hallita nykyistä enemmän kuin fyysisiä tuotteita ja asiakkaalle tulisi toimittaa fyysisiä todisteita palvelusta. Arvoketjua suunnitellessa tulisi ottaa huomioon myös arvon toimittamisen ja vangitsemisen näkökulmat. Palvelun toimitusprosessilla tulisi olla modulaarinen rakenne, jossa prosessin alku (tilaaminen) ja loppu (jälkiselvittely) ovat standardiosia ja prosessin keskiosa muodostuu moduuleista. Moduulit voidaan räätälöidä asiakastarpeen mukaan. Modulaarinen osa muodostuu palveluprosessimoduuleista, jotka ovat tuotekohtaisia. Palveluprosessi tulisi mallintaa käyttämällä tuote-palvelu prosessisuunnitelmamallia, joka ohjaa mallin käyttäjän ottamaan kaikki prosessisuunnittelun kannalta oleelliset seikat huomioon prosessikehitystyössä.
Kohdeyrityksen päähaasteet palveluliiketoiminnassa ovat tyypillisiä palveluliiketoiminnan haasteita. Kohdeyritys ei ensinnäkään ollut tuotteistanut tarjoamaansa. Toiseksi tilaus-toimitusprosessi konsultointipalveluille ei ollut kilpailukykyinen eikä kypsä. Kolmanneksi arvon toimittaminen ja vangitseminen ei ollut hallittua.
Kohdeyrityksen konsultointipalveluille kehitettiin tilaus-toimitusprosessi. Prosessi sisältää tilaus-, toimitus- ja jälkikäsittelyvaiheet. Prosessi on mallinnettu käyttäen erityistä tuote-palveluprosesseille tarkoitettua suunnittelumallia ja prosessikuvaus sisältää tehtävät ja dokumentit, jotka vaaditaan arvon toimittamiseen asiakkaalle ja arvon vangitsemiseen palvelua toimittavalle yritykselle. Prosessikehitystyön ja palveluiden tuotteistamisen välistä suhdetta on käsitelty myös työssä.
Työn tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää palveluliiketoiminnan kehittämiseen, palveluiden tilaus-toimitusprosessien suunnitteluun ja palveluiden tuotteistamiseen. Tulokset ovat hyödynnettävissä konsultatiivisille palveluille ja tutkimuksen tulosten sovellettavuutta muun tyyppisille palveluille tulee vielä tutkia
Supporting software development through customer community and participatory design : value co-creation in a customer community
No full textKilpailu ohjelmistoalalla on kovaa tänä päivänä ja yritysten on pystyttävä toimittamaan laadukkaita ja innovatiivisia tuotteita menestyäkseen. Yksi tapa erottua markkinoilla on suhtautuminen omaan asiakaskuntaan ja vastaaminen heidän tarpeisiinsa. Asiakasyhteisö tuo yhteen yrityksen ja sen asiakkaat tekemään yhteistyötä tuotteen, palvelun ja yrityksen toiminnan kehittämiseksi.
Tässä laadullisessa pro gradu -tutkielmassa kerättiin asiakkaiden ajatuksia ja ideoita asiakasyhteistoimintaa kohtaan neljästä osallistavaa suunnittelua hyödyntävästä työpajasta. Työpajoja analysoitiin arvon yhteisluonnin näkökulmasta. Arvon yhteisluonnissa arvon käsitetään syntyvän vuorovaikutussuhteissa, eikä olevan jossain tietyssä esineessä tai tuotteessa. Tutkielmassa hyödynnettiin arvon yhteisluonnin eri osa-alueita ja tarkasteltiin sidosryhmien aiemmin kokemaa arvoa ja arvo-odotuksia liittyen asiakasyhteisötoimintaan sekä heidän tekemiään arvoehdotuksia toisille toimijoille. Tutkimuskysymyksenä oli, millaista arvoa asiakasyhteisötoiminta voisi tuoda yritykselle ja sen asiakkaille.
Tutkimuksen pohjalta nähtiin, että niin asiakkaat kuin yrityskin voisivat saada lisäarvoa asiakasyhteisötoiminnasta. Asiakasyhteisötoiminnan kautta yritys voisi tehdä monella tapaa asiakaslähtöisempää tuotekehitystä. Yhteisön kautta voitaisiin järjestää osallistavia työpajoja, joiden avulla voidaan tukea tuotekehitystä. Asiakkaat voisivat saada tehokkaammin ajantasaista tietoa tuotekehitystoiveiden tilasta ja vaikuttaa tiiviimmin niiden priorisointiin. Asiakasyhteisö auttaisi tekemään tuotteesta entistäkin enemmän asiakkaiden toiveisiin vastaavan, kun asiakkaiden tarpeet nousisivat asiakasyhteisön kautta tehokkaammin esille. Näin voitaisiin entisestään kasvattaa asiakastyytyväisyyttä ja asiakassitoutumista. Asiakkaat voisivat saada arvoa myös kasvaneen vertaistuen muodossa. Yrityksen henkilöstön työnteko suoraviivaistuisi, kun useampi asia keskittyisi asiakasyhteisöön. Asiakasyhteisöllä voitaisiin tukea tuotekehitystä ja osallistaa asiakkaita tuotekehitykseen.
Tutkimus vahvistaa aiemman tutkimustiedon käsitystä asiakasyhteisöjen hyödyllisyydestä tuotekehityksen tukena. Asiakasyhteisö voi auttaa tekemään asiakaslähtöisempää tuotekehitystä. Jatkossa olisi mielenkiintoista tutkia aihetta olemassa olevien asiakasyhteisöjen pohjalta esimerkiksi yhteisöjen käyttäjiä haastattelemalla. Tämä voisi lisätä tietoa siitä, kuinka hyödyllisiksi käytössä olevat asiakasyhteisöt koetaan ja kuinka isoa resurssointia asiakasyhteisö vaatii yritykseltä.Today the competition in the software industry is fierce and to succeed companies must deliver high quality and innovative products. One way to differentiate in the market is through the relationship a company has with its customer base and how it responds to its needs. Customer community brings the company and its customers together to develop their products, services and the company’s operations.
This qualitative master’s thesis collected customers’ thoughts and ideas about customer community from four workshops utilizing participatory design. The workshops were analysed from the perspective of value co-creation. In value co-creation the value is understood to arise from interactions rather than from objects or products. The study utilized different aspects of the value co-creation lens and examined the earlier experienced value and value expectations of different stakeholders in relation to the customer community and the value proposals the stakeholders made to each other. The research question was what kind of value the customer community could bring to the company and its customers.
Based on the study, both customers and the company could gain added value from customer community. Through customer community, the company could do more customer-oriented product development in a variety of ways. Participatory design workshops could be organized through the community to support product development. Customers could more effectively obtain up-to-date information on the status of product development wishes and impact the prioritization of them more easily. The customer community would help to make the product even more customer-oriented as customer needs would be more effectively presented through the customer community. This could further increase customer satisfaction and engagement. Customers could also gain value in the form of increased peer support. The work within the company would be streamlined as tasks would be centralized in the customer community. The customer community could support product development and participate customers to the product development.
The study confirms the perception of previous research on the usefulness of customer communities in supporting product development. The customer community can help make product development more customer-oriented. In the future it would be interesting to study the topic based on existing customer communities, for example by interviewing the community users. This could increase information about how useful the existing customer communities are perceived as and how much resourcing the customer community requires from the company
Software process engineering systems:models and industry cases
No full textThe work with software processes has become an entire field of its own. It should be considered a process, where the product is process improvement and maintenance service to the host organization.The process professionals should also strive towards good product engineering practices in their work, apply the same quality criteria to their processes, and maintain and improve their own work practices. The time has come for Software Process Engineering.A number of models and articles related to Software Process Engineering exist, mostly developed to support process improvement activities. Each model approaches the subject from its particular angle and as such they all have their own limitations and strengths.For those responsible for process engineering efforts in their respective organisations, the multitude of choices can be sometimes confusing. The models and methods are at times conflicting or competing, operate at different granularity levels, and answer to different needs. There is a clear need for a study that gathers what has been published, categorises them and thus provides a wider perspective to what the Software Process Engineering literature has to offer for process engineers - mainly for operative and strategic managers - at large.This literature study summarises what the literature has to offer. The models and articles are presented here in a concise form, to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice of Software Process Engineering models today
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