Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The case studies carried out to use the
improvement framework
of COMPETISOFT
in VSEs presented in this paper have some limits:
•
The observations and conclusions presented are based on eight case studies, which
can limit the power of generalization. Although these companies are representative
of the software industry in Latin America, the number of companies taking part in
the case studies is a low percentage of the overall population.
•
The bias of the case studies, because the development of daily activities by em-
ployees may proceed differently precisely because they are being observed or due
to some particular kind of handling of events and data by the advisers.
6 Analysis and Conclusions
Table 2 shows that the eight VSEs have increased the capability level of their SD and
SPA processes, among others. It is important to highlight that enterprises E1 and E2
have also increased the capability of processes SM and BM. It can also be observed
that E1 was the company which increased its level of capability in the greatest num-
ber of processes. This increase can be observed in the established base practices,
which have been reported in the Improvement Reports of each company. Through the
application of the
improvement framework,
the small companies have introduced new
base practices to their processes, thus allowing them to increase their capability.
Based on the collected data, there is evidence that the
improvement framework
has
enabled these small companies to increase the capability of their processes.
From Table 2 we can also draw the conclusion that the effort spent on improving
processes per week for each organization is: E1 12.7 h, E2 17.2 h, E3 4.5 h, E4 7.3 h,
E5 6.9 h, E6 4.9 h, E7 8.8 h and E8 5.4 h (including the adviser's time). We consider
that the effort of applying the proposed
improvement framework
has been suitable for
the characteristics of each one of the organizations involved in the improvement ini-
tiative, since employees involved in the processes improvement of each enterprise
were able to take on this effort without any negative effect on their daily activities.
Some benefits which the firms have reported are:
•
The companies had moved from a chaotic and unpredictable software process
to a tangible one, which is currently being used on development projects.
•
The companies begin to generate a knowledge base which means historic data
are available when decisions are being taken.
The companies have a more specific vision of the organization itself which has
helped and motivated them to set out on the road to quality certification. For
instance, E1 is currently conducting an ISO 9001:2000 certification, and E3
has started to work towards a formal assessment at CMMI level 2.
Based on the case studies carried out, the increase of the capability of the processes to
be improved, the effort of applying the proposed process and the benefits described
by VSEs, we consider that the
improvement framework
is suitable for leading SPI
initiatives in VSEs. The results, in terms of effort, increase of capability and benefits,
are an indicator that the proposed framework can be a practical and useful strategy
when facing the difficulty of carrying out SPI in VSEs. Furthermore, from the case
studies we have been able to confirm that the proposed
improvement framework
was
executed properly by the VSEs involved in the improvement initiatives.
•
