2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS)

Small and Medium Size IT CompaniesDepartment of Computer and Information Sciences

Abstract-Global software development has brought anumber of revolutionary changes in the existing softwaredevelopment practices. Project outsourcing and agile basedmethodologies have emerged as the new generation ofprocesses and practices. As a result of project outsourcing,small and medium sized software development companies haveincreased in large number. Due to the limitations of resourcesthese companies are unable to follow traditional heavyweightsoftware engineering approaches and thus follow lightweightagile methodologies. Creating a new process from the scratchin also not possible for them and they prefer to adapt asoftware process according to their own requirements. Theexisting works on software process tailoring are very generaland superficial and do not provide guidelines to small andmedium sized software development companies. This researchaddresses this issue and presents a process tailoring frameworkwhich is based on the critical elements of agile methodologies.Both case study of real projects and survey questionnaires havebeen used to validate the framework. The initial results showthat the framework completely identifies the importantelements of projects in small and medium sized companies andderives the schema of process tailoring. The outcome of theresearch is the lightweight process tailoring framework whichgenerates a process tailoring schema for small and mediumsized (SMEs) software development companies.

Keywords: Framework; Meta-model; Process; Tailoring

I. INTRODUCTION

Software process development, standardization andmanagement practices have always been the main areas ofsoftware engineering research. IT globalization hasincreased the importance of these areas more as ever beforedue to a number of issues associated with it. IT globalizationhas changed the existing development scenarios byintroducing more revolutionary result oriented softwaredevelopment and project management approaches. In thisregard, project outsourcing and agile models have beenconsidered as major outcome of IT globalization.

The influences of globalization on almost all areas of oursocieties such as social, economical, cultural andtechnological are prominent [1]. Global SoftwareDevelopment (GSD), a form of globalization in the field ofIT, has changed the existing software development practices.According to a study, 40% of the fortune 500 companies useGSD [2].

As a result of GSD, 80%-90% small and medium sizedsoftware development companies share the business ofoffshore project development. In Asian region Pakistan,China, India, and Singapore are the main countries offeringsoftware development services.

Malaysia has also been trying to prepare for globalizationfor too long time [3]. A large number of IT companies inMalaysia are also SMEs. Due to the limitation of resourcesthese SMEs are unable to compete internationally andachieve the set objectives. Such small and medium sizedcompanies prefer agile based processes to overcomeresources limitations and get advantage of available supportin agile models for their developing environments. It hasmade the software development faster. As a consequence,clients have become more demanding and concerned withtheir projects and products.

In addition, risk factor has also been increased in suchkind of software development. Studies show that failure ofsoftware projects is 85% [4] and cancellation withoutcompletion is 31.1% [5]. To resolve their issues and to meetthe software development requirements small and mediumsized software development companies instead of definingor adopting a new process, prefer to adapt a processaccording to their requirements. The role of project managerthen becomes very important in this regard. Good projectmanagement plays a key role in the success of the softwareproject such that success profile of the company helps it ingetting global clientage.

Unfortunately, existing approaches of process tailoringhave focused large companies instead of small and mediumsized software development companies [29]. Most of theexisting approaches are very general and describes processtailoring at superficial level being not based on the realisticassumptions and factors. Therefore, project managers ofsmall and medium sized software development companiesfind it difficult to tailor a process according to their ownrequirements. No proper guideline is available on softwareprocess tailoring in small and medium sized companies.

This research addresses this issue and presents alightweight meta-model framework of software processtailoring which is based on the important element of agilebased methodologies such as client.

The current study groups the risks faced by the projectsinto classes, analyzes the behavior of the projects anddefines the project states. The key processes on which clientis mostly concerned in agile based methodologies have beenidentified. Based on the project states, client factor and keyprocesses the process tailoring framework has beenformulated. The framework effectively addresses the issuesrelated to the software development processes of small andmedium sized software development companies.

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches such as casestudy analysis and survey questionnaire have been used tovalidate the framework. During the case study, the realprojects running in small and medium sized softwaredevelopment companies following agile basedmethodologies have been analyzed through observation andarchival data approaches [28]. In order to improve thevalidity of the case study findings, a survey questionnaire

A Framework of Software Process Tailoring for

Department of Management and HumanitiesUniversiti Teknologi PETRONAS,

Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

1Rehan Akbar , Mohd Fadzil Hassan , Azrai Abdullah1

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2

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978-1-4673-1938-6/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS)

has been conducted to collect data from different small andmedium sized software development companies. The resultsof both case study analysis and survey questionnaire have tovalidate the framework and its applicability in differentenvironments.

The proposed process tailoring framework provides asystematic approach for project managers of small andmedium sized software development companies to tailor theprocesses according to the requirements of the client andproject. The meta-model framework will provide asystematic process tailoring approach to effectively addressthe issues of software development processes of the projectsrunning small and medium sized software developmentcompanies following agile based methodologies.

II. BACKGROUND

Globalization has mostly affected the engineering andtechnological fields, especially Information Technology (IT)in our societies [1]. The consequences of globalization onthe IT industry includes increase in project outsourcingpractices which have been also termed as GSD or offshoredevelopment [6]. Developing countries such as Pakistan,India, and Malaysia provide good quality services ofsoftware development at cheap rates as compared to thedeveloped countries. As such, companies and investors (alsocalled clients) preferably outsource their projects to thesecountries.

Irrespective of its good or bad consequences,globalization has widely surrounded all the countries. Smalland medium sized software development companies thatemerged as a result of globalization, due to the resourceslimitations need to improve the quality of their processesand development environments to produce quality productfor getting global clientage and become market leader inAsia and Europe.

The recent advancements in the field of IT have changedthe overall software development practices [5]. Mostadvanced tools and technologies have significantly impactedthe software development trends. Project outsourcing hasstarted a new generation of software development processes[7]. It is evident that traditional software developmentapproaches could not withstand the newly emerging fast-paced software development trends and gradually becameoutdated. Many factors such as cheap labor, minimal cost,market competition and good quality software have beenidentified as the main reasons behind this paradigm shift [8].Offshore software project development has started a newdebate among the researchers regarding the softwareprocesses, project management and performance issues.Many research works have been presented in this regard forexample [7], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13].

The majority of the software development companies indeveloping countries such as Pakistan, India and Malaysiaare small and medium sized. Limitations of the resourcesand bad processes in these companies have been consideredas big hurdles in producing quality products and competingwith the international markets. On the other hand, thelimitation of resources has forced these companies to followlightweight agile methods of software development andproject management. The characteristics of agilemethodologies such as quick releases, short iterations,minimum or no documentation, no designing & modelinghave made these a preferred choice of small and mediumsized software development companies. Preferences andpriorities of the clients and the companies have also beenchanged as a result.

A number of risks have also been involved in softwaredevelopment projects due to such fast paced development.Poor quality processes have affected the quality of theproduct and have increased the risk of project failure insmall and medium sized software development companies.

In such circumstances, most of the small and mediumsized software development companies prefer to adapt asoftware process instead of creating a new process fromscratch due to limitations of resources. These companiestailor an existing software development process according totheir requirements and follow it throughout the projectlifecycle.

During tailoring procedure, processes and activities ofsoftware development are added, deleted, modified ormerged according to the requirements of the project. Inorder to tailor a process, project managers in small andmedium sized software companies are required to be morevigilant, skilled and should have full knowledge of theprocess. Good software process tailoring effectivelyimproves the quality of software development processes insmall and medium sized companies. Software processtailoring though have been recognized by these small andmedium sized software development companies but isinapplicable in most of the cases.

Most of the existing works on process tailoring focus onlarge companies, and general environmental factors insteadof small and medium sized software developmentcompanies and their requirements [29]. On the other hand,no proper guidelines have been provided for the projectmanagers to decide about when to tailor a process, whichtechnique should be applied, how to apply it and at whatphase of the project it should be applied. Bad processtailoring adversely affects the project in terms of time,money and resources [29]. Very limited research workshave been presented on software process tailoring and rarelyattention has been paid to the small and medium sizedsoftware development companies.

There is the need of stable and efficient lightweightapproach of software process tailoring to improve thequality of the software development processes of small andmedium sized software development companies.Strengthening and refining quality of processes contributesto the project success ratio by producing quality product andachieving client�s satisfaction. A good success profile of thecompany introduces it in the international market and helpsin getting good business.

The objective of this paper is to address the limitations ofexisting software process tailoring approaches thus bypresenting a software process tailoring framework for smalland medium sized software development companiesimproving the quality of their software developmentprocesses. Good software development processes havealways been considered necessary for good quality softwareproducts.

III. SELECTED PREVIOUS WORK

IT globalization has made the software developmentprocess standardization, improvement and tailoring practicesthe key research areas in software engineering during recentyears. Each organization irrespective of its size and projectscale has to rely on a software process for softwaredevelopment and management tasks. In this regard, areference framework for process-oriented softwaredevelopment organizations has been presented in [14]. Inanother study, a review on the role of the water fall model,capability maturity model (CMM), ISO-9000, SPICE,Trillium and BOOTSTRAP in the process improvement hasbeen discussed [15] whereas, various concerns on existing

2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS)

process improvement approaches such as capability maturitymodel (CMM), Six Sigma, lean development and ISO-9001have also been raised [16]. It has been considered that gapbetween academic research community and actual industrypractitioners is the basic reason behind the ineffectiveness ofvarious approaches of software development, processimprovement and management practices [17].

A framework to tailor the software processes as anevolutionary improvement practice has been presented in[18]. The focus in the framework has been given to theproject goals and environments through quantitativecharacterization based on defect profile (analysis of errors,faults, and failures) classification scheme. Though onlysingle approach of defect analysis has been followed but theframework has been found as a significant contribution inthis field.

In another work, software process tailoring activities suchas addition, deletion, splitting and merging have beenapplied on a process module before performing processverification using various techniques such as correctnesschecking, conformance checking and compliance evaluation[30]. A comparison of differences, advantages anddisadvantages between tailored version of XP and thestandard XP approach has also been presented in [19].

The knowledge of previous projects, processes, andpractices has been made basis of process tailoring in most ofthe works such that a prototype tool for capturing and usingthe process knowledge to tailor a software developmentprocess has been presented [20]. However, no guideline hasbeen provided in the framework on types of information,level and amount of information required to tailor a process.In a similar work on knowledge-based process tailoring,structural similarity approach has been followed [21].

A very practical solution for adopting and tailoring XP indifferent software development environments has beenderived through Rule Description Practices (RDP) technique,similar to CRC cards [22]. It has been considered a verycommon practice for XP to be partially adopted [23], [24].

A general procedure to tailor a software process has beenpresented in [25]. The fundamental part of process tailoringis the identification of reason or problem for which solutionis provided through process tailoring. It deals with theanalysis of various elements at organizational level andproject development level. Similarly, four types of strategiesfor system analysis have been presented in [26]. In anothertechnique structured Petri Nets based basic process blockssuch as sequence, selection, iteration and concurrency havebeen used for performing four process tailoring operationsnamely addition, deletion, splitting and merging [27].

The most of the work that has been presented on softwareprocess tailoring is homogeneous and have tailored only oneagile based process model instead of presenting ageneralized approach suitable to various environments.Similar process tailoring operations have beenrecommended in most of the works whereas any guidelineson how to apply these operations to tailor processes indifferent projects have not been provided. A commonlimitation of all the approaches have been found as the lackof addressing process tailoring issues of small and mediumsized software development companies.

Size of the project and organization, project scale, and itscomplexity vary from one project and organization to theothers. Even two projects in the same company are alsodifferent such that a process tailoring techniques applicableto one project may be proved unsuitable for the other project[27].

Therefore, there is the need of suitable process tailoringtechnique applicable to the varying environments of smalland medium sized software development companies.

Software process tailoring is an emerging trend becauseof the undecidability factor involved in the selection of asuitable process according to the requirement of the projectand organization. Though the work on process tailoringstarted back during 1980s, only recently it has gain properrecognition. Now a days, majority of the softwaredevelopment companies are relying on software processtailoring techniques which have found a prominent place insoftware engineering research works.

IV. FRAMEWORK

Figure.1. Process Tailoring Framework

The proposed framework consists of five major components asshown in Fig. 1. Following are the components of the framework:

i. Client�s structure

ii. Interaction overview model

iii. Risk classification model

iv. Project states model

v. Process tailoring schema

vi. Micromanagement

A comprehensive analysis of behavior of projects,problems or risks faced by the projects, effect ofstakeholders and clients factors on projects has been made.All the five components have been derived from the study ofreal projects, industry experience and existing researchliterature. Following is the structure of the research studyand methodology:

A. Phase 1In the first phase, the structure of client in agile based

projects has been identified that leads to the identification ofkey roles in an offshore software project team. Based on the

2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS)

client factor and key roles, a client�s interaction model hasbeen designed and key process areas of software projectsfollowing agile based methodologies have been identified.

B. Phase 2During this phase, risks associated with the performance

of project teams as well as progress of the projects havebeen identified from the analysis of real projects and studyof research literature. Risks or problems are then classifiedinto three main groups according to their effect and scopeand a risk cycle has been designed describing the lifecycleof risks and its effect on software project lifecycle. Based onthe problem classes and other factors such as teamperformance, client�s behavior and progress of the project, aproject states meta-model has been developed comprising ofvarious states of a typical software development project. Aproject state is referred to as a response and behavior of aproject to certain factors, situations and problems during itsexecution. The project states meta-model is the novel andinnovative part of the overall framework.

C. Phase 3Finally, the process tailoring activities as defined in the

research literature such as [18], [19], [20] have been adopted.Add, delete, modify are the standard tailoring activities thathave been selected from the literature whereas, a few otheractivities adopted from the literature have been redefinedand used in the framework such as split & select, shrink, andwrap up. The micro management component manages eachstate of the project based on the problems and progressfactors.

The process tailoring framework provides a systematicschema to tailor a software development process, sub-processes and activities for each of the key processes whenproject is in a particular state which may be a normalexecution state or problem state.

All the main components of the framework are thenintegrated to formulate a preliminary framework as shownin Fig. 1. The preliminary framework is then validatedthrough both qualitative and quantitative methodologies asdescribed in section V and a final meta-model framework isdeveloped.

The framework has been designed for small and mediumsized software development companies following agilebased methodologies. Project client in the whole frameworkhas been given foremost priority. The frameworkrecommends process tailoring strategies based on theexpectations and requirements of the client as well asinfluence of client on software projects. Both client andproject states meta-models are the foundation blocks of theframework. Comprising of two meta-models such as projectstates and client, the framework has been referred to asmeta-model framework because it provides structural modelto tailor a software development process that can be furtherinherited and extended.

V. CASE STUDY

Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies havebeen used to validate the framework. The completeguideline of conducting a case study in software engineeringhas been followed as described by [28].

An embedded type case study has been conducted tovalidate the framework. Multiple units such as two projects,two hierarchical teams, and two different offshore andvisiting clients have been analyzed in each case. Data hasbeen collected through observations and study of archivaldata whereas, observations have been made as �participantobserver� and �normal participant� [28]. The qualitativemethodologies provide real view of the subjects under study.

The analysis has been made using within case analysis andcross case analysis techniques [20], [28].

Following triangulation method to validate the results ofthe case study, a quantitative technique, surveyquestionnaire has been conducted among the professionalsfor example senior managers, project managers, seniordevelopers and team leads working in small and mediumsized companies located in Malaysia, Pakistan, Austria,China and UAE etc. The quantitative results are expected tosupport the validation of the framework through qualitativefindings.

VI. RESULTS

The case study of projects as well as survey questionnairehas been completed and results are being analyzed. Theresults and final framework will be presented once thevalidation completes. The 75 completed questionnaires havebeen received from 15 international software developmentcompanies. The busy schedules and deadlines of industrypeople have been found as the basic reasons behind thelimited response from the software development companies.

Initial results show that project states do exist in allprojects. A project is always in a particular state irrespectiveof its duration and length. Process tailoring that has beendone during different phases of a project has been foundsuccessful. In one case where project was about to beterminated by the client, due to the improvements broughtthrough process tailoring successfully completed its life.

Upon completion of the validation part, complete resultsalong with the final and improved framework will bepublished. As initial results support the framework therefore,it is expected that this research work will fulfill therequirement of process tailoring framework of small andmedium sized software development companies to addresstheir issues of software development processes and theirquality.

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