Introduction to Designing and Deploying Advanced Knowledge Systems Minitrack

The objective of this minitrack is to contribute to the body of knowledge that helps academics and practitioners to design, deploy and evaluate advanced knowledge systems, explore and leverage appropriate project management methods and tools for designing and deploying knowledge systems, and study changing organizational knowledge processes and structures.

Software Product Lines and Platform Ecosystems: Engineering, Services, and Management

Introduction to the Minitrack on eSourcing of Business Processes and Software Products and Services

Best Practices for International eSourcing of Software Products and Services from the Service Providers' Perspective

This research analyzes how eSourcing service providers can execute the Information and Communications Technology-enabled international sourcing of software-intensive systems and services (eSourcing) effectively. The extant literature falls short of providing a detailed enough set of best practices and supporting classes of information systems to help providers to manage and deliver effective services. This research presents a set of best practices for international eSourcing service providers to facilitate the execution, improvement, and management of international eSourcing services. The practices help providers to establish and execute a mature eSourcing life-cycle in order to overcome th…

An Information Systems Design Product Theory for Integrated Requirements, Test and Defect Management Systems

Software companies need to develop high-quality products fast and with low cost. Development activities are typically distributed in different places and involve multiple stakeholders in different countries. Testing is an important way to ensure product quality but it is costly and takes ample time and resources. Sourcing testing services from specialized service providers is often the most viable option for software businesses. Flexible and effective test process management is especially vital to support the testing life-cycle when external testing service providers are involved. Yet, the extant literature provides little theoretical guidance for managing the testing life-cycle, including …

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Virtual Meeting Tool-Based Innovation for UML Technology Training in Global Organizations

End-user training is complicated to implement in global corporations whose activities are typically scattered across multiple sites in different countries and leverage information systems in various ways. This is especially true in global software development where the sites may leverage a development tool for totally different purposes. Web-based Virtual Meeting Tools (VMT) enable synchronous communication globally through interactive audio, online chats, video, and the sharing of presentations. They provide potentially a cost effective way to train even complex topics to large numbers of people in global settings. Few industrial experiences from the design and use of VMT-based training in…

KM/OM/OL systems and technologies

The systems and technologies mini track of the knowledge management, organizational memory and organizational learning research cluster addresses technical issues and tools for building and supporting knowledge management, organizational memory, and organizational learning systems. Sixteen papers were considered in this mini track. We wish to express our thanks to all of those authors who submitted their work. We would also like to thank the 31 individuals who gave their time and effort in providing reviews of the submitted manuscripts. The mini track could not exist without their diligent efforts. The six accepted papers describe both conceptual and working systems.

A dynamic life-cycle model for the provisioning of software testing services

Information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled international sourcing of software-intensive systems and services (eSourcing) is a powerful strategy for managing businesses more effectively. China is becoming a superpower for eSourcing service provisioning, but most Chinese providers are small- or medium-sized and leverage the mediated eSourcing model, delivering services to foreign ICT clients who interface with end-clients onshore. This model restricts the providers to low-value projects. This paper probes eSourcing of software testing services within the Chinese market because testing is one of the best ICT services small- and medium-sized providers can provide to develop domain …

Introduction to Software Product Lines: Engineering, Services, and Management Minitrack

Software has become the key asset for competitive products and services in all industries. Thus, competiti¬veness in software development, maintenance, and related ser¬vices has become a concern for organiza¬tions. Competitiveness can be increased through (1) internal strategies such as the strategic crea¬tion and reuse of softwa¬re assets and (2) external strategies such as outsourcing software de¬velopment, maintenance, and/or services from third party service providers and acquiring off-the-shelf components from providers and open source communities. A viable third strategy is to enact both strategies in parallel. This minitrack focuses on the first and third strategy. The minitrack acce…

Best Practices for International eSourcing of Software Products and Services

This paper analyzes how the information and communications technology-supported international eSourcing of software products and services (IeS) can be effectively executed. The extant literature falls short of providing a systematic and detailed enough set of best practices to guide IeS. This paper presents best practices for IeS to facilitate further research, and to help managers and other stakeholders to understand, execute, and proactively improve and manage international eSourcing. The practices emphasize the need to establish and enact rigorous, mature, and quantitatively managed eSourcing life- cycles in order to transcend temporal, geographical, social, technical, and other boundari…

Dual Information Systems: Supporting Organizational Working and Learning by Making Organizational Memory Transparent

The conceptual design of most computer-based information systems reflects a dualism of technology. During the development phase, part of the work-domain-related knowledge is formalized and encoded in the software, making it difficult for users to reflect on and use this knowledge. This design--use dualism contributes to the deterioration of the interpretive flexibility of information systems. In this article, we outline an information systems architecture called Dual Information Systems (DIS) that incorporates the concepts of an organizational memory information system (OMIS) in a broader framework. DIS help bridge the design--use dualism by providing organizations with a set of services th…

An information systems design product theory for the class of integrated requirements and release management systems

High-tech companies conducting product development need to collect and analyze requirements effectively, plan and implement releases, and allocate requirements to appropriate releases. Requirements and release management are complicated because development activities typically are scattered across multiple sites, involve multiple partners in different countries, leverage various development methods and tools, and are realized through various organizational arrangements such as release projects in organizations structured around products and permanent release teams in organizations responsible for the long-term development and maintenance of strategic software and hardware assets. Flexible, …

An Information System Design Product Theory for Integrated Order, Transportation and Warehouse Management Systems

Globalization, lead time reduction and cost pressures, and other factors make it nontrivial for most companies to devise and manage effective logistics services to meet client requirements. They are better off using the services of specialized third party logistics service providers. These providers compete fiercely and need to develop and improve their services continuously to gain competitive advantage. Integrating the logistics process for improving communication and coordination is the most feasible way for third party logistics providers to deal with these pressures. Yet, the extant literature provides little theoretical guidance for integrating the logistics life-cycle, including orde…

A Dynamic Life-cycle Model for the Provisioning of Software Testing Services: Experiences from A Case Study in the Chinese ICT Sourcing Market

ICT-enabled international sourcing of software-intensive systems and services (eSourcing) is a powerful strategy for managing businesses more effectively. China is becoming a superpower for eSourcing service provisioning, but most Chinese providers are small or medium-sized and leverage the mediated eSourcing model, delivering services to foreign ICT clients that interface with end-clients onshore. This model restricts the providers to low-value projects. This paper probes eSourcing of software testing services within the Chinese market. Testing is studied for two reasons. First, testing is one of the best ICT services, small- and medium-sized providers can provide to develop domain and tec…

ISO Initiatives on Software Product Line Engineering: Vision and Current Status Invited Talk for Variability@ER2011

Software product line engineering and management is still a relatively young discipline and its industrial diffusion is somewhat limited, partly due to the lack of international standards. It involves sub-disciplines that may not necessarily be mature enough yet for standardization. On the other hand, well-focused standardization efforts contribute to the diffusion of best product line practices and help raise the maturity of these practices. Careful roadmapping and execution of the standardization initiative is thus vital. This talk discusses the current roadmap for the international standardization initiative of software product line engineering and management methods and tools and the st…

Groupware Support for Requirements Management in New Product Development

Large high-technology companies operate in fiercely competitive international markets. To succeed, they need to shorten the cycle time of new product development (NPD) while improving product quality and maintaining or reducing the total resources required. Their abilities to meet these business goals depend on how extensively and effectively they collect, analyze, and utilize requirements in their product development. Creating and sharing such knowledge is complicated partly because the NPD activities of large companies are geographically distributed. Groupware technologies allow knowledge to be created and shared more effectively. Thus, they hold considerable potential as means of meeting…

Introduction to the Management of Knowledge Systems Design and Deployment Projects Minitrack

Knowledge systems are increasingly used to support globally distributed work. Projects are a natural means of designing and deploying such systems. There is plenty of literature on the management of information systems design projects and some literature on information systems deployment projects. However, knowledge systems are typically more complex organizationally and socially than most traditional information systems. For example, enterprise resource planning systems typically must be used to get the work done whereas many knowledge systems are voluntary to use. It is reasonable to assume that project management involved in the design and deployment of knowledge systems differs from the…

Introduction to the Minitrack on Software Product Lines: Engineering, Services, and Management

ITKA111 Oliosuuntautunut analyysi ja suunnittelu

Redesigning Computer-Supported Work Processes with Dual Information Systems: The Work Process Benchmarking Service

The conceptual design of most computer-based information systems reflects a dualism of technology. During the development phase, part of the work-domain-related knowledge is formalized and encoded in the software, making it difficult for users to reflect on and use this knowledge. This design/use dualism contributes to the deterioration of the interpretive flexibility of information systems. We propose an information systems architecture called Dual Information Systems (DIS) that helps bridge the design/use dualism by providing organizations with a set of services that enable and reinforce both effective, institutionalized working and the questioning and (re)construction of computer-support…

An Information Systems Design Theory for Integrated Requirements and Release Management Systems

High-tech companies need to collect and analy- ze requirements and allocate them to appropriate product releases in market-driven product development. Develop- ment activities are typically scattered across multiple sites and involve multiple partners in different countries, complicating requirements and release management. Fle- xible, scalable, and secure groupware-based support for the activities provides substantial payoffs. Yet, the extant literature provides little theoretical guidance for designing and using requirements and release management systems in multi-site, multi-partner environments. This article de- velops the meta-requirements and a meta-design of an Information Systems De…

Diffusion of software technology innovations in the global context

This study examines how software businesses are acquiring new software technology innovations (STIs) in rapidly changing globalized business environment characterized by rapidly shortening software technology life cycles, changing customer demands, and intense competition. It was executed through both theoretical and empirical investigations and analyses. It describes one case company as an example of the diffusion of STI and develops a framework for the diffusion of software technology innovation. The research findings are useful for both further research and industrial settings.

An Information Systems Design Product Theory for Software Project Estimation and Measurement Systems

There is relatively little research on software Project Estimation and Measurement Systems (PEMS). Commercial PEMS vary in functionality and effective- ness. Their intended users thus do not know what to ex- pect from PEMS and how to evaluate them. This paper creates an information system design product theory for the class of PEMS that prescribes the meta-requirements, the meta-design, and applicable theories for all products within the class. Meta-requirements and the meta-design are derived from the project estimation and measurement literature, experiences obtained during more than ten years of empirical work in Finnish Software Measurement Association, and a commercially available PEMS.

Exploring the Context of Product Line Adoption

To successfully adopt a product line approach an organization needs to define its adoption goals, conceive a strategy, and implement a plan to achieve those goals. This process is repeated for each business unit and individual affected by the product line adoption. This paper describes how the characteristics of the market, organization, business unit, and individual influence product line adoption goals, strategies, and plans.

An Information system design product theory for the abstract class of integrated requirements and delivery management systems

Information and Communications Technology-enabled international sourcing of software-intensive systems and services (eSourcing) is increasingly used as a means of adding value, reducing costs, sharing risks, and achieving strategic aims. To maximally reap the benefits from eSourcing and to mitigate the risks, providers and clients have to be aware of and build capabilities for the eSourcing life-cycle. China is in a position to become a superpower for eSourcing service provisioning, but most Chinese eSourcing service providers are small or medium-sized and typically work for larger intermediaries instead of end-clients, limiting their business and capabilities development. The extant litera…

Evaluation Framework for Analyzing the Applicability of Criteria Lists for the Selection of Requirements Management Tools Supporting Distributed Collaboration and Software Product Line Requirements Management

Effective requirements management and enabling tools are critical for successfully developing and maintaining services and products. The identification and selection of an appropriate requirements management tool can be a costly, time-consuming, and error-prone undertaking especially in the context of software product line requirements management, requiring the tools to support both product and platform development activities that often involve geographically distributed, collaborating, and competing stakeholders. Criteria lists have been developed to facilitate the selection. This research (1) creates an evaluation framework to review the applicability of the lists for the selection of req…

Introduction to software product lines : Engineering, service, and management minitrack

Software has become the key asset for competitive products and services in all industries. Thus, competitiveness in software development, maintenance, and related services has become a concern for organizations. Competitiveness can be increased through (1) internal strategies such as the strategic creation and reuse of software assets and (2) external strategies such as outsourcing software development, maintenance, and/or services from third party service providers and acquiring off-the-shelf components from providers and open source communities. A viable third strategy is to enact both strategies in parallel. This minitrack focuses on the first and third strategy. The minitrack accepted f…

Which Test Artifacts Testing Service Providers should Reuse and How? Experiences from a Case Study in the Chinese ICT Sourcing Market

Software testing service providers are facing new requirements to shorten service times, lower costs, and increase service customization and quality. Reuse of test artifacts is a possible solution that can help providers to meet the requirements because reuse can improve software quality and productivity. However, the extant literature does not explain in depth which test artifacts should be reused and how. This paper focuses on ICT-enabled sourcing of software testing services in the Chinese market to identify the most important reusable test artifacts. There are two reasons for this research. First, most Chinese service providers are small or medium-sized and have to overcome obstacles su…

Framework for Evaluating the Version Management Capabilities of a Class of UML Modeling Tools from the Viewpoint of Multi-Site, Multi-Partner Product Line Organizations

UML models are widely used in software product line engineering for activities such as modeling the software product line reference architecture, detailed design, and automation of software code generation and testing. But in high-tech companies, modeling activities are typically distributed across multiple sites and involve multiple partners in different countries, thus complicating model management. Today's UML modeling tools support sophisticated version management for managing parallel and distributed modeling. However, the literature does not provide a comprehensive set of industrial-level criteria to evaluate the version management capabilities of UML tools. This article's contributio…

Introduction to the designing and deploying next generation knowledge systems and knowledge intensive business processes minitrack

Work systems and the knowledge systems enabling them need to be aligned with emerging technologies to ensure organizational acceptance and to support effective organizational value creation. Traditional, often monolithic knowledge system architectures need to be redesigned due to technological progress manifested by, for example, social software, mashups, and semantic technologies. In our view, these redesigns lead to a new class of knowledge systems that we call “Next Generation Knowledge Systems.” Project management (PM) involved in the design and deployment of knowledge systems differs from the PM involved in traditional IS projects. While design projects are essential in creating next g…

Standards Initiatives for Software Product Line Engineering and Management within the International Organization for Standardization

Software product line engineering is an established methodology for fast and effective development of software-intensive systems and services. To reap maximum benefits from the methodology, businesses typically need to implement coordinated changes in development methodologies, tools, product architectures, organizational designs, and business models. Product lines are developed in complex international software ecosystems, but there is no coordinated set of international standards for defining and leveraging the methodology. As a result, ecosystems cannot adopt standardized methods and tools for developing product lines, tool vendors face difficulties in developing tools to enable product …

An Information Systems Design Product Theory for Software Project Estimation and Measurement Systems

There is relatively little research on software Project Estimation and Measurement Systems (PEMS). Commercial PEMS vary in functionality and effectiveness. Their intended users thus do not know what to expect from PEMS and how to evaluate them. This paper creates an information system design product theory for the class of PEMS that prescribes the meta-requirements, the meta-design, and applicable theories for all products within the class. Meta-requirements and the meta-design are derived from the project estimation and measurement literature, experiences obtained during more than ten years of empirical work in Finnish Software Measurement Association, and a commercially available PEMS.

Requirements for using simulation to design and assess wireless ATM handover solutions

Wireless ATM (WATM) has been widely considered as a solution for broadband wireless services. Handover is one of the most important mobility support functions in the WATM network. Many handover solutions have been proposed, analysed, and benchmarked. Simulations have been broadly used to assess these solutions. However, there are many dilemmas in how simulation has been applied as a research methodology: heterogeneous simulation systems used, lack of comparison with other related work, biased conclusions, and unavailability of simulation models and systems to researchers. The WATM research community lacks a standard and commonly acceptable methodology for applying simulation. To address thi…

Redesigning Computer-Supported Work Processes with Dual Information Systems: The Work Process Benchmarking Service

The conceptual design of most computer-based information systems reflects a dualism of technology. During the development phase, part of the work-domain-related knowledge is formalized and encoded in the software, making it difficult for users to reflect on and use this knowledge. This design/use dualism contributes to the deterioration of the interpretive flexibility of information systems. We propose an information systems architecture called Dual Information Systems (DIS) that helps bridge the design/use dualism by providing organizations with a set of services that enable and reinforce both effective, institutionalized working and the questioning and (re)construction of computer-support…

Best practices for International eSourcing of Software Products and Services

This paper analyzes how the information and communications technology-supported international eSourcing of software products and services (IeS) can be effectively executed. The extant literature falls short of providing a systematic and detailed enough set of best practices to guide IeS. This paper presents best practices for IeS to facilitate further research, and to help managers and other stakeholders to understand, execute, and proactively improve and manage international eSourcing. The practices emphasize the need to establish and enact rigorous, mature, and quantitatively managed eSourcing life- cycles in order to transcend temporal, geographical, social, technical, and other boundari…

E-supply Chain for International Technology Transfer

This research (a review of current literature and empirical research) suggests that in order to make the e-supply chain for technology transfer of a Western country company (i.e., technology supplier) more efficient and effective than the conventional technology development and delivery approach, it should be considered as a process whose phases include planning, implementation and evaluation. This paper focuses only on the e-supply chain for technology package development for international technology transfer, and does not deal with all the aspects of IT-supported technology transfer process. peerReviewed