Improving the Reuse Process is Based on Understanding the Business and the Products: Four Case Studies

The reuse of software engineering assets has been proposed as the most promising alternative for improving productivity and software quality. The improvement of reuse requires understanding of suitable reuse strategies and the software process. In four industrial cases the reuse process is analyzed for the purpose of its improvement and remarkable differences between successful processes are found. Those differences are due to differences in the products and businesses of the analyzed companies. In some cases the product line approach fits the business very well and high level of reuse can be achieved by using it. In other cases the black-box approach to reuse has turned out to suit the bus…

Software Modernization Decision Criteria: An Empirical Study

Decisions regarding software evolution strategies such as modernizations are economically important. We present results of our empirical study of the views of decision makers. We have asked their views of the relative importance of 49 software modernization decision criteria. We have gathered data from Finnish software industry. There were 26 experts from 8 organizations involved. They were mainly upper or middle level managers. Our study shows that there is a large set of criteria which should be taken into account, and that those studied by us provide a good coverage of the relevant ones. We list the top-20 criteria. We also performed a cluster analysis which produced two groups of subjec…

Defining the Process for Making Software System Modernization Decisions

This paper outlines a process for software system modernization decisions. The rationale of the process is explained and the process is defined in a way that allows its adaptation for other organizations and situations. The process is a light-weight one and is based on the use of objective data. The procedures for collecting the data are explained. The process has been used to solve a real industrial decision making situation in which the process was successful.

IS evolution benefit assessment: Challenges with economic investment criteria

Maintenance and system evolution activities have a significant role in the information system (IS) life cycle. It has been estimated that approximately 80% of the total IT expenses are allocated for maintenance activities [20]. According to Lehman’s first law, maintenance is necessary, because software needs to be continuously improved or it will get out of date and cannot respond to the requirements of its environment [19]. Despite the importance of IS evolution investments, there is a gap between the IT related costs and company profitability [27]. Brynjolfssen [10] described this as a productivity paradox: information technology utilization has increased since the 70’s but simultaneously…

Industrial Application and Evaluation of a Software Evolution Decision Model

Group Decision-Making Processes in Industrial Software Evolution

Software evolution decision-making is important. Decisions can be made by an individual or a group. Currently it is not known how decision-making is organized in software industry. However, that knowledge is needed to improve the decision-making processes. Therefore, we have studied 29 decision making experts, who were involved in software evolution decision-making. The study was performed with qualitative methods, which enabled the gathering of versatile information concerning the views of the decision-makers. The study revealed group decisions are widely used both in private and public organizations and attitudes towards them are generally positive or neutral. The study provided informati…

Software Modernization and Replacement Decision Making in Industry: A Qualitative Study

Software modernization and replacement decisions are crucial to many organizations. They affect greatly to the success and well being of the organizations and their people. The decisions like that are usually presumed to be rational and based on facts. These decisions and how they are made tell much about the decision makers and the decision making tools available to them. Interviews of 29 software modernization decision makers or senior experts were analyzed in order to find out how the decisions were made and what models and tools were used. It turned out that decisions are not as rational as supposed. Intuition is the dominant factor in decision making. Formal software engineering orient…