Design of a Portfolio Management System for Software Line Development: Merging the Gap between Software Project and Product Management

Erstauflage 2015
ISBN: 978-3-95489-218-1
Verlag: Anchor Academic Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 128 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 216 g

Tracy (1995, p. 19) emphasises in his book that in the twenty-first century, tomorrow will be more different from today than in the past. Therefore today’s corporations get to stay innovative, reinvent themselves continuously and have to design new business. In contrast to that, software mastery becomes more than ever the key factor for business success (Northrop, 2008, p. 12). In the twenty-first century, software pervades every sector and has become the bottom line for many organisations. Therefore, reusability plays a growing role for every business in today’s rapid changing world (Strahringer, 2003, p. 5). Thus, new paradigms in software engineering are focusing on the reutilisation and modularisation of software solutions. One innovative and growing concept since 2003 is software line development which has its origin in the automotive and fashion industry (Strahringer, 2003, p. 5). The key benefit of software line development is the covering of a wide field of application with minimal extra costs by reuse of a common software platform. In reference to Ebert & Smouts (2003, p. 29) the most publications in the field of software lines deal with configuration and change management. Whereas the integration of software line development into enterprises’ product portfolios has been till now widely neglected. In contrast to that Jeffery & Leliveld (2004) points out that the failure or success of software lines highly depends in particular on their level of integration into companies’ product portfolio system. For this reason, the major goal of this research is the realisation of an integrated portfolio management system for software line development. This covers at first the determination of the role portfolio management in organisational governance. Thereafter the general elements of a portfolio management system will be identified. On the other side, the specific demands of software line engineering according to the portfolio elements will be analysed. The insights of the analysis build the basis for the design of the software product line portfolio management system. The design describes the portfolio management system from different architectural perspectives which represent the viewpoint of the diverse stakeholders. Moreover, different analysis methods will be evaluated with a respective scoring model for the software line product, domain and asset application domain. At the end, the scientific work gives a suggestion for further investigations in the scope of software line portfolio management.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lang, Michael

Leseproben

Text Sample:
Chapter 2, Purpose of the Research:
The major goal of the assignment is the evaluation and design of an ideal portfolio management system for software line development for merging the gap between common project and product management. This contains at first the evaluation of the current status of research of portfolio management and software line development. On the basis of theoretical results combined with insights of expert interviews an appropriate portfolio management system will be established and further designed in an iterative approach. The developed system will be exemplary approved in a case study. The research objectives of this assignment are in detail:
1. Scientific research: Theoretical research: Investigation of the current body of knowledge of portfolio theory and software line development theory in the frame of project and product management. Empirical research: Interview of expert groups for capturing their demands and advices for an integrated portfolio management system for software line development. Evaluation of analysis alternatives: Development of a multidimensional scoring model for software line portfolio analyses. Comparison of alternatives based on a developed assessment model. Selection of the most appropriate portfolio analysis model for the detailed realisation of the ideal portfolio management system in the context of software line development.
2. Constructive design of portfolio management system: Design of portfolio management system: Detailed realisation of the portfolio management system for software line development with the the selected portfolio analysis model based on theoretical research combined with the insights of expert interviews. Exemplary application and concept validation: Implementation and validation of the developed ideal portfolio management system in practice. The case-study shall carve out the possible benefits and expected effort of the integration of a software line portfolio management into a business system. Moreover the exemplary application shall deliver first insights of the model in practice which finally lead to additional optimisations.
Chapter 3, Organisation of the Research:
The structure of the research with the title Design of a Portfolio Management System for Software Product Line Development can be separated in two major parts. The first part deals with the theoretical and empirical research on portfolio theory and software line development. The insights are the basis for the evaluation and selection of an appropriate portfolio analysis model. The second part concerns with the detailed development of the ideal portfolio management system with the previous selected analysis instrument. The realised system will be exemplary applied and validated for a software product. The selected research approach and the chapters of the assignment are in detail the following.
3.1, Research Approach:
The selected research methodology is a constructive design science approach. In reference to Nunamaker and Chen (1990, p. 90) design science is an applied research that applies knowledge to solve practical problems. The goal of this constructive research is to design a portfolio management system for software line development for transforming project results into reusable standard products. The portfolio management solution will be validated by expert interviews in combination with a practical approval in an exemplary project.
3.1.1, Research Model:
The research model is shown in Figure 3.1 which is based on the design science framework by March and Smith (1995, p. 255). The framework covers with two axes, namely research activities and research outputs. Research outputs cover constructs, models, methods and instantiations. Research activities comprise building, evaluating, theorizing on and justifying artefacts. Figure 3.1 thereby illustrates which cells at the intersection of research activities and research outputs are covered by this assignment. Eac

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Lang is an inhouse consultant in one of the Fortune 500 companies with the focus on business innovation and organizational development. He has five years experience in project management in global international teams spread around Europe, Brazil and India. His passion is supporting people to achieve their fullest potential by consulting, coaching and training. In his free time he helps people improving their speaking skills at Toastmasters and coaches students to find the career they ever wanted at ROCK YOUR LIFE!