A software process improvement solution for small and medium-size enterprises

The focus of this paper is to outline the main structure of an alternative software process improvement method for small- and medium-size enterprises. This method is based on the action package concept, which helps to institutionalize the effective practices with affordable implementation costs. This paper also presents the results and lessons learned when this method was applied to three enterprises in the requirements engineering domain.

ITIL in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises: toward a proposal based on an ITIL processes implementation sequence and a pofile scheme strategy for implementing the first process in the sequence

The backdrop of actual problematic about the implementation of Information Technology (IT) services management in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be described. It will be exposed the reasons why reaching a maturity/capability level through well-known standards or the implementation of good software engineering practices by means of IT infrastructure Library are really difficult to achieve by SMEs. Also, the solutions to the exposed problems will be explained. Also master thesis goals are presented in terms of: purpose, research questions, research goals, objectives and scope. Finally, thesis structure is described.

How small and medium enterprises can begin their implementation of ITIL?

Sequencing of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes related to their order of implementation is one of the pending issues in the ITIL handbooks. Other frameworks and process models related to service management (e.g., COBIT, COSO and CMMI-SVC) are quite well described in the literature and their handbooks. However, the identifi cation of the fi rst process to be implemented has not been deeply analysed in the previous frameworks and models, and it is also a complex question to answer for organizations, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, SMEs are the organizations that have the largest presence in the world economy; offi cial data of General Business Directory, show that their range of presence in different countries around the world is between 93% and 99%, and the average of employment contribution is around 60%. Consequently, the improvement of information technology service management is of vital importance to accomplish in this type of enterprises. This research has focused on two surveys that aim at helping SMEs to select the ITIL process by which starting the implementation of ITIL. In the fi rst survey, data were gathered through a questionnaire to SMEs registered in the region of Madrid. The second survey obtained data from experts and enterprises in countries as Spain, Ecuador, Chile, Luxembourg, Colombia, Norway, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Finally, the results of both surveys show that the tendency for starting an ITIL implementation in SMEs points to one of the processes included in the Service Operation.

The role of a firm's absorptive capacity and the technology transfer process in clusters: How effective are technology centres in low-tech clusters?

This paper analyses how the internal resources of small- and medium-sized enterprises determine access (learning processes) to technology centres (TCs) or industrial research institutes (innovation infrastructure) in traditional low-tech clusters. These interactions basically represent traded (market-based) transactions, which constitute important sources of knowledge in clusters. The paper addresses the role of TCs in low-tech clusters, and uses semi-structured interviews with 80 firms in a manufacturing cluster. The results point out that producer–user interactions are the most frequent; thus, the higher the sector knowledge-intensive base, the more likely the utilization of the available research infrastructure becomes. Conversely, the sectors with less knowledge-intensive structures, i.e. less absorptive capacity (AC), present weak linkages to TCs, as they frequently prefer to interact with suppliers, who act as transceivers of knowledge. Therefore, not all the firms in a cluster can fully exploit the available research infrastructure, and their AC moderates this engagement. In addition, the existence of TCs is not sufficient since the active role of a firm's search strategies to undertake interactions and conduct openness to available sources of knowledge is also needed. The study has implications for policymakers and academia.

Metamodelo para la mejora del proceso de gestión de requisitos

El vertiginoso avance de la informática y las telecomunicaciones en las últimas décadas ha incidido invariablemente en la producción y la prestación de servicios, en la educación, en la industria, en la medicina, en las comunicaciones e inclusive en las relaciones interpersonales. No obstante estos avances, y a pesar de la creciente aportación del software al mundo actual, durante su desarrollo continuamente se incurre en el mismo tipo de problemas que provocan un retraso sistemático en los plazos de entrega, se exceda en presupuesto, se entregue con una alta tasa de errores y su utilidad sea inferior a la esperada. En gran medida, esta problemática es atribuible a defectos en los procesos utilizados para recoger, documentar, acordar y modificar los requisitos del sistema. Los requisitos son los cimientos sobre los cuáles se construye un producto software, y sin embargo, la incapacidad de gestionar sus cambios es una de las principales causas por las que un producto software se entrega fuera de tiempo, se exceda en coste y no cumpla con la calidad esperada por el cliente. El presente trabajo de investigación ha identificado la necesidad de contar con metodologías que ayuden a desplegar un proceso de Gestión de Requisitos en pequeños grupos y entornos de trabajo o en pequeñas y medianas empresas. Para efectos de esta tesis llamaremos Small-Settings a este tipo de organizaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo de tesis doctoral es desarrollar un metamodelo que permita, por un lado, la implementación y despliegue del proceso de Gestión de Requisitos de forma natural y a bajo coste y, por otro lado, el desarrollo de mecanismos para la mejora continua del mismo. Este metamodelo esta soportado por el desarrollo herramientas que permiten mantener una biblioteca de activos de proceso para la Gestión de Requisitos y a su vez contar con plantillas para implementar el proceso partiendo del uso de activos previamente definidos. El metamodelo contempla el desarrollo de prácticas y actividades para guiar, paso a paso, la implementación del proceso de Gestión de Requisitos para una Small-Setting utilizando un modelo de procesos como referencia y una biblioteca de activos de proceso como principal herramienta de apoyo. El mantener los activos de proceso bien organizados, indexados, y fácilmente asequibles, facilita la introducción de las mejores prácticas al interior de una organización. ABSTRACT The fast growth of computer science and telecommunication in recent decades has invariably affected the provision of products and services in education, industry, healthcare, communications and also interpersonal relationships. In spite of such progress and the active role of the software in the world, its development and production continually incurs in the same type of problems that cause systematic delivery delays, over budget, a high error rate and consequently its use is lower than expected. These problems are largely attributed to defects in the processes used to identify, document, organize, and track all system's requirements. It is generally accepted that requirements are the foundation upon which the software process is built, however, the inability to manage changes in requirements is one of the principal factors that contribute to delays on the software development process, which in turn, may cause customer dissatisfaction. The aim of the present research work has identified the need for appropriate methodologies to help on the requirement management process for those organizations that are categorised as small and medium size enterprises, small groups within large companies, or small projects. For the purposes of this work, these organizations are named Small-Settings. The main goal of this research work is to develop a metamodel to manage the requirement process using a Process Asset Library (PAL) and to provide predefined tools and actives to help on the implementation process. The metamodel includes the development of practices and activities to guide step by step the deployment of the requirement management process in Small-Settings. Keeping assets organized, indexed, and readily available are a main factor to the success of the organization process improvement effort and facilitate the introduction of best practices within the organization. The Process Asset Library (PAL) will become a repository of information used to keep and make available all process assets that are useful to those who are defining, implementing, and managing processes in the organization.

Aplicación de la energía solar térmica en una incubadora comercial de perdiz roja y supervisión de la actividad biológica mediante sensores inteligentes

La perdiz roja es la especie cinegética por excelencia en la península ibérica, cuya cría en cautividad y suelta controlada comenzó a regularse en los años 70 con la aparición del ICONA. La incubación controlada de huevos de perdiz es imprescindible, con fines cinegéticos y de preservación de la especie, y se desarrolla con incubadoras comerciales de pequeña y mediana escala, distribuidas en zonas rurales con acceso limitado y/o deficiente al suministro eléctrico. En nuestras latitudes el aporte de energía solar térmica se perfila como una posibilidad de mejorar la eficiencia energética de éstas y otras instalaciones y de reducir la dependencia energética exterior. Hay diversos factores físico-químicos que influyen en la calidad de la incubación: temperatura, humedad relativa, y concentración de gases, de los cuales sólo los dos primeros son habitualmente supervisados y controlados en este tipo de incubadoras. Esta Tesis surge en el marco de dos proyectos de cooperación con la AECID, y tiene como objetivos: la caracterización espacial de variables relevantes (temperatura (T), humedad relativa (HR)) en la incubadora comercial durante el proceso de incubación, la determinación de la relación existente entre la evolución de variables ambientales durante el proceso de incubación y la tasa de nacimientos (35-77%), así como el diseño y evaluación del sistema de apoyo solar térmico para determinar su potencial de utilización durante las incubaciones comerciales. La instalación de un número limitado de sensores permite la monitorización precisa del proceso de incubación de los huevos. Los resultados más relevantes indican que en incubaciones comerciales los gradientes de T y HR han sido despreciables (1ºC de diferencia entre las posiciones con mayor y menor T media y un 4,5% de diferencia entre las posiciones con mayor y menor HR), mientras que el seguimiento y ajuste (mediante modelos de crecimiento) de la concentración de CO2 (r2 entre 0,948 y 0,987 en las 5 incubaciones, para un total de 43315 huevos) permite valorar la actividad fisiológica de los huevos e incluso predecir la tasa de éxito (nacimientos), basándose en la concentración de CO2 estimada mediante modelos de crecimiento en el día 20 de incubación (r2 entre 0,997 y 0,994 según el modelo de estimación empleado). El sistema ha sido valorado muy positivamente por los productores (Finca Cinegética Dehesa Vieja de Galapagar). El aporte térmico se ha diseñado (con mínima intrusión en el sistema comercial) sobre la base de un sistema de enfriamiento de emergencia original de la incubadora, al que se han incorporado un colector solar, un depósito, un sistema de electroválvulas, una bomba de circulación y sensores de T en distintos puntos del sistema, y cuyo control ha sido automatizado. En esta Tesis se muestra que la contribución solar puede aportar hasta un 42% de las demandas de energía en nuestras condiciones geográficas para una temperatura de consigna dentro de la incubadora de 36.8ºC, sin afectar a la estabilidad de la temperatura. Además, el rendimiento del colector solar se ha acotado entre un 44% y un 85%, de acuerdo con los cálculos termodinámicos; valores que se mantienen dentro del rango aportado por el fabricante (61%). En el futuro se plantea evaluar el efecto de distintas estrategias de control, tales como controladores difusos, que incorporan el conocimiento experto al control automático. ABSTRACT The partridge is the quintessential game species in the Iberian Peninsula, which controlled breeding and release, began to be regulated in the 70s with the emergence of ICONA. The controlled incubation of eggs is essential, and takes place in commercial incubators of small and medium scale, distributed in rural areas with limited and/or inadequate access to power. In our latitudes the contribution of solar thermal energy is emerging as a possibility to improve the energy efficiency of the facilities and to reduce external energy dependence. There are various physicochemical factors influencing the quality of incubation: temperature, relative humidity and concentration of gases, of which only the first two are typically monitored and controlled in such incubators. This PhD comes within the framework of two cooperation projects with AECID and aims: the spatial characterization of relevant variables in a commercial incubator (temperature (T), and relative humidity (HR)), determining the relationships in the changes in environmental variables during incubation and birth rates (35-77%) as well as the design and evaluation of solar thermal support system to determine its potential use during commercial incubations; the installation of a limited number of sensors has allowed accurate monitoring of incubation of eggs. The most relevant results indicate that in commercial incubations, the gradients in T and HR have been negligible (1°C difference between the highest and lowest positions T and average 4.5% difference between the highest and lowest positions HR), while monitoring and fit using growth models of the concentration of CO2 (r2 between 0.948 and 0.987 in 5 incubations, for a total amount of 43,315 eggs) allows assessing the physiological activity of the eggs and even predict the success rate (hatchability), based on the estimated concentration of CO2 by using growth models on day 20 of incubation (r2 between 0.997 and 0.994 depending on the fit model).The system has been highly valued by producers (Finca Cinegética Dehesa Vieja de Galapagar). The hybrid heat system is designed (with minimal intrusion into the commercial system) based on an emergency cooling device, original in the incubator. New elements have been incorporated: a solar collector, a tank, a system of solenoid valves, a circulating pump and T sensors at various points of the system, whose control has been automated. This PhD shows that the solar contribution is responsible for up to 42% of energy demands in our geographical conditions for a setpoint temperature inside the incubator of 36.8ºC, without questioning the stability of the temperature. Furthermore, the efficiency of the solar collector has been bounded between 44% and 85%, according to thermodynamic calculations; values remain within the range provided by the manufacturer (61%). In the future it is proposed to evaluate the effect of different control strategies, such as fuzzy controllers, which incorporate the expertise to automated control.