Software SMEs asStrategic Partners in the Partner Programs of Large International Companies

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tutkia pienten- ja keskisuurten (PK) ohjelmistoyritysten kansainvälisiä kumppanuuksia. Päätavoitteena oli löytää keinoja kuinka PK-ohjelmistoyritykset voisivat tulla strategisiksi kumppaneksi suurten kansainvälisten yritysten kumppanuusohjelmissa. Lisäksi tutkielmassa oli tavoitteena selvittää kuinka kumppaneiden välistä sitoutumista voitaisiin vahvistaa, jotta PK-ohjelmistoyritykset voisivat saavuttaa todellista lisäarvoa ja kansainvälistä kasvua kumppanuusohjelmien kautta. Tutkielma jakaantuu teoreettiseen ja empiiriseen osaan. Teoreettinen osa keskittyy tarkastelemaan korkean teknologian markkinointia ohjelmistoalalla sekä kansainvälisiä kumppanuuksia. Suurten yritystenkumppanuusohjelmia ei ole tutkittu suomalaisten PK-ohjelmistoyritysten näkökulmasta, minkä vuoksi empiirinen tutkimus on perusteltua. Empiirinen tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena case-tutkimuksena ja tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin puolistrukturoitua haastattelua. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että strategisen kumppanin aseman saavuttaminen on pitkä ja haastava matka PK-yrityksille. Suurten kansainvälisten yritysten kumppanuusohjelmat ovat useimmiten monimutkaisia ja todellisen lisäarvon saavuttaminen kumppanuusohjelman kautta vaatii paljon resursseja PK-yrityksiltä. Jotta PK-yritykset voisivat saavuttaa ja säilyttää strategisen kumppanin aseman kumppanuusohjelmassa, vaatii se aktiivista ja päivittäistä vuorovaikutusta kumppaneiden kesken. Erityisesti tiiviit henkilösuhteet oikeiden avainhenkilöiden kanssa ovat välttämättömyys. Läheiset kontaktit mahdollistavat sen, että PK-yritykset voivat ainakin osittain ohittaa kumppanuusohjelman byrokratian, mikä lisää luottamusta ja sitoutumista kumppanuussuhteessa sekä edistää kansainvälistä kasvua ja menestystä liiketoiminnassa.

A Semantic wiki for quality management in software development projects

Quality management has become a strategic issue for organisations and is very valuable to produce quality software. However, quality management systems (QMS) are not easy to implement and maintain. The authors' experience shows the benefits of developing a QMS by first formalising it using semantic web ontologies and then putting them into practice through a semantic wiki. The QMS ontology that has been developed captures the core concepts of a traditional QMS and combines them with concepts coming from the MPIu'a development process model, which is geared towards obtaining usable and accessible software products. Then, the ontology semantics is directly put into play by a semantics-aware tool, the Semantic MediaWiki. The developed QMS tool is being used for 2 years by the GRIHO research group, where it has manages almost 50 software development projects taking into account the quality management issues. It has also been externally audited by a quality certification organisation. Its users are very satisfied with their daily work with the tool, which manages all the documents created during project development and also allows them to collaborate, thanks to the wiki features.

Software process improvement using an electronic process guide

Kasvava kiinnostus ohjelmistojen laatua kohtaan on herättänyt ohjelmistoprosesseihin ja niiden kehittämiseen kohdistuvaa huomiota viime vuosina. Ohjelmistoyritykset ympäri maailmaa ovat ottaneet käyttöön ohjelmistoprosessin kehittämismalleja, kuten CMM ja SPICE, pyrkiessään kohti parempilaatuisia ohjelmistotuotteita. Samalla on huomattu, että tehokas prosessien parantaminen ja suorittaminen tarvitsee tuekseen kuvauksen prosessista, jotta prosessin perusteellinen ymmärtäminen ja kommunikointi olisi mahdollista. Ohjelmistoprosesseja voidaan kuvata monilla eri tavoilla. Prosessiopas on prosessin esitysmuoto, jonka päätarkoituksena on helpottaa prosessin ymmärtämistä ja kommunikointia. Elektroninen prosessiopas on Web-teknologiaa hyödyntävä prosessiopas. Tässä työssä luodaan kehitysympäristö elektronisille prosessioppaille, joiden tarkoituksena on tukea ohjelmistoprosessin kehittämistä ja suorittamista. Ympäristö mahdollistaa ohjelmistoprosessinmallintamisen sekä yksilöllisten oppaiden luomisen ja muokkaamisen. Kehitysympäristöä käytetään mallintamaan tietoliikenneohjelmistoja valmistavan yrityksen ohjelmistoprosessia sekä luomaan elektronisia prosessioppaita tukemaan prosessin kehitystä ja suorittamista. Lopuksi pohditaan prosessioppaiden tarjoamaa tukea sekä mahdollisuuksia kohdeyrityksessä.

Web Software Engineering - value added approach

Taking the maximum advantage of technological innovations and the investment in them is of key importance for businesses. The IT industry offers a wide range of innovative high-technology solutions to manage information processing and distribution. However for end-user businesses to make informed decisions in this area is challenging. The aim of this research is to identify the key differences in principal solutions, and what the selection criteria should be for those involved. Existing methodologies for software development are classified, and some key criteria are described to help IT system developers and users determine what are the most important factors in system selection, development and deployment. Statistical data is researched and analysed, a theoretical basis is developed and reviewed, key issues from case studies are identified and generalized to be presented along with the conclusions in the current study. The results give a good basis for corporate consideration and provide overall support to the key decisions in developing web-based software. The conclusion is that new web developments should be considered the stakeholders as an evolution of existing business systems, but they should then pay particular attention to the new advantages that web-based software offers in terms of standardised interfaces and procedures, universal deployment opportunities, and a range of other benefits the study highlights.

Developing a user-centric event management system

This thesis describes the development of a software requirements specification for a user-centric event management system. The system is set to satisfy three goals: adding value for the event attendees, adding value for the event organizer, and reducing the costs of arranging and running an event. The requirements are identified by researching the prescriptive traits of event business and the current state of the case company and its environment. First the professional and human needs for events are scrutinized. Second, some recent reports about the current trends in the event business are reviewed. Then the event life cycle is presented using the model of new service development, and online promotion of events and especially word-of-mouth marketing receive special attention. Events are also regarded from the perspective of social networks and social media. The case company’s current state and its competitors are reviewed to formulate the needs which the system should fulfil. Then the currently available solutions for social media oriented event management are reviewed. The result is a set of functional and non-functional requirements. The functional requirements are categorized into social media, social networking, event personalization, event management, and system administration features. The specified features and non-functional requirements satisfy the three goals set for the system.

Developing of the Variable Speed Drive -control in simulated parallel pumping systems

This thesis presents briefly the basic operation and use of centrifugal pumps and parallel pumping applications. The characteristics of parallel pumping applications are compared to circuitry, in order to search analogy between these technical fields. The purpose of studying circuitry is to find out if common software tools for solving circuit performance could be used to observe parallel pumping applications. The empirical part of the thesis introduces a simulation environment for parallel pumping systems, which is based on circuit components of Matlab Simulink —software. The created simulation environment ensures the observation of variable speed controlled parallel pumping systems in case of different controlling methods. The introduced simulation environment was evaluated by building a simulation model for actual parallel pumping system at Lappeenranta University of Technology. The simulated performance of the parallel pumps was compared to measured values of the actual system. The gathered information shows, that if the initial data of the system and pump perfonnance is adequate, the circuitry based simulation environment can be exploited to observe parallel pumping systems. The introduced simulation environment can represent the actual operation of parallel pumps in reasonably accuracy. There by the circuitry based simulation can be used as a researching tool to develop new controlling ways for parallel pumps.

A Virtual Laboratory Structure for Developing Programming Labs

Virtual Laboratories are an indispensablespace for developing practical activities in a Virtual Environment. In the field of Computer and Software Engineering different types of practical activities have tobe performed in order to obtain basic competences which are impossible to achieve by other means. This paper specifies an ontology for a general virtual laboratory.The proposed ontology provides a mechanism to select the best resources needed in a Virtual Laboratory once a specific practical activity has been defined and the maincompetences that students have to achieve in the learning process have been fixed. Furthermore, the proposed ontology can be used to develop an automatic and wizardtool that creates a Moodle Classroom using the practical activity specification and the related competences.

Offshore Sourcing in Software Development: Case Studies of Finnish-Russian Cooperation

The study examines international cooperation in product development in software development organisations. The software industry is known for its global nature and knowledge-intensity, which makes it an interesting setting to examine international cooperation in. Software development processes are increasingly distributed worldwide, but for small or even medium-sized enterprises, typical for the software industry, such distribution of operations is often possible only in association with crossing the company’s boundaries. The strategic decision-making of companies is likely to be affected by the characteristics of the industry, and this includes decisions about cooperation or sourcing. The objective of this thesis is to provide a holistic view on factors affecting decisions about offshore sourcing in software development. Offshore sourcing refers to a cooperative mode of offshoring, where a firm does not establish its own presence in a foreign country, but utilises a local supplier. The study examines product development activities that are distributed across organisational and geographical boundaries. The objective can be divided into two subtopics: general reasons for international cooperation in product development and particular reasons for cooperation between Finnish and Russian companies. The focus is on the strategic rationale at the company level, in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises. The theoretical discourse of the study builds upon the literature on international cooperation and networking, with particular focus on cooperation with foreign suppliers and within product development activities. The resource-based view is also discussed, as heterogeneity and interdependency of the resources possessed by different firms are seen as factors motivating international cooperation. Strategically, sourcing can be used to access resources possessed by an industrial network, to enhance the product development of a firm, or to optimise its cost structure. In order to investigate the issues raised by the theoretical review, two empirical studies on international cooperation in software product development have been conducted. The emphasis of the empirical part of the study is on cooperation between Finnish and Russian companies. The data has been gathered through four case studies on Finnish software development organisations and four case studies on Russian offshore suppliers. Based on the material from the case studies, a framework clarifying and grouping the factors that influence offshore sourcing decisions has been built. The findings indicate that decisions regarding offshore sourcing in software development are far more complex than generally assumed. The framework provides a holistic view on factors affecting decisions about offshore sourcing in software development, capturing the multidimensionality of motives for entering offshore cooperation. Four groups of factors emerged from the data: A) strategy-related aspects, B) aspects related to resources and capabilities, C) organisation-related aspects, and D) aspects related to the entrepreneur or management. By developing a holistic framework of decision factors, the research offers in-depth theoreticalunderstanding of offshore sourcing rationale in product development. From the managerial point of view, the proposed framework sums up the issues that a firm should pay attention to when contemplating product development cooperation with foreign suppliers. Understanding different components of sourcing decisions can lead to improved preconditions for strategising and engaging in offshore cooperation. A thorough decisionmaking process should consider all the possible benefits and risks of product development cooperation carefully.

Desarrollo de mejoras y nuevas funcionalidades a eXeLearning.net y colaboración con la comunidad de software libre exelearning.net

En este TFM se detallan las mejoras realizadas a la aplicación eXeLearning.net, así como otras aportaciones a la comunidad realizadas durante el proyecto de fin de máster de Software libre. eXeLearning.net es una aplicación de software libre para la creación de materiales educativos digitales, desarrollada en Python, con una interfaz web (HTML + JavaScript). En este proyecto se desarrollaron entre otras cosas: un repositorio de estilos en la web oficial de la aplicación, disponibles para su descarga desde la aplicación de escritorio, la creación y mantenimiento de un repositorio en Launchpad y una funcionalidad para publicar los contenidos creados con eXeLearning.net directamente en Google Drive.

Developing sustainable research data management services: an institutional collaboration

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Comparison and problems between Traditional and Agile software development methods

In today’s world because of the rapid advancement in the field of technology and business, the requirements are not clear, and they are changing continuously in the development process. Due to those changes in the requirements the software development becomes very difficult. Use of traditional software development methods such as waterfall method is not a good option, as the traditional software development methods are not flexible to requirements and the software can be late and over budget. For developing high quality software that satisfies the customer, the organizations can use software development methods, such as agile methods which are flexible to change requirements at any stage in the development process. The agile methods are iterative and incremental methods that can accelerate the delivery of the initial business values through the continuous planning and feedback, and there is close communication between the customer and developers. The main purpose of the current thesis is to find out the problems in traditional software development and to show how agile methods reduced those problems in software development. The study also focuses the different success factors of agile methods, the success rate of agile projects and comparison between traditional and agile software development.

Development of an Ecology-Oriented Software-Defined Networking Framework

ICT contributed to about 0.83 GtCO2 emissions where the 37% comes from the telecoms infrastructures. At the same time, the increasing cost of energy has been hindering the industry in providing more affordable services for the users. One of the sources of these problems is said to be the rigidity of the current network infrastructures which limits innovations in the network. SDN (Software Defined Network) has emerged as one of the prominent solutions with its idea of abstraction, visibility, and programmability in the network. Nevertheless, there are still significant efforts needed to actually utilize it to create a more energy and environmentally friendly network. In this paper, we suggested and developed a platform for developing ecology-related SDN applications. The main approach we take in realizing this goal is by maximizing the abstractions provided by OpenFlow and to expose RESTful interfaces to modules which enable energy saving in the network. While OpenFlow is made to be the standard for SDN protocol, there are still some mechanisms not defined in its specification such as settings related to Quality of Service (QoS). To solve this, we created REST interfaces for setting of QoS in the switches which can maximize network utilization. We also created a module for minimizing the required network resources in delivering packets across the network. This is achieved by utilizing redundant links when it is needed, but disabling them when the load in the network decreases. The usage of multi paths in a network is also evaluated for its benefit in terms of transfer rate improvement and energy savings. Hopefully, the developed framework can be beneficial for developers in creating applications for supporting environmentally friendly network infrastructures.

A Multilingual Query Processing System using Software Agents

The goal of this work was developing a query processing system using software agents. Open Agent Architecture framework is used for system development. The system supports queries in both Hindi and Malayalam; two prominent regional languages of India. Natural language processing techniques are used for meaning extraction from the plain query and information from database is given back to the user in his native language. The system architecture is designed in a structured way that it can be adapted to other regional languages of India. . This system can be effectively used in application areas like e-governance, agriculture, rural health, education, national resource planning, disaster management, information kiosks etc where people from all walks of life are involved.

The DIADEM Software Development Methodology extended to Multimedia Interfaces

DIADEM, created by THOMSON-CSF, is a methodology for specifying and developing user interfaces. It improves productivity of the interface development process as well as quality of the interface. The method provides support to user interface development in three aspects. (1) DIADEM defines roles of people involved and their tasks and organises the sequence of activities. (2) It provides graphical formalisms supporting information exchange between people. (3) It offers a basic set of rules for optimum human-machine interfaces. The use of DIADEM in three areas (process control, sales support, and multimedia presentation) was observed and evaluated by our laboratory in the European project DIAMANTA (ESPRIT P20507). The method provides an open procedure that leaves room for adaptation to a specific application and environment. This paper gives an overview of DIADEM and shows how to extend formalisms for developing multimedia interfaces.

Evolution in software systems: foundations of the SPE classification scheme

The SPE taxonomy of evolving software systems, first proposed by Lehman in 1980, is re-examined in this work. The primary concepts of software evolution are related to generic theories of evolution, particularly Dawkins' concept of a replicator, to the hermeneutic tradition in philosophy and to Kuhn's concept of paradigm. These concepts provide the foundations that are needed for understanding the phenomenon of software evolution and for refining the definitions of the SPE categories. In particular, this work argues that a software system should be defined as of type P if its controlling stakeholders have made a strategic decision that the system must comply with a single paradigm in its representation of domain knowledge. The proposed refinement of SPE is expected to provide a more productive basis for developing testable hypotheses and models about possible differences in the evolution of E- and P-type systems than is provided by the original scheme. Copyright (C) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.