[TYPE THE COMPANY NAME]
A Study on Software Project Risk Assessment ,Evaluation and Management Practices in Indian Software MNCs
A Case study on Indian Software MNCs in Bangalore with focus on organisation
Shilpa [Pick the date]
[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.]
Introduction
The development and application of software exposes the community to various threats. First,the failure of a software project as a business undertaking results in money and time waste aswell as a missed business opportunity. The risk of such failure is called the software project risk(software development risk, IT project risk). Another threat pertains to the safety of the citizens and the environment. A failure of a software system may lead to an accident, which, in theworst case, can result in the loss of human life. This is the software safety risk. The last threatmaterializes when the system s service is deteriorated or the system s informational resourcesare compromised or adversely manipulated after the system s integrity has been violatedthrough some malicious activity of an attacker. This is the software security risk. This thesis focuses on the software project risk, which covers both the software developmentrisk and the risk involved in transition of the solution to the customer s business environment. Despite the progress in technology, the software projects still face the same problems as thirtyyears ago [Brooks 1995]. Still, the requirements of the clients are not deeply understood, whichresults in constant expansion of the system scope or even in rejection of the final system. Theinvolvement of people is relentlessly adding the factor of human mind and personality to thetechnical difficulties of the projects. Finally, the software is constantly error-prone, thecooperation among the project members is often poor. As a result, the expectations of thecustomer are not satisfied. Altogether, it calls for some significant improvements to the softwaredevelopment and acquisition process. One of such influential approaches recognized by all thesoftware engineering and project management guidebooks [CMMI 2002, Thayer et al. 2002,Pressman 2004, Sommerville 2004, McConnell 2004, SWEBOK 2004, PMBOK 2004] is therisk management. Risk management aims at increasing a project s chance of success by addressing explicitly theuncertainties of the future. It involves the assessment of possible pitfalls in the project courseand the mitigation of their destructive potential. The spiritusmovensof the risk management,Barry W. Boehm, argues that it reduces around 40% of software costs by simply reducingrework [Boehm 1998].
Risk assessment is a project-wide systematic approach to the identification and analysis ofproject risk. It is commonly recognized that effective risk assessment requires communicationon risk and risk documentation as well as the reuse of experiences gathered in the riskknowledge bases, which help in avoiding known dangers and learning new ones. Riskassessment and its supporting processes can also benefit from various levels of tool support. The goal of this thesis is to propose a method of software project risk assessment that providesfor early identification of process risks and helps in their effective mitigation.
Objectives
Application of methodical support to risk identification and analysis (throughexplicit software process modeling and dedicated techniques) with dedicatedsoftware tools provides for early identification of project risks and increasesthe effectiveness of risk mitigation. In software industry, many techniques of general project management are applicable tosoftware development. However, the software industry has also achieved a notoriousreputation of poor performance in terms of schedule, cost, and quality assurance. Estimating, planning, and quality control processes are so bad that the majority of largesystem projects run late or exceed their budgets. Many are canceled without ever reachingcompletion1. This failure of software is often referred to as the softwarecrisis . This term refers to the fact that software projects are frequently delivered behindschedule, cost more than the original estimates, fail to meet user requirements, areunreliable, and virtually impossible to maintain2 Project management is therefore a very important aspect that influences project results. This leads to the first research question in this study: What is the current status of projectmanagement practices in the software industry in Indian MNCs ? This study will assess the planning process in a software project. Specifically, it has threeobjectives. The first objective is to investigate the factors that influence planningperformance and develop a model that will identify the relationships between these factors,planning performance and project outcomes. The second objective is to examine how planning is implemented in practice in theemerging software industry. The final objective is to determine the causal relationships between the human, technical and management factors, planning performance and project outcomes. The strength ofrelationships help to define the key factors related to project success. Therefore, projectmanagers can influence these factors to achieve better outcomes. ·
1
Jones, Capers (1998), Software Project management in the twenty first century , American programmer, Vol. XI, No.2; February 1998. 2 Chatzoglou, P.D., (1997), Factors affecting completion of the requirement capture stage of projects with different characteristics, Information and Software Technology, Vol. 39 pp. 627 640.
Literature Review
Most studies have considered personnel the most vital factor for project success duringproject life cycle. Personnel in software project include both the project team andcustomers. The knowledge and experience of the project team in planning will affectplanning performance, especially in defining the customer requirements and estimating theeffort necessary for the project. The involvement of the customer is a factor that manystudies have identified. This commitment, especially in the initial stage of the project iscrucial to capture and analyze customer or user requirements and to ensure the projectteams understanding of product specifications. Management support is also documentedas an important factor for project success. In software project planning, managementsupport means the involvement and support of top management, functional departmentsand the sponsor. Many authors have examined the important role of clearly definingobjectives and customer requirements. These activities take place in the initial stage of aproject and strongly affect the development process and project results. Late changes inobjectives and user requirements are costly. The choice of methods or techniques to beused in managing the project is also made in the planning stage. Software is a logical rather than a physical system element. According to Pressman (1997)a software product has three characteristics. Firstly, software is developed or engineered. Itis not manufactured in the classical sense. Secondly, software is not worn out . It is notsusceptible to the environmental condition which causes hardware to be worn out, but itmay deteriorate. Finally, most software is custom built, rather than being assembled fromexisting components. A Common Process Framework3 isestablished by defining a small number of framework activities that are applicable to allsoftware projects, regardless of their size or complexity. A number of task sets eachcollection of software engineering work tasks, project milestones, software work productsand deliverables, and quality assurance points which enable the framework activities to beadapted to the characteristics of the software project and the requirements of the projectteam. The role of planning in a software project was studied in more detail in the research ofChatzoglouet al. (1997 1999) and Dviret al. (2003). The Chatzoglou model provides abroader view of the input factors in planning such as human, management and technicalfactors4.
3
4
Pressman, Roger S. (1997).Software Engineering A practitioner s approach.Mc.GrawHill International Editions. Chatzoglou, P.D and Macaulay L.A. (1998), A Rule- Based approach to developing software development prediction models , Automated Software Engineering, Vol. 5 pp. 211 243.
Research Methodology
The information used for this study includes both primary and secondary data. The unit ofanalysis in this survey is a software project and associated risk management tactics . However, the population frame is based on the list of software companies. To address the research questions of this exploratory study, a quantitative survey would be conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data might consists of: - Background data of the software companies (name, location, number of employees,products, clients) - Background data of the software projects (name, type of project, clients, projectduration and cost, number of people involve in project) - People in project planning (experience and authority of project manager;knowledge, experience and commitment of team members; involvement ofcustomer)
This survey would be conducted by using a self-administrated questionnaire, distributed by mail oremail and contact to respondents, or by giving it and collecting it later. Based on the literature analysis, a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of inputfactors on planning performance and identifying the relationships between planningperformance and different project outcomes would be constructed.
Expected Deliverables -Conclusions
The differences in size, type and ownership between projects would be analyzed. The results would indicate theextent of differences in personnel, technical and managementfactors and in planning performance between different projects in size. The differences can exert significant influence. The smaller projects had significantly more positivequalitative benefits than the bigger ones. The difference between projects in foreign software companies and local software ones completely or can be partially mainly related to clients can be
The personnel factors in projects of internationalcompanies would be perceivedin comparison to the projects of local companies, especially related toproject manager effort, and the knowledge and experience of team members. The projects ininternational software companies emphasize the goal of andschedule more than projects in local companies. minimizing both cost
The projects in international companies can seem to perform in terms of scheduling and doing risk analysis than projects in localcompanies. Although there would be sizable some significant differences in human and managementfactors and planning performance, outcomes of local and international software projects would not be significantly different.
doc_405660976.docx
A Study on Software Project Risk Assessment ,Evaluation and Management Practices in Indian Software MNCs
A Case study on Indian Software MNCs in Bangalore with focus on organisation
Shilpa [Pick the date]
[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.]
Introduction
The development and application of software exposes the community to various threats. First,the failure of a software project as a business undertaking results in money and time waste aswell as a missed business opportunity. The risk of such failure is called the software project risk(software development risk, IT project risk). Another threat pertains to the safety of the citizens and the environment. A failure of a software system may lead to an accident, which, in theworst case, can result in the loss of human life. This is the software safety risk. The last threatmaterializes when the system s service is deteriorated or the system s informational resourcesare compromised or adversely manipulated after the system s integrity has been violatedthrough some malicious activity of an attacker. This is the software security risk. This thesis focuses on the software project risk, which covers both the software developmentrisk and the risk involved in transition of the solution to the customer s business environment. Despite the progress in technology, the software projects still face the same problems as thirtyyears ago [Brooks 1995]. Still, the requirements of the clients are not deeply understood, whichresults in constant expansion of the system scope or even in rejection of the final system. Theinvolvement of people is relentlessly adding the factor of human mind and personality to thetechnical difficulties of the projects. Finally, the software is constantly error-prone, thecooperation among the project members is often poor. As a result, the expectations of thecustomer are not satisfied. Altogether, it calls for some significant improvements to the softwaredevelopment and acquisition process. One of such influential approaches recognized by all thesoftware engineering and project management guidebooks [CMMI 2002, Thayer et al. 2002,Pressman 2004, Sommerville 2004, McConnell 2004, SWEBOK 2004, PMBOK 2004] is therisk management. Risk management aims at increasing a project s chance of success by addressing explicitly theuncertainties of the future. It involves the assessment of possible pitfalls in the project courseand the mitigation of their destructive potential. The spiritusmovensof the risk management,Barry W. Boehm, argues that it reduces around 40% of software costs by simply reducingrework [Boehm 1998].
Risk assessment is a project-wide systematic approach to the identification and analysis ofproject risk. It is commonly recognized that effective risk assessment requires communicationon risk and risk documentation as well as the reuse of experiences gathered in the riskknowledge bases, which help in avoiding known dangers and learning new ones. Riskassessment and its supporting processes can also benefit from various levels of tool support. The goal of this thesis is to propose a method of software project risk assessment that providesfor early identification of process risks and helps in their effective mitigation.
Objectives
Application of methodical support to risk identification and analysis (throughexplicit software process modeling and dedicated techniques) with dedicatedsoftware tools provides for early identification of project risks and increasesthe effectiveness of risk mitigation. In software industry, many techniques of general project management are applicable tosoftware development. However, the software industry has also achieved a notoriousreputation of poor performance in terms of schedule, cost, and quality assurance. Estimating, planning, and quality control processes are so bad that the majority of largesystem projects run late or exceed their budgets. Many are canceled without ever reachingcompletion1. This failure of software is often referred to as the softwarecrisis . This term refers to the fact that software projects are frequently delivered behindschedule, cost more than the original estimates, fail to meet user requirements, areunreliable, and virtually impossible to maintain2 Project management is therefore a very important aspect that influences project results. This leads to the first research question in this study: What is the current status of projectmanagement practices in the software industry in Indian MNCs ? This study will assess the planning process in a software project. Specifically, it has threeobjectives. The first objective is to investigate the factors that influence planningperformance and develop a model that will identify the relationships between these factors,planning performance and project outcomes. The second objective is to examine how planning is implemented in practice in theemerging software industry. The final objective is to determine the causal relationships between the human, technical and management factors, planning performance and project outcomes. The strength ofrelationships help to define the key factors related to project success. Therefore, projectmanagers can influence these factors to achieve better outcomes. ·
1
Jones, Capers (1998), Software Project management in the twenty first century , American programmer, Vol. XI, No.2; February 1998. 2 Chatzoglou, P.D., (1997), Factors affecting completion of the requirement capture stage of projects with different characteristics, Information and Software Technology, Vol. 39 pp. 627 640.
Literature Review
Most studies have considered personnel the most vital factor for project success duringproject life cycle. Personnel in software project include both the project team andcustomers. The knowledge and experience of the project team in planning will affectplanning performance, especially in defining the customer requirements and estimating theeffort necessary for the project. The involvement of the customer is a factor that manystudies have identified. This commitment, especially in the initial stage of the project iscrucial to capture and analyze customer or user requirements and to ensure the projectteams understanding of product specifications. Management support is also documentedas an important factor for project success. In software project planning, managementsupport means the involvement and support of top management, functional departmentsand the sponsor. Many authors have examined the important role of clearly definingobjectives and customer requirements. These activities take place in the initial stage of aproject and strongly affect the development process and project results. Late changes inobjectives and user requirements are costly. The choice of methods or techniques to beused in managing the project is also made in the planning stage. Software is a logical rather than a physical system element. According to Pressman (1997)a software product has three characteristics. Firstly, software is developed or engineered. Itis not manufactured in the classical sense. Secondly, software is not worn out . It is notsusceptible to the environmental condition which causes hardware to be worn out, but itmay deteriorate. Finally, most software is custom built, rather than being assembled fromexisting components. A Common Process Framework3 isestablished by defining a small number of framework activities that are applicable to allsoftware projects, regardless of their size or complexity. A number of task sets eachcollection of software engineering work tasks, project milestones, software work productsand deliverables, and quality assurance points which enable the framework activities to beadapted to the characteristics of the software project and the requirements of the projectteam. The role of planning in a software project was studied in more detail in the research ofChatzoglouet al. (1997 1999) and Dviret al. (2003). The Chatzoglou model provides abroader view of the input factors in planning such as human, management and technicalfactors4.
3
4
Pressman, Roger S. (1997).Software Engineering A practitioner s approach.Mc.GrawHill International Editions. Chatzoglou, P.D and Macaulay L.A. (1998), A Rule- Based approach to developing software development prediction models , Automated Software Engineering, Vol. 5 pp. 211 243.
Research Methodology
The information used for this study includes both primary and secondary data. The unit ofanalysis in this survey is a software project and associated risk management tactics . However, the population frame is based on the list of software companies. To address the research questions of this exploratory study, a quantitative survey would be conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data might consists of: - Background data of the software companies (name, location, number of employees,products, clients) - Background data of the software projects (name, type of project, clients, projectduration and cost, number of people involve in project) - People in project planning (experience and authority of project manager;knowledge, experience and commitment of team members; involvement ofcustomer)
This survey would be conducted by using a self-administrated questionnaire, distributed by mail oremail and contact to respondents, or by giving it and collecting it later. Based on the literature analysis, a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of inputfactors on planning performance and identifying the relationships between planningperformance and different project outcomes would be constructed.
Expected Deliverables -Conclusions
The differences in size, type and ownership between projects would be analyzed. The results would indicate theextent of differences in personnel, technical and managementfactors and in planning performance between different projects in size. The differences can exert significant influence. The smaller projects had significantly more positivequalitative benefits than the bigger ones. The difference between projects in foreign software companies and local software ones completely or can be partially mainly related to clients can be
The personnel factors in projects of internationalcompanies would be perceivedin comparison to the projects of local companies, especially related toproject manager effort, and the knowledge and experience of team members. The projects ininternational software companies emphasize the goal of andschedule more than projects in local companies. minimizing both cost
The projects in international companies can seem to perform in terms of scheduling and doing risk analysis than projects in localcompanies. Although there would be sizable some significant differences in human and managementfactors and planning performance, outcomes of local and international software projects would not be significantly different.
doc_405660976.docx