On the Design of a Knowledge Management System for Incremental Process Improvement for Software Product Management

Author(s):  
Kevin Vlaanderen ◽  
Sjaak Brinkkemper ◽  
Inge van de Weerd

Incremental software process improvement deals with the challenges of step-wise process improvement in a time where resources are scarce and many organizations are struggling with the challenges of effective management of software products. Effective knowledge sharing and incremental approaches are essential for improving the success rate of process improvement efforts. Recently, the authors’ have worked on the development of a knowledge management system, the Online Method Engine, that enables incremental, situational process improvement in the field of software product management. This has resulted in an initial system design. The authors describe the findings from seven exploratory case studies on incremental process improvement. The lessons learned during these case studies are used to refine the design of the Online Method Engine.

Author(s):  
Alberto Heredia ◽  
Javier García-Guzmán ◽  
Fuensanta Medina-Domínguez ◽  
Arturo Mora-Soto

In general, software process improvement entails significant benefits such as increased software product quality, decreased time and development cost, and decreased risks. To obtain these, organizations must apply knowledge management because the identification of new knowledge is considered key to success when improving software processes. Existing knowledge is, however, difficult to find, and when found, it is often difficult to reuse in practice. This is due to the fact that a considerable part of the knowledge that is useful for executing software processes is tacit and not all of it can be captured and made explicit. The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for software process improvement based on the enrichment of organizational knowledge by means of the acquisition of tacit knowledge from individuals working in different teams and environments. The framework includes the specification of roles, processes, and tools, and is based on a process asset library and the introduction of configuration and change management mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Alberto Heredia ◽  
Javier García-Guzmán ◽  
Fuensanta Medina-Domínguez ◽  
Arturo Mora-Soto

In general, software process improvement entails significant benefits such as increased software product quality, decreased time and development cost, and decreased risks. To obtain these, organizations must apply knowledge management because the identification of new knowledge is considered key to success when improving software processes. Existing knowledge is, however, difficult to find, and when found, it is often difficult to reuse in practice. This is due to the fact that a considerable part of the knowledge that is useful for executing software processes is tacit and not all of it can be captured and made explicit. The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for software process improvement based on the enrichment of organizational knowledge by means of the acquisition of tacit knowledge from individuals working in different teams and environments. The framework includes the specification of roles, processes, and tools, and is based on a process asset library and the introduction of configuration and change management mechanisms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-272
Author(s):  
Mitali Chugh ◽  
Nitin Chanderwal ◽  
Rajesh Upadhyay ◽  
Devendra Kumar Punia

The software development industry is characterised by swift innovation and competition. To survive, software engineering (SE) organisations need to develop high-quality software products in a timely fashion and at low cost. Knowledge-based approaches to software development are extremely supportive to acquiring new knowledge and leveraging existing knowledge from software projects; this enables constant improvement of software development practices. In this empirical study of Indian SE organisations, we study the impact of managing knowledge for perceived software process improvement (PSPI) and its effect on software product quality. Information technology (IT) in knowledge management (KM) is an important facilitator for any SE organisation desiring to exploit evolving technologies for management of their knowledge assets and for carrying out various KM processes of knowledge capture, storage, retrieval and sharing. Surveys collected from Indian SE organisations were analysed to propose a model using a structured equation modelling (SEM) technique. Our findings reveal that the relation between KM and quality of software product is positively mediated by PSPI. These findings reinforce an arena that is of growing importance to researchers and practitioners and which has seen only a limited number of empirical studies to date in the context of Indian SE organisations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Yu. A. Bezginova ◽  
T. A. Garanina ◽  
D. V. Kudryavtsev ◽  
A. Yu. Pleshkova

The purpose of the study.In the economy of the 21st century, knowledge is the main source of obtaining sustainable competitive advantages of enterprises, and knowledge management (KM) is the main mechanism for ensuring and maintaining it. People and knowledge they possess, know-how, ability to innovate, trust relationships with customers and partners, and other intangible assets are becoming the most important sources of development for an organization. KM is traditionally carried out with the help of the following components: information technology, organizational processes and structures, corporate culture and people. In addition, there are complex tools of KM, which usually combine several KM components: a library of documents (knowledge base, corporate memory), communities of practice, lessons learned, etc. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the application of KM practices in companies in the oil industry of the Russian Federation.Materials and methods.This article used the analysis of secondary data sources, and also reviewed in detail two cases, describing KM in the activities of oil companies in Russia. In order to understand at what stage is the development of the knowledge management system (KMS) in oil companies of Russia it’s necessary to compare the use of KM tools in foreign and domestic practice, this paper is based on information, provided in open sources. Observations are formed and the most prominent examples of the use of KM tools are indicated.Results.The article provides an overview of KM tools, examples of their use in the oil and gas industries, and also examined the domestic practice of their use, based on cases of Russian oil companies. Examples of the use of KM tools, based on technologies and employees in foreign and Russian oil companies are pre-sented. On the example of cases of two well-known Russian oil companies, the stages of formation and de-velopment of knowledge management system in a company were considered, specific practices of KM, which appeared in companies at the respective stages of KMS development, were presented, as well as fea-tures of KM in each company.Conclusion.For a number of reasons, oil companies are advocates of the proactive use of KM systems. In the course of the analysis, the trends of KM in the oil sector of the Russian economy were identified: com-plexity of use, poor acceptance of innovations, not related to production/technological processes, the begin-ning of the emergence of a policy of active knowledge sharing, a move towards creating a flexible KM sys-tem. This article will draw the attention of Russian managers to the issue of knowledge management and other intangible assets and identify management practices that will help Russian companies to successfully develop and compete, based on their intellectual capital. The article will also be of interest for specialists in knowledge management and practitioners from related fields.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Siamak Farshidi ◽  
Xiaofeng Liao ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Doron Goldfarb ◽  
Barbara Magagna ◽  
...  

Research infrastructures play an increasingly essential role in scientific research. They provide rich data sources for scientists, such as services and software packages, via catalog and virtual research environments. However, such research infrastructures are typically domain-specific and often not connected. Accordingly, researchers and practitioners face fundamental challenges introduced by fragmented knowledge from heterogeneous, autonomous sources with complicated and uncertain relations in particular research domains. Additionally, the exponential growth rate of knowledge in a specific domain surpasses human experts’ ability to formalize and capture tacit and explicit knowledge efficiently. Thus, a knowledge management system is required to discover knowledge effectively, automate the knowledge acquisition based on artificial intelligence approaches, integrate the captured knowledge, and deliver consistent knowledge to agents, research communities, and end-users. In this study, we present the development process of a knowledge management system for ENVironmental Research Infrastructures, which are crucial pillars for environmental scientists in their quest for understanding and interpreting the complex Earth System. Furthermore, we report the challenges we have faced and discuss the lessons learned during the development process.


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