Marcelo Schneck de Paula Pessôa

Brazilian public software: beyond sharing

This work presents a case of an innovative Brazilian experience of use of free software in public administration as an emergent ecosystem, and the attempt to establish a quality framework for that. It describes a new concept named Brazilian Public Software (BPS) developed by policy makers of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management. At the beginning of the century, Brazilian policy makers were concerned with the limitations of the Free Software Model of Production (FSMP) to provide software to public administration. Issues such as installation and operational support, quality of software (users interfaces, manuals) and bugs were not effectively solved by the FSPM alone. They then shaped the Brazilian Public Software, which is based on code opening (FSPM), but includes some additional duties to the entity that makes the software available. To support and to make the concept operational and institutional, an environment was formed and so a virtual ambience named Brazilian Public Software Portal (BPSP) began to exist. Since their beginning in the end of 2006, the BPSP has increased its number of associates to 84,000 users, and today it has 40 software solutions available, in many technological areas: geo-processing, health, public town management (sanitation, hospitals management, data management, etc). Even software solutions originated from private entities that had public interest as textual database and web application server ambience. The solutions are used not only by governmental agencies but also by small and medium-sized companies and other kinds of organizations. Other related interest groups emerged inside the BPS: 4CMBr, driven to municipalities; Virtual Market focused on services; 5CQualiBr devoted to the quality of the software in a large sense and to the ecosystem sustaintability. Quality and quality assurance are a challenge in this kind of ecosystem. In this work we will describe the solutions and findings in the Quality Framework to the BPS ecosystem.

Selecionando uma aplicação de Tecnologia da Informação com enfoque na eficácia: um estudo de caso de um sistema para PCP

Along the years, Information Technology (IT) is growing its support role to production activities. At first, the activities performed by IT were very simple, but nowadays, it supports almost all the production activities, including processes and products development. Production Planning and Control is a specific area where IT can effectively bring significant impacts, opening horizons for new operating strategies and even business strategies. Examples of how IT can help the operational environment are the use of MRP, MRP II and ERP systems. On the other hand, it still remains the doubts about the results obtained with the IT investments. In order to evaluate IT impacts on the organization operations, it is necessary an approach comparing the results of the IT applications related to the objectives, goals and requirements of production and of the entire organization, in other words, considering the effectiveness of IT applications. This paper reports a case study related to the selection of a new IT application in production planning in an industry. This research was developed in a large manufacturing company and it is discussed IT impacts in the operations management and in the organization business. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) was the tool used for the decision-making process.

Test Process Models: Systematic Literature Review

Software products quality is strongly influenced by the quality of the process that generated them; particularly, the testing process contributes to product quality and represents a significant effort in software development projects. In this context, this study aim to find which test process models has been defined, adapted or extended in software industry from 1990 to the current date. For this purpose, a systematic literature review has been performed according to relevant guidelines. This study has identified 23 test process models, many of them adapted or extended from TMMi and TPI, which have different architectures and the new ISO/IEC 29119 with an architectural approach aligned to other ISO/IEC software process models.

Towards a Systemic Maturity Model for Public Software Ecosystems

Brazilian Public Software (BPS) is an innovative experience in public administration. It combines features of the free software production model with the concept of public goods and is delivered by a portal that links different people and interests. The evolution of BPS as a Public Software Ecosystem (PSE) can be best understood using Complex Thinking Theory (CTT). The papers describes how methodologies based on System Thinking, were used to obtain empirical evidence that the BPS ecosystem evolves in learning cycles and concludes that this could result in a systemic maturity model for BPS, provide a reference for understanding and improving BPS and others PSE. This maturity model has been developed using an analogy with ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) references for capability maturity models. The System Thinking however indicated different path for maturity other than the one based on capability. This finding is consistent with the current evolution of SPICE (ISO/IEC 33000 series) towards other path for maturity in addition to capability.

Um modelo estruturado de competências e maturidade em gerenciamento de projetos

This study presents a structured analytic model focused on project management applied to enterprise organizations. The vital importance of the topic regarding project management is pointed out, given that current enterprise status in the majority of economic branches undergoes intense technological, social and political transformations. The enterprises are evidently influenced by such transformations, being compelled to constant adjustments so as to accompany the demands for high quality in both products and services. The importance of innovation resulting from changing processes is eminent, since it constitutes the basis for value aggregation to the product or service. In this way, the improvement in management of all the organization resources is fundamental for the progress and the competitive aspect of the enterprises. However, maturity attainment in such a subject implies in ability for making consistent decisions, which can require time to develop a set of skills and, consequently, affect all the enterprise organization. This study contributes in understanding the processes for maturity achievement in project management applied to enterprise organizations. The proposed model intends to be a reference to be adopted by the organizations.

Prioritization of software security intangible attributes

Intangible elements, such as value ranges of software security properties (e.g., confidentiality, integrity and availability), can be seen as resources to enforce software security. There are no standard units regarding these properties, turning their measurement into a difficult process. On the other hand, we can measure or estimate priorities for intangible elements from tangible ones, since their priorities are proportional. The priorities of tangible resources can be used to assign values to the priorities of intangible resources through the experience of the involved analysts. In this paper, we present a theoretical process based on mathematical constructs to score the priority and to estimate measures of software security attributes. This process causes the complex systems decomposition into simpler and smaller systems, thus allowing the estimation of properties that will help the understanding and measurement of software security properties. Our results provide a model for access security; the priority score of security attributes is calculated using the AHP methodology. We illustrate the application of our approach in a Web management system for governmental research institutions, presenting results that may support managers in the prioritization, evaluation and management of security requirements related to Web applications.

Uma proposta de processo de produção de aplicações Web

This paper analyzes typical aspects of Web based software production. A case study is carried out to identify how Web applications with high user interactivity and complex functionality must be produced. The results of the case study are confronted with literature’s identified aspects, resulting in a process model which shows the need of the integrated multidisciplinary development and intensive user participation. Finally, limitations of this model are discussed in relation to differents Web application domains.

Factors driving the adoption of ISO/IEC 29110: A case study of a small software enterprise

Peruvian software industry is mainly composed of micro and small enterprises and presents several problems on quality, schedule and costs. Since 2012 government supports the development of innovative software products using standards in order to improve quality. Quality improvement is affected by several factors, some contributing positively and others, negatively. The objective of this study is to identify which factors have influence on the practices adoption. The research method used is unique case study and a survey to collect complementary data. The studied company presented variations in the assessments results and during interviews, six most influential factors were identified. The company improved their software processes with the use of some practices in a project funded by government and lost some practices after that project. The factors that positively influences were: Experience in information technology and Top management support. The negative factors were: Competitive pressure, Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use and User training.

The peruvian component of Competisoft project: Lesson learned from academic perspective

The COMPETISOFT project in Peru represented an effort developed over three phases by students, professionals, teachers from universities and companies. They worked around to adopt a software process model called MoProSoft in small software development companies. Project implementation has generated different kind of results at the level of businesses, professionals and academics. This article shows the relevant aspects of the project, the work scheme followed, results and lessons learned from the academic perspective of a university-company relationship.

Technological innovation projects: proposal for an integrative model between project management and knowledge management in a customer-supplier perspective

In face of strong competition, companies in Brazil have increased their financial investments in automation, offering new products and services and reducing operating costs. These companies are focusing their efforts on core competencies and, therefore, they often lack the internal expertise to implement new projects, especially those that bring technological innovation. For this reason, we use the processes of outsourcing or subcontracting to help implement such projects. The unit of analysis in this study is the project and the object of the study to analyze the process of knowledge transfer from a provider to a customer during the duration of the project, which involves new technologies. The main motivation of this work is to address the acquisition and retention of new knowledge related to projects designed for business customers. We have developed a study of three cases of multiple financial firms that buy new technologies and two suppliers of information technology. As a practical result, a management model of knowledge transfer and retention of knowledge in client companies is proposed and incorporated into project management.