Implementation of Software Subcontracting Management methods and standards in the Development and Maintenance of Software Intensive Logistics Systems

摘要

As the complexity of the information systems that support software intensive organizations increases, the management of the software development and maintenance process will also be increasing exponentially especially for the organizations without structured internal IT units. The field of logistics has an impressive constant increase, business and technology wise. As the concept of logistics goes further than inventory, or warehouse management, information technology will hold a dominant role in every modern logistic process. Unfortunately not all logistic organizations or business units have logisticians with software engineering capabilities, or internal (organizational) technology departments through which they can receive the needed help towards the implementation and maintenance of their software intensive logistics systems. Subcontracting the development and maintenance of logistics systems is a common compulsory practice. Many organizational (competitive advantage, know-how, etc) and functional (maintainability, usability, reliability, etc) critical issues are placed on risk once the logistic software system is not controlled by the organization itself. On the other hand developing and maintaining software systems can be quite expensive and risky for logistics organizations. The software subcontracting management is an issue that has troubled not only the logistics organizations but for all software intensive organizations. The software engineering community on the other hand has studied this issue and over the years developed a number of standards, methods, guidelines and practices than can support the subcontracting process towards the benefit of both parties. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is considered the most comprehensive process maturity framework with significant approaches to the software subcontracting management issue in developing, maintaining and acquiring software systems. Other models such as the SPICE (Software Process Improvement for Capability dEtermnation) and the ISO 9000-3 (guideline for the ISO 9001 towards software development) approach more (SPICE) or less (ISO) the subcontracting process. Besides the 'brand-name' standards methods and guidelines for software subcontracting management, there are many less popular practices developed around the world with significant simplicity and effectiveness. This paper aims to present a number of critical issues logistic organizations need to consider before selecting a subcontracting management approach. Such issues deal with the quality of the delivered logistic product or service, but above all with the risks associated in the subcontracting process. Also in this paper the term 'subcontracting' is fully defined and proves that the subcontracting process includes contract management, risk management, contingency planning, change management, and many other fine concepts such as intellectual property management etc. Besides the theoretical part, an empirical subcontracting management models is also presented in this paper along with results from logistics (and other) organizations that have adopted it. This model takes into considerations the international best practices and adjusts them to the needs of logistics organizations, giving logisticians the capability and knowledge required to manage work done for them (fully or partially) by third parties. Logisticians and logistic organizations need not to be information technology experts in order to support their products and services in a competitive marked. Following and adjusting international best practices to their needs can be unpredictably rewarding.