DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION
The present disclosure relates to the field of software development, and more particularly relates to a system for assessment of software development life cycle.
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN THE SPECIFICATION
As used in the present disclosure, the following terms are generally intended to have the meaning as set forth below, except to the extent that the context in which they are used indicate otherwise.
The expression ‘waterfall model’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to, but is not limited to, a linear sequential design approach in which each phase is completed before the next phase begins, and there is no overlapping in the phases.
The expression ‘heatmap’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to, but is not limited to, a representation of data in a form of a map or diagram, in which data values are indicated by colors.
The expression “Agile software development” or “Agile” used hereinafter in the specification refers to, but is not limited to, an umbrella term for a set of frameworks and practices based on the values and principles expressed in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and the 12 Principles behind it.
The expression ‘SCRUM’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to, but is not limited to, a framework within which people can address complex and adaptive problems while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.
The expression ‘maturity’ used in the context of this disclosure refers to, but is not limited to, a measurement of the ability of an organization for continuous improvement in a particular field. The higher the maturity, higher will be the chances that incidents or errors will lead to improvements either in the quality or in the use of the resources of the field, as implemented by the organization.
These definitions are in addition to those expressed in the art.
BACKGROUND
The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure but is not necessarily prior art.
The software industry is in an endless and rapid state of development. The industry has been working with a variety of other industries for the purpose of developing cutting-edge solutions for various types of projects every single day. The challenges that the software industry faces at present in terms of improving upon the quality of software development are significant than ever before considering the number of projects that run simultaneously in a given software development organization.
It is paramount for the success of each software development project that the implementation of each phase is synchronized at all levels, be it during development or testing or even at the market/support level. To help the overall software development life cycle, various tools and models have been envisaged such as the “waterfall” model. The waterfall model typically follows a linear sequential design approach for delivering software development projects.
In waterfall framework, a sequence of phases is created at the beginning of the project that is strictly followed to meet the original requirements of an end user and/or key stakeholders. However, the model has certain limitations in the sense that it does not facilitate incorporation of changes at later development stages. Further, as the waterfall framework lacks responsiveness to change, it therefore takes a longer delivery time under this approach.
Another commonly used approach is that of employing an “Agile” framework. Agile based approach is suitable for small scale projects where changing requirements of customers are easily implemented. However, it is difficult to assess user requirements and effort estimation for developing software in a large scale project at the very beginning of the project. Moreover, current agile techniques still require a considerable amount of human intervention at almost every stage of development, especially that of a field expert. These drawbacks at the very start often times shift the burden onto the subsequent stages of software development, where focus is already on completing other important tasks.
Therefore, there is a long felt need for a system for implementing a software lifecycle development framework that effectively captures user requirements at all levels, irrespective of the size of the project/team. Further, a system is required that is capable of preemptively identifying the effort that will be required at the beginning of a project to manage on-time delivery and a high quality end product.
OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a more efficient way of implementing an agile framework for software development.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system that identifies customer requirements in a large scale project at the very beginning.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for implementing recommendations regarding changes in organizational practices based on a maturity level of said practices.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for minimizing human intervention and even less expert requirement in a given software development project.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for tracking implementation of changes as recommended during maturity assessment.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
A computer implemented system and/or method for implementing an agile framework in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described with the help of the accompanying drawing, in which:
FIGURE 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computer implemented system for implementing an agile framework, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary method for implementing an agile framework, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS USED IN THE DESCRIPTION AND DRAWING
100 – System
102 – Memory
104 – Processor
106 – Database
108 – Input Module
110 – Readiness Assessment Module
112 – Maturity Assessment Module
114 – Support Assessment Module
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments, of the present disclosure, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Embodiments are provided so as to thoroughly and fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to the person skilled in the art. Numerous details are set forth relating to specific components, and methods, to provide a complete understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the details provided in the embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, well-known processes, well-known apparatus structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail.
The terminology used, in the present disclosure, is only for the purpose of explaining a particular embodiment and such terminology shall not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used in the present disclosure, the forms "a,” "an," and "the" may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly suggests otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," “including,” and “having,” are open ended transitional phrases and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, modules, units and/or components, but do not forbid the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The particular order of steps disclosed in the method and process of the present disclosure is not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance as described or illustrated. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element is referred to as being "connected to" or "coupled to" another element, it may be directly on, connected or coupled to the other element. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed elements.
The approaches of software development known so far are not beneficial for large scale projects as the user requirements and the effort estimation is not done properly in the beginning which is an important part of software development life cycle. The burden of meeting the user requirements shifts onto the subsequent stages of software development where focus is already on completing other important tasks. This leads to late delivery of the project as well as the quality of the project is also depreciated. Further, unavailability of the field expert for assessment after every stage adversely affects the development quality of the software project.
The system of the present disclosure provides a way for implementing an agile framework that effectively captures user requirements at the beginning of the project for large scale projects. Further, the system is capable of identifying effort at the beginning of the project that will lead to on-time delivery and high quality end product. The system of the present disclosure further provides a detailed assessment at various stages of the software development with minimal human intervention.
A preferred embodiment of a computer implemented system for assessment of software development life cycle using an agile framework of the present disclosure is now being described in detail with reference to the FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computer implemented system 100 (hereinafter referred as “system”) for assessment of software development life cycle in an organisation using an agile framework. The system 100 includes a memory 102, a processor 104, a database 106, an input module 108, an Agile readiness assessment module 110, a maturity assessment module 112, and a support assessment module 114.
In an embodiment, the memory 102 is configured to store a set of pre-determined instructions, for example, readiness and maturity assessment related instructions, which when executed by the processor 104, causes the processor to provide a set of executable commands. The memory 102 may include any computer-readable medium known in the art including, for example, a volatile memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or a non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, and magnetic tapes, and/or a cloud based storage (cloud storage). The processor 104 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries, and/or any device that manipulates signals based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the processor 104 is configured to fetch and execute the set of predetermined instructions stored in the memory 102 to control modules of the system 100.
In an embodiment, the input module 108 is configured to receive an input in the form of responses for a plurality of performance parameters from key stakeholders in development of an enterprise software. The input module 108 is further configured to store the responses in the database 106, wherein each performance parameter corresponds to an organizational practice.
In an embodiment, the keystake holders include a single member or a group of members of a team in an organization. In another embodiment, inputs from the key stakeholders include, but are not limited to, a rating in a questionnaire related each of the plurality of performance parameters. In yet another embodiment, organizational practices include, but is not limited to, culture, management, support, people, technology, metrics, tools, performance indicators, performance inhibitors and a combination thereof. In still another embodiment, the key stake holders can give additional inputs related to end user requirements or any organizational practice. In a further embodiment, the input module 108 is configured to ask an input parameter, the field of the software project. In a still further embodiment, the input module 108 is configured to parse additional input to understand the syntactic meaning of the input. In an implementation, the input module 108 is configured to communicate the input to the Agile readiness assessment module 110.
The database 106 is configured to store the questions specific to each field of the industry, questions related to agile readiness according to each field in the industry, the inputs from the user, and the pre-determined rules. In an embodiment, the database 106 is a data library that includes a look-up table that stores inputs received from the user. The set of pre-determined rules includes practices related to small and standard large scale project, agile framework implementation, agile framework maintenance and the like.
Any database discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical, graphical, or object-oriented structure and/or any other database configurations. Common database products that may be used to implement the databases include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), various database products available from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), MySQL, or any other suitable database product. Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or any other data structure. Association of certain data may be accomplished through any desired data association technique such as those known or practiced in the art.
In an embodiment, the Agile readiness assessment module 110 is configured to assess the input received against the plurality of performance parameters at a planning stage based on a predetermined set of rules defined in the database 106 and generate an assessment report.
In an embodiment, the assessment report includes observation and a recommendation for each organizational practice. In another embodiment, the assessment report includes a course of action or a roadmap based on the assessment of the plurality of performance parameters. In yet another embodiment, the roadmap includes the plurality of parameters that require changes. In still another embodiment, the Agile readiness assessment module 110 is configured to generate suggestions related to budget, training required for the team members at various levels of hierarchies and the like. In still another embodiment, the plurality of parameters to be changed are decided based on labels “agile hindering” and “agile abiding” organisation practices.
In an implementation, the report can be in the form of a heat-map, a graph, mind map and the like. In another implementation, the Agile readiness assessment module 110 is configured to communicate the observation and the recommendation related to the plurality of parameters to the maturity assessment module 112.
Further, the maturity assessment module 112 is configured to assess a maturity of each organizational practice at a stage later than the planning stage, and generate a report for each key stakeholder in terms of a maturity level to be reached in a subsequent step. In an embodiment, the Agile maturity assessment module 112 updates the database 106 on a periodic basis. In an embodiment, the stage later than the planning stage includes analysis, design, implementation, testing, and post selling-support stage. In another embodiment, the Agile maturity assessment module 112 is configured to assess the maturity of each organizational practice based on a classification of each of the organizational practices according to a maturity level of each key stakeholder. The classification includes, but is not limited to, novice, advanced beginner, proficient, competent and expert.
In an embodiment, the Agile maturity assessment module 112 is configured to assess the maturity either at the end of every stage of software development life cycle (SDLC) or at a pre-defined time. In another embodiment, the maturity assessment module 112 includes a support assessment module 114 configured to assess a scale of practices followed at a warranty stage of SDLC.
In an embodiment, the support assessment module 114 is configured to assess based on a questionnaire related to organizational practice at the warranty stage of SDLC. The rating can be given from 0 to 5 based on practices never followed to practice always followed.
Figure 2 illustrates a method 200 for assessment of software development life cycle (SDLC) using Agile framework, the method 200 employing the following method steps:
At step 202, an input in the form of responses is received for a plurality of performance parameters from key stakeholders in development of an enterprise software. In an embodiment, the responses are received against a questionnaire shared with the key stakeholders by an input module 108.
At step 204, the responses corresponding to the plurality of performance parameters are stored in a database 106. In an embodiment, each performance parameter that corresponds to an organizational practice is stored by the input module 108.
At step 206, the input received against the plurality of performance parameters at a planning stage are assessed and an assessment report is generated thereof. In an embodiment, the inputs are assessed based on a predetermined set of rules defined in said database 106. In another embodiment, the inputs are assessed by an Agile readiness assessment module 110.
At step 208, a maturity of each organizational practice is assessed at a stage later than the planning stage, and a report is generated for each key stakeholder in terms of a maturity level to be reached in a subsequent step. In an embodiment, a maturity of each organizational practice is assessed by an Agile maturity assessment module 112.
At step 210, the database 106 is updated by the Agile maturity assessment module 112 on a periodic basis.
The order in which the method is described above is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the methods, or an alternative method. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.
The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer- readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.
In addition, any disclosure of components contained within other components or separate from other components should be considered exemplary because multiple other architectures may potentially be implemented to achieve the same functionality, including incorporating all, most, and/or some elements as part of one or more unitary structures and/or separate structures.
The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer- readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.
In addition, any disclosure of components contained within other components or separate from other components should be considered exemplary because multiple other architectures may potentially be implemented to achieve the same functionality, including incorporating all, most, and/or some elements as part of one or more unitary structures and/or separate structures.

TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND ECONOMICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages including, but not limited to, the realization of a computer implemented system and method for assessment of SDLC using an agile framework, which:
• fulfils customer requirements and enhances the quality of projects;
• surfaces the issues dealt by the team at the very beginning of SDLC;
• provides detailed roadmap for the implementation of Agile framework in SDLC;
• is time and cost efficient; and
• controls the cost of delay is delivering the complete software product.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully revealed the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form a part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
The numerical values mentioned for the various physical parameters, dimensions or quantities are only approximations and it is envisaged that the values higher/lower than the numerical values assigned to the parameters, dimensions or quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure, unless there is a statement in the specification specific to the contrary.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A computer implemented system (100) for assessment of software development life cycle (SDLC) using Agile framework, said system (100) comprising:
• an input module (108) configured to receive an input in the form of responses for a plurality of performance parameters from key stakeholders in development of an enterprise software, and further configured to store said responses in a database (106), wherein each performance parameter corresponds to an organizational practice;
• an Agile readiness assessment module (110) configured to assess said input received against said plurality of performance parameters at a planning stage based on a predetermined set of rules defined in said database (106) and generate an assessment report; and
• an Agile maturity assessment module (112) configured to assess a maturity of each organizational practice at a stage later than said planning stage, and generate a report for each key stakeholder in terms of a maturity level to be reached in a subsequent step, wherein the Agile maturity assessment module (112) updates said database (106) on a periodic basis,
wherein said Agile readiness assessment module (110) and Agile maturity assessment module (112) are implemented using one or more processors.
2. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said Agile maturity assessment module (112) is configured to assess a scale of practices followed at a warranty stage of SDLC.
3. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system (100) is configured to share a questionnaire with each of the key stakeholders during at least one of readiness assessment and maturity assessment and rate each question of said questionnaire.
4. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said organizational practices is selected from at least one of Agile abiding practice and Agile hindering practice.
5 The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said maturity assessment module (112) is configured to classify each of the organizational practices according to a maturity level of said each key stakeholder.
6. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said assessment report includes at least one of an observation and a recommendation for said each organizational practice.
7. A computer implemented method (200) for assessment of software development life cycle (SDLC) using Agile framework, said method (200) comprising:
• receiving an input (202) in the form of responses by an input module (108) for a plurality of performance parameters from key stakeholders in development of an enterprise software;
• storing (204) by an input module (108) said responses in a database (106), wherein each performance parameter corresponds to an organizational practice;
• assessing (206) by an Agile readiness assessment module (110) the input received against said plurality of performance parameters at a planning stage based on a predetermined set of rules defined in said database (106) and generating an assessment report thereof;
• assessing (208) a maturity of each organizational practice by an Agile maturity assessment module (112) at a stage later than the planning stage, and generating a report for each key stakeholder in terms of a maturity level to be reached in a subsequent step; and
• updating (210) the database (106) by the Agile maturity assessment module (112) on a periodic basis.