software-maintenance-framework.pdf

Note below part of PhD thesis about INVESTIGATING FACTORS AFFECTING SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE IN E-COMMERCE COMPANIES IN JORDAN Reyad Mhmoud Salameen 2016  Proposed Framework 7. Introduction The researcher h...

Note below part of PhD thesis about INVESTIGATING FACTORS AFFECTING SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE IN E-COMMERCE COMPANIES IN JORDAN Reyad Mhmoud Salameen 2016  Proposed Framework 7. Introduction The researcher has concluded from the findings of the study that there is an urgent need to develop a framework that improves the practices of software maintenance in Jordanian e-commerce companies. As a result, this chapter presents a proposed framework aiming to improve the software maintenance processes in e-commerce companies in Jordan. This framework will hopefully help reduce the effort needed and keep cost-effectiveness. The framework is based on an analysis of the findings in chapter six and on the literature review in chapter two. 7.1 Issue 1: Human Resources The sections below illustrate the framework regarding employees’ issues in e- commerce companies in Jordan. Also, Figure 7.1 shows the proposed framework for all issues related to human resources. 7.1.1 Issue: Experiences and Skills of Employees An examination of the six case study participants shows clear evidence of the lack of IT employees for the basic experience and skills in the field of software maintenance (cf. 6.1.1 and 6.1.2). Therefore, actions should be taken to deal with this issue. Selecting employees who have high experience and specialists in the e- commerce applications. The senior management should have criteria to select new employees. The senior management should give good offers for employees to attract qualified people. Giving employees some IT training courses that develop their skills. 7.1.2 Issue: Employees Turnover The findings of the study show that there is high turnover of employees in software maintenance staff, and the participants in managerial positions stress the negative effect of employee turnover on the work (cf. 6.1.3). Furthermore, the study shows that the main reasons for the frequent turnover of employees are stress in the workplace and the desire of employees to search for a better salary. So, to reduce the employee turnover, the actions should be: To create a comfortable environment for employees within the work. The senior management should give more attention to employees in the IT department. The company should know the real reasons that lead software maintenance employees to resign before approving their requests. Reduce stress during the work. 7.1.3 Issue: Domain knowledge The majority of participating companies do not have a plan to save domain knowledge (cf. 6.1.4), while domain knowledge is very important in software maintenance work to save the effort and the time (Anquetil et al., 2007; Serna and Serna, 2014). Actions should be taken for this issue: The management should take into consideration plans that save domain knowledge in software maintenance. Giving a high priority to save domain knowledge in software maintenance work. 7.1.4 Issue: Mother Tongue The findings of the study have shown that the mother tongue of employees (Arabic language) affects software maintenance activities (cf. 6.1.5), so actions should be taken for this issue: It is important that companies take into consideration the effect of Arabic language on the future of the software application even before these companies plan to buy or develop e-commerce applications. Necessity to undergo IT employee training courses in English to develop their skills. Figure 7.1: Framework illustrating the human resources issues. 7.2 Issues 2: Organisational Environment The sections below illustrate the framework regarding organisational environment issues in e-commerce companies in Jordan. Also, Figure 7.2 shows the proposed framework for all issues related to organisational environment. 7.2.1 Issue: Management Support Management support plays an important role in increasing the motivation of employees at work (Polo et al., 2002 and Agrawal et al., 2012). The study shows that there is less attention from the majority of senior management to employees who work in software maintenance in e-commerce companies in Jordan. On the other hand, the study found that one of the participating companies gives the software maintenance administrator part of the company profit as a financial support to encourage him to stay in the company (cf. 6.2.1.1). So, the management should take this action to support the employees: The senior management should give more support and attention to the software maintenance team. The attention should focus on human and financial matters. Financial rewards for outstanding staff. Engagement of employees in any decision related to software or maintaining the software. 7.2.2 Issue: Communication Channel between the IT Team and the Management Improving the performance of teams and building a strong relationship between IT team members in the organisation helps develop better work and increase the efficacy in software maintenance (Gupta and Fernandez 2011; Wei et al., 2014; Fagerholm et al., 2014). While the study findings show there is a lack of relationship and communication between the IT team and senior management, sometimes there is also a gap between employees in the software maintenance department and the senior management. Enhancing the relationship between the IT team and between IT team and management positively affects software maintenance activities. So, for this the actions should be: Strengthening the relation between the IT team. Holding regular meetings between IT team (minimum once weekly) to discuss the progress of the work and overcome obstacles in work. Holding regular meetings between IT team and senior management (minimum once monthly) to discuss the progress of the work and to overcome obstacles in the work. All meetings should be documented. Building social relationships between all the staff and management in the company (Wei et al., 2014). 7.2.3 Issue: Software Maintenance Standards The study shows that the majority of e-commerce companies in Jordan do not use any software maintenance standards in the software maintenance activities while the standard can help the software maintenance team to organise the work and help the organizations to understand the quality process (April and Abran, 2012; Rata, 2014). The actions that should be taken are: Adopting software maintenance standards in the software maintenance activities. Adopting e-commerce applications, which are built under software standards. 7.2.4 Issue: Classification of Software Maintenance Problems The study findings show that all six case studies do not use any software maintenance classification to deal with software maintenance processes, while classification maintenance requests categories when dealing with maintenance activities to help organise the work (cf. 6.2.2.2). The action should be: The e-commerce companies should adopt and use software maintenance classifications to deal with software maintenance requests. Figure 7.2: Framework illustrating the organisation environment issues. 7.3 Issues 3: Operational Environment The sections below illustrate the framework regarding operational environment issues in e-commerce companies in Jordan. Figure 7.3 shows the proposed framework for all issues related to operational environment. 7.3.1 Issue: Environment Reliability The study findings show that the majority of participants in the company are not satisfied with the current e-commerce applications and they study the possibility to change to other systems because the system does not fit the development in the business (cf. 6.3.1.1). So, the actions that should be taken are:  The owner and the manager of the company should take enough time when the company manages to address the best e-commerce application that can achieve the objective and the vision of the company. Ask consultation IT companies who have experience about e-commerce applications about the e-commerce system environment and about what the best ones are. The senior management and the owner should make the right decisions about adopting in-house or outsource applications within the possibilities of the company. 7.3.2 Issue: Hardware and Operating System Changes in hardware or operating system after the e-commerce application is launched can lead to increasing the problems in the application. However, the majority of participant companies in the present study change hardware frequently, and also some of the participants change the operating system after the application is launched. So, to avoid the problems that may occur as a result of these changes, the actions that should be taken are: Plan for appropriate hardware and operating system when developing in-house or purchasing outsource e-commerce applications. Select high specification hardware. The system should be fit to work with different operating systems or browsers. 7.3.3 Issue: Operation Users The findings show that there is a lack of knowledge from operation users about using the system and that has led to new problems in the system (cf. 6.3.2). So, to avoid the problems that may occur from lack of knowledge, the actions should be: The operator users must take full training about using the system before dealing with the system. This is supported by Nasir and Abbasi (2010). Figure 7.3: Framework illustrating the operational environment issues 7.4 Issue 4: Software Characteristics This section discusses the main issues that face the software maintenance team in e- commerce companies in Jordan and help to increase the effort and cost of software maintenance. Moreover, the researcher presents some of the solutions that could help to reduce the impact of each issue. The Figure 7.4 shows the proposed framework for all issues related to software characteristics 7.4.1 Documentation The findings of the study show the majority of participants’ e-commerce companies do not have software documentation. Furthermore, the companies who have documentation did not review or update the documentation when updating or solving problems with the system (cf. 6.4.1.1). Yet, many scholars mentioned about the significance of documentation in software maintenance activities So the actions that should be taken are:  They need to provide a full documentation for the system (programing language, functions, user manual and unified modelling language) parallel with the system. The software maintenance team must review the documentation before doing the maintenance. The documentation should be updated when the system is updated. 7.4.2 Quality of Original System The quality of the original system plays an important role in facilitating the maintenance operations. The two important things of the original system are: structure of the system and the programing language (cf. 6.4.1.2). So to keep the quality of the system, the action should be: The company should choose high quality e-commerce applications. The company should choose systems, which are built in fourth generation language. 7.4.3 Maintainability of the System The findings of the study show that the maintainability of the system plays an important role in the software maintenance process, and furthermore, improving the maintainability can increase availability and reduce time and effort in the software maintenance process (cf. 6.4.1.3). So, to achieve and facilitate the maintenance process, the action should be: Companies should choose a system that will allow for modification and change in the future (maintainability system). Figure 7.4: Framework illustrating the software characteristics issues 7.5 Issue 5: External Factors This section discusses the external factors that happen out of the organisation and some of each out of organisation control and that affect software maintenance activities in e-commerce companies in Jordan. Moreover, the researcher will present some of the solutions that could help to reduce the impact of each issue. The Figure 7.5 shows the proposed framework for all issues related to external factors. 7.5.1 Source of Software The findings of the present study show that the source of software adopted in the company plays an important role in the software maintenance activities. Indeed, the majority of Jordanian e-commerce companies adopt outsource software and a small percentage of participating companies built the system in-house, while the companies who built the system in-house were not satisfied about the performance of the system (cf. 6.5.1). So, the researcher concludes from the findings and the literature that: E-commerce applications for large systems need a great team to build the system, while the majority of e-commerce companies in Jordan have one to two employees who work in the IT department. So, the action that should be taken: When the company builds in-house software: The company must have a great team who has good experience in e-commerce applications, confirmed by the findings of Gewaltig and Cannon (2014) and Rata (2014). The company should adopt software standards when develop software. The company should adopt software maintenance methodology to deal with software maintenance. When the company outsources: The company should choose high quality software. Reputation of the company that produced the system. The system must be maintainable. The e-commerce companies should choose a famous company in e-commerce applications. The company should address the possibility of doing maintenance internally in the company. Contract between the two companies to document all issues related to the system and maintenance of the system. 7.5.2 Issue: Service Level Agreement Service level agreement (SLA) in e-commerce companies is an agreement used between e-commerce company and external company. While the findings show that the majority of participants have used service level agreement in work, all of them stated that service level agreements are not clear (cf. 6.5.2). So, the actions should be taken: The service level agreement should be clear and unambiguous.  Service level agreement should explain everything related to the software and maintenance of the software. SLA should explain the contact channel between the two companies. SLA should be signed by all parties. 7.5.3 Issue: Views of People about Software Maintenance Job The findings of the study show that the views of people about software maintenance jobs affect software maintenance activities via increasing the motivation of employees at work (cf. 6.5.3). Thus, to improve the image of the people about significance of these jobs, the actions that should be taken are: Give more attention to the employees who work in software maintenance. Improve the salary of employees who work in software maintenance. 7.5.4 Issue: Outcomes of IT Students from University The findings show that there is a strong relationship between the skills of employees and the outcomes of university, so to make a stronger relationship and improve the skills of university outcomes in the IT field (cf. 6.5.4) the action should be: The need to communicate with those in charge of higher education institutions to determine the labour market in software and maintenance requirements. Figure 7.5: Framework illustrating the external issues impact on software maintenance Based on the discussion above and on the frameworks of five issues regarding software maintenance in e-commerce companies in Jordan, Figure 7.6 shows the proposed framework for software maintenance practices in e-commerce companies in Jordan. Figure 7.6: Proposed framework for software maintenance in e-commerce companies in Jordan.