R&D Process Optimization for a Customer
and Order Management System
Lauri Halkola
April 29, 2008
Supervisor: Professor Raimo Kantola
Instructor: MSc Miko-Janne Uskali
Agenda
Background
 Research methods
 Software process models
 Core findings
 Recommendation
 Conclusions

R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Background



A1 system is used for serving millions of company A’s
customers and it is a master for managing customer
and order data
Goal 1 (agility&pace): Find a solution for shortening
the time-to-market of company A’s A1 system
development project from 12 months to 4 months
Goal 2 (quality): Improve the quality of requirements
engineering to ensure that, in the beginning of the
project execution phase, all the business
requirements are at the required level, so that the IT
project team will be able to complete the project
without unexpected surprises in the later phases of
the project
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Research Methods

Phase 1
– Interviews at company A
– Field study and interviews at companies B and C
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Phase 2
– Literature review

Phase 3
– Adapting theory and findings to the current
practices of the A1 project
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Software Process Models 1(4)
Comparison

Comparison based on the literature: Scrum is the
most suitable process model for A1 development
Sources: [Abr02] [Agi08] [Pre05] [Sch02] [Sch02b] [Som06] [Tha05] [Vli04]
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Software Process Models 2(4)
Agile Value Proposition
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Software Process Models 3(4)
Scrum
Source: [Abr02]
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Software Process Models 4(4)
Scrum
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An agile process model
Pre-game phase
– Continuous requirements engineering
• Can be gathered using different techniques
• Maintained in a product backlog list
– Other planning activities

Development phase
– Several 30-day development sprints
– The first day of each sprint: sprint planning meeting (requirements from the
product backlog list to a sprint backlog list)
– The last day of each sprint: sprint review meeting

Post-game phase
– System & integration testing, other needed testing, documentation, and all
the deployment activities

Roles: product owner, Scrum master, system analysts, designers,
testers, coding engineers
 Scalable for big software projects since even up to ten Scrum teams
may work simultaneously during a sprint
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Core Findings

Current A1 process
– Based on ABC IT process model (modified waterfall model)
– Too rigid and lacking sufficient support for business needs
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Current B1 process
– Very similar to the current A1 process model
– They had noticed mostly the same kind of bottlenecks as company
A’s employees

Current C1 process
– Based on Scrum
– The company’s business processes support an agile way of
working
– However, C1 process model cannot be copied directly to the A1
process because of certain fundamental differences between
project types and business organization
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Recommendation 1(3)
New A1 Process Model
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Based on Scrum methodology
The best results will be achieved by applying the
Scrum practices in combination with the best current
practices
Other useful practices that should be taken into use
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Longer-term contracts
Close cooperation
Pilot selling
Generic solutions
Daily Scrum of Scrums
Check lists
10-month action plan for the A1 development
manager
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Recommendation 2(3)
New A1 Process Model
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A1 release process

A1 small development process
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Recommendation 3(3)
Requirements Engineering
Business
IT
1) Business idea
2) Tentative business case
3) 30-minute discussion
4) Pre-prioritization
5) Feasibility study
6) Final business case
7) Roadmap process
8) IT evaluation
9) Company A Management Team
10) Product backlog
11) Release
11) Small Development
12) Sprint planning meeting
12) Sprint planning meeting
13) Sprint backlog
13) Sprint backlog
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Conclusions
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In the optimal case, the time-to-market can be only two months
Applying the suggested requirements engineering practices and
controlling that they are truly followed guarantees that the
quality of the requirements will improve significantly – this would
have a huge impact on reducing the development costs of the
A1 system
Topics for further studies include
– Specifying a more detailed plan for implementing the
recommendation
– Figuring out how the current technical limitations could be
overcome
– Planning and setting up the metrics for measuring the new A1
process
– Creating a holistic decision-making and prioritization solution for all
the IT projects within company A
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008
Thank You!
Any Questions?
R&D Process Optimization for a Customer and Order Management System
April 29, 2008