AudaXess

Development of a branch-specific Quality Management Model in the software industry and entrepreneurial handling of software development as a product component

Researchers:

R. Hieber, A. Pira, Prof. P. Schönsleben

Partners:

A worldwide leading Swiss software and system provider in the insurance industry

Financed by:

The project partner

Software development is becoming more and more essential for all business branches. However, there are still no specific guidelines and performance measures for developing software most economically.

In the first phase of this project, different Quality Management (QM) Models have been evaluated to find out which will suit best the specific needs of this industry branch. Based on these results the TQM-model of the European Foundation for quality Management (EFQM-model) has been selected and applied at the headquarters of an international software company. On the basis of a comprehensive self-assessment involving al major departments of the company areas for improvement have been identified. According to these results four improvement projects lead by members of the company's quality steering committee were agreed upon. These projects are dealing with the following issues: ''Identification and communication of customer needs'', ''Definition and alignment of supplier relationships'', ''Development of guidelines for process management'', and ''Development of guidelines for efficient communication''. The results of the first phase demonstrate that the EFQM-model is suitable for the application in the software industry.

In the second phase building the major part of this project the entrepreneurial handling of software development will be addressed. The software development activities will be analyzed thoroughly to find ways for managing and optimizing this core process.