A Scorecard Framework Proposal for Improving Software Factories’ Sustainability: A Case Study of a Spanish Firm in the Financial Sector

Abstract

Financial institutions and especially banks have always been at the forefront of innovation in management policies in order to improve their performance, and banking is probably one of the sectors that more effectively measures productivity and efficiency in virtually all aspects of its business. However, there is one area that still fails: the productivity of its software development projects. For years banking institutions have chosen to outsource their software projects using software firms created by them for this purpose, but up until a few years ago, the deadline for the delivery of the projects was more important than the efficiency with which they were developed. The last economic crisis has forced financial institutions to review and improve the software development efficiency related to their software factories to achieve a sustainable and feasible model. The sustainability of these software factories can be achieved by improving their strategic management, and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework can be very useful in order to obtain this. Based on the concepts and practices of the BSC, this paper proposes a specific model to establish this kind of software factory as a way of improving their sustainability and applies it to a large Spanish firm specializing in financial sector software. We have included a preliminary validation plan as well as the first monitoring results. The adoption is still very recent and more data are needed to measure all the perspectives so no definitive conclusions can be drawn.

Integration of Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Strategy Map, and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) for a Sustainability Business Framework: A Case Study of a Spanish Software Factory in the Financial Sector

“…Furthermore, linking software activities to an organization's higher-level business goals can improve its performance [35]. Our prior paper [4] implements the business strategy in a FSF by applying the BSC framework, linking the measurement to higher-level goals for the FSF through its strategy map. Figure 2 shows the strategy map for a FSF.…”

“…Since the BSC was introduced, many authors have proposed some modifications to adapt the initial BSC to other scorecards that were specific for different areas or industrial environments. Studies about the IT BSC [21,22] in the IT sector, the Sustainability BSC (SBSC) [23,24] for sustainable businesses, other studies such as [25,26] that expose the benefits of using the BSC in the financial sector, and finally the specific BSC for a FSF [4,27] are some examples in relation to this study. Figure 1 shows the BSC for a FSF and includes the chosen key performance indicators (KPIs) with various fields assigned to each: Code, KPI Name, KPI Owner, Frequency Measurement, Value Measurement, Target Tendency and the Upper and Lower Control Limits to manage the stability of processes.…”

“…The top management and consultants review the validity of the KPIs annually, and KPIs are modified or adjusted if it is necessary. The description of the KPIs included in the BSC for a FSF are extensively explained in our prior paper [4]. …”

A Balanced Scorecard of Sustainable Management in the Taiwanese Bicycle Industry: Development of Performance Indicators and Importance Analysis

“…The program aimed to explore "the future overall performance evaluation system of the organization". The strategy performance measurement system covered four dimensions: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth; it is now known as the Balanced Scorecard [11][12][13]. The application of the Balanced Scorecard is widely employed.…”

Strategic Enterprise Management for Innovative Companies: The Last Decade of the Balanced Scorecard

“…In figure 2, yearly distribution of those articles are shown. (Chen, 2008;Garcia-Valderrama et al, 2008;GarciaValderrama et al, 2009;Bigliardi and Dormio, 2010;Wang et al, 2010;Ghazinoory and Soofi, 2012;Khota and Pretorius, 2012;Jarrar and Smith, 2014;Rylková and Bernatík, 2014;Zizlavsky, 2014) Information Systems and Knowledge Management (Bhargava et al, 2007;Harlow, 2008;Amberg and Lang, 2009;Asosheh et al, 2010;Han, 2011;Lopez-Nicolas and Merono-Cerdan, 2011;Wu and Chang, 2012;Loukis and Charalabidis, 2013;Wu and Chen, 2014) Finance & Management Accounting (Rom and Rohde, 2007;Zhao, 2007;Granlund, 2011;Belfo and Trigo, 2013;Chenhall and Moers, 2015;Yiannaki, 2015 (Huang et al, 2011;Karabulut, 2015;Noori, 2015) Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Leon-Soriano et al, 2010;Wang, 2013;Álvarez, 2015) Method Specific (ANN, AHP) (Savetpanuvong and Tanlamai, 2008;Quezada and LopezOspina, 2014) © 2017 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.…”