Innovative sustainable methodology for managing in-house software development in SMEs

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative agile methodology that proposes fundamental changes in managing the development of in-house information systems in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and benchmarks it with one of two database technologies enabling these systems to be both efficient and competitive. Design/methodology/approach The objectives are achieved by presenting an elaborated design of the agile methodology that manages the system development process by addressing three basic components: roles played by system players, process needed to fulfill the system development, and artifacts to document the project. A case study is conducted as a proof of the effectiveness of the proposed methodology and measures whether the selection of the database technology affects the effectiveness of the system development process. Findings Results show that, compared with traditional methodologies, the proposed methodology reduced the cost of system development and testing by 30 percent and enhanced the IT – business alliance. Further, this work found that the selection of a suitable database technology is strongly related to the complexity and interrelationships between the data used. Originality/value Such research did not receive the needed attention (Hunter, 2004) even in the past decade. Successful adoption of IT by companies could be in the form of customized IS which could be expensive for SMEs to adopt due to a lack in technical expertise and financial resources. The proposed methodology has the potential to promote sustainable development through helping SMEs in reducing the time and cost of IT project development.

An analysis of the effects of stakeholders management on IT project risks using Delphi and design of experiments methods

“…Another promising finding is the stakeholder register significance to understand their demands and requirements and, consequently, to increase opportunity probability by aligning goals and capacities with stakeholders and exchange knowledge for software development. This is directly in line with previous findings which state that the stakeholder register is an important tool to help managers to adapt according to each agent behavior and so improve the project development (Civera et al, 2019;Miles, 2017;Tarhini et al, 2018).…”

“…The encouragement of cooperative behavior between stakeholders can reduce conflicts and, consequently, delays and costs, besides enhancing the continuous improvement mindset in the project team (South et al, 2018). The developers on an IT project also benefit from good communication as they can exchange knowledge and experience, which facilitates operations and strategies to enable software development (Tarhini et al, 2018).…”

Analysing the Obstacles in Agile Software Development Approach: A Review

“…The agile software development process provides the ability to cope with ever-changing requirements (Ferdinansyah & Purwandari, 2021). Previous studies have shown that agile development reduced the cost of system development which includes testing, and also enhanced IT -business alliances (Tarhini, Yunis & El-Kassar, 2018). One major comparative advantage of the agile development process is that it delivers software that fulfils customer needs rapidly and continuously (Karhapää et al, 2021).…”

Twenty-five years’ contribution of “Benchmarking: an International Journal” to manufacturing strategy: a scientometric review

“…16). Hence the statistical tools are widely used to exhibit the relationship among Articles Category Case study Empirical Conceptual Survey LR Interview Ahmed (1998), Bartnik and Park (2018), Corbett (1998), Gao and Li (2010), Gurumurthy and Kodali (2009), Haapasalo et al (2006), Hinton et al (2000), Hurreeram (2007), Leung and Lee (2004) Rymaszewska (2014, Seen et al (2001), Sohal (1994), Sohal et al (1999), Sohal and Ritter (1995), Tarhini et al (2018), Zairi (1998)…”