Tracy (1995, p. 19) emphasises in his book that in the twenty-first century, tomorrow will be more different from today than in the past. Therefore today’s corporations get to stay innovative, reinvent themselves continuously and have to design new business. In contrast to that, software mastery becomes more than ever the key factor for business success (Northrop, 2008, p. 12). In the twenty-first century, software pervades every sector and has become the bottom line for many organisations. Therefore, reusability plays a growing role for every business in today’s rapid changing world (Strahringer, 2003, p. 5). Thus, new paradigms in software engineering are focusing on the reutilisation and modularisation of software solutions. One innovative and growing concept since 2003 is software line development which has its origin in the automotive and fashion industry (Strahringer, 2003, p. 5). The key benefits of software line development is the covering of a wide field of application with minimal extra costs by reuse of a common software platform. In reference to Ebert & Smouts (2003, p. 29) the most publications in the field of software lines deal with configuration and change management. Whereas the integration of software line development into enterprises’ product portfolios has been till now widely neglected. In contrast to that Jeffery & Leliveld (2004) points out that the failure or success of software lines highly depend in particular on their level of integration into companies’ portfolio system. For this reason, the major goal of this research is the realisation of an integrated portfolio management system for software line development. This covers at first the determination of the role portfolio management in organisational governance. Thereafter the general elements of a portfolio management system will be identified. On the other side, the specific demands of software line engineering according to the portfolio elements will be analysed. The insights of the analysis build the basis for the design of the software product line portfolio system. The design describes the portfolio system from different perspectives which represent the viewpoint of diverse stakeholders. Moreover, different analysis methods will be evaluated with a respective scoring model for the software line product, domain and asset application domain. At the end, the scientific work gives a suggestion for further investigations in the scope of software line portfolio management.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Purpose of the Research
2.1 Research Scope
2.2 Research Objectives
3 Organisation of the Research
3.1 Research Approach
3.1.1 Research Model
3.1.2 Research Method
3.2 Structure of Thesis
4 Fundamentals
4.1 Fundamentals of Portfolio, Program and Project Management
4.1.1 Overview
4.1.2 Principles of Portfolio Theory
4.1.3 Product Portfolio Management
4.1.4 Program Management
4.1.5 Project Management
4.1.6 Relationship of Portfolio, Program and Project Management
4.1.7 Critical Discussion
4.2 Fundamentals of Software Product Line Engineering
4.2.1 Overview
4.2.2 Principles of Product Line Engineering
4.2.3 Principles of Software Product Line Engineering
4.2.4 Software Product Line Engineering
4.2.5 Single-System versus Software Product Line
4.2.6 Project versus Product Paradigm
4.2.7 Critical Discussion
5 Portfolio Management System for Software Line Development
5.1 Role of Portfolio Management in Organisational Governance
5.2 Justification of Research Topic
5.3 Overview of Research Approach
5.4 Analysis of Software Line Portfolio Management
5.4.1 Analysis of Research Status in Portfolio Management
5.4.2 Analysis of Software Product Line Demands
5.4.3 Comparison of Application Domains and Building Blocks
5.4.4 First Concept of Software Line Portfolio Management System
5.5 Design of Software Line Portfolio Management System
5.5.1 Overview
5.5.2 Logical View
5.5.3 Module View
5.5.4 Process View
5.5.5 Organisational View
5.6 Evaluation of Portfolio Analysis Methods
5.6.1 Overview of Evaluation Approach
5.6.2 Product Portfolio Analysis
5.6.3 Domain Portfolio Analysis
5.6.4 Asset Portfolio Analysis
5.6.5 Conclusion
5.7 Application of Software Line Portfolio Management System
6 Discussion
6.1 Strengths of Research
6.2 Limitations of Research
7 Summary
8 Prospects
Objectives and Core Topics
The primary objective of this thesis is to conceptualize and design an integrated portfolio management system tailored for software line development, effectively bridging the gap between existing software project and product management methodologies. The research aims to evaluate current portfolio and software line development theories to create a structured framework that assists organizations in aligning their development initiatives with broader business strategies.
- Theoretical and empirical analysis of portfolio management and software line engineering.
- Development of a multidimensional scoring model for portfolio analysis.
- Architectural design of a software line portfolio management system using the 4+1 view model.
- Validation of the proposed model through a practical case study within the EADS Cassidian division.
Excerpt from the Book
Limitations of Portfolio Management
1. Limited view: The most key figures of portfolio analysis are based on financial ratios like Return on Investment (ROI) or NPV. Ecological and technological factors play often none or only a small role. In addition to that qualitative measurable factors like communication in the organisation will frequently be disregarded (Jeffery & Leliveld, 2003).
2. Static point of view: The portfolio analysis can only analyse solutions based on present informations. Like all controlling instruments, the portfolio analysis tries to give future advices based on previous and current experiences. This is in general a high risk factor because of its uncertainty.
3. Inflexible approach: The portfolio controlling tries to establish a product portfolio derived from the company’s strategy. In contrast to that, this top-down approach is not always applicable. Enterprises which already have an existing portfolio are recomended to use a bottom-up or hybrid approach for their portfolio analysis. These two concepts aspire a step-wise alignment of the business portfolio with the organisation’s strategy instead of a total recommencement (Schmahl & Gleich, 2009, p. 35-38).
4. Oversimplified analysis methods: The portfolio analysis often considers only two or three key figures for solution selection. This simple analysis model often do not reflect the complexity of decision making in the real world. Therefore, the analysis charts shall only be seen as a direction sign. The final decisions have to be based on more detailed information like from scoring models (Cooper, Edgett & Kleinschmidt, 2001, p. 45-46).
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Discusses the necessity of reusability and modularization in software engineering as a key factor for business survival in a globalized market.
2 Purpose of the Research: Outlines the scope of the thesis within the EADS/Cassidian environment and defines the specific scientific and constructive research objectives.
3 Organisation of the Research: Details the constructive design science methodology applied throughout the study, including the research model and structure.
4 Fundamentals: Provides a comprehensive overview of portfolio, program, and project management theory, followed by the foundations of software product line engineering.
5 Portfolio Management System for Software Line Development: Represents the main part of the thesis, detailing the role of portfolio management, the design of the integrated system, and the evaluation of analysis methods.
6 Discussion: Reflects on the strengths and limitations of the research, acknowledging the subjective nature of scoring models and the time constraints of the practical validation.
7 Summary: Provides a final overview of the research contributions and reiterates how the designed system assists managers in achieving long-term business growth.
8 Prospects: Suggests future research areas, including target costing, economic portfolio models, and the development of maturity models for integration.
Keywords
Software Line Development, Portfolio Management, Software Engineering, Product Portfolio, Business Strategy, Asset Scoping, Domain Engineering, Application Engineering, Decision Support, Resource Allocation, Reuse, Software Platform, Constructive Design Science, Cassidian, EADS.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research focuses on designing an integrated portfolio management system specifically tailored for software line development to merge project and product management perspectives.
What are the primary fields addressed in the thesis?
The work covers portfolio theory, program and project management, and software product line engineering, synthesized into a unified management framework.
What is the ultimate goal of the proposed system?
The goal is to provide a decision-support framework that ensures software development projects are aligned with organizational business strategies for long-term growth.
Which scientific approach does the author use?
The author employs a constructive design science approach to develop, evaluate, and justify the artifacts of the proposed management system.
What does the main body of the work include?
The main body focuses on the design of the portfolio system from various architectural perspectives (logical, module, process, organizational) and the evaluation of portfolio analysis methods.
Which key terms characterize this thesis?
Key terms include software line development, product portfolio scoping, asset scoping, domain engineering, and organizational governance.
How is the model validated in the thesis?
The model is validated through a practical case study conducted within the program management department of the EADS division Cassidian.
What is the significance of the "Hub and Spoke" model discussed?
The "Hub and Spoke" model is identified as the optimal organizational structure for large-scale software product lines due to its scalability and support for decentralized business ownership.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Dipl.-Ing. (DH) Michael Lang (Autor:in), 2013, Design of a Portfolio Management System for Software Line Development, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/215548
