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Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology |
Article A3:
SoDIS Commercialisation Opportunities |
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Greig Wakefield, Commercial Information Systems (NZ) Ltd, New Zealand Wakefield, G. (2007, Jun), SoDIS Commercialisation Opportunities. Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 5, Issue 1. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from 1. INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this report presented at the working session at the SoDIS Symposium is to provide an insight into the proposed commercialisation of SoDIS and to invite comment and feedback on the proposed approach. 2. BACKGROUNDA Software Development Impact Statement (SoDIS) is a process that extends the concept of software risk management in three ways;
The SoDIS concept can be compared with the engineering environmental impact statement process. It was conceived and developed by S. Rogerson and D. Gotterbarn (1998) of the Software Development Research Foundation (SBRF, http://www.sdresearch.org/). It was refined and improved upon by an iterative process of action research involving academic and industry partners. The process itself is supported by a software package called the SoDIS Project Auditor or SPA. The SoDIS process has been extensively trialled in commercial environments and supported by a considerable body of research. 2.1 New Zealand InvolvementIn New Zealand, research into SoDIS was conducted under the broad academic collaboration frameworks of the New Zealand Centres for Information Technology Research (CITRUS, http://www.citrus.ac.nz/) and the Software Engineering Practice Improvement Alliance (SEPIA). Regular SoDIS symposia were conducted on a twice yearly basis and a community of interest has developed. AUT is involved at the forefront in the research and piloting of the process with industry practitioners (Kwan, Hitchcock, Clear, Gotterbarn, & Simpson, 2005). Work is also being done to investigate the viability of certification of SoDIS consultants and analysts (see Leo Hitchcock's paper in this Section). 3. COMMERCIALISATION PROPOSALThe SoDIS process, expertise and tools have now reached a stage of maturity where business organisations can benefit from adopting SoDIS as part of their project lifecycle and where ongoing SoDIS research and development could benefit from the research data from commercial application of SoDIS. The key stakeholders in the commercialisation venture would include:
The success of the commercialisation venture depends to a large extent on identifying and addressing the needs of all the key stakeholders. Some of the key considerations of the stakeholders include the credibility and reputation of SoDIS and the evident benefits of the improved software development risk assessment process. The current interests of each stakeholder must be respected and furthered through the commercialisation collaborative venture. SDRF would also like to see ongoing refinements and improvements to the SoDIS process, the associated software tools and the consultancy services. 3.1 Why a Private Sector Partner?A private sector partner would help to give impetus to the initiation and ongoing promotion of the commercialisation venture. CIS NZ Ltd as a private sector IT consultancy company is well suited to be the private sector partner. It has over 15 years experience undertaking IT Project and business consulting and has been involved in SoDIS symposia and pilots. It has a network of IT consultants to work with and it has many contacts with possible clients to promote the commercialisation venture. As a commercial entity, it can bring to the partnership valuable business insights and experience to facilitate the commercialisation efforts. Other partners may have limitations in that their core business is not the commercial delivery of IT services such as SoDIS audits or risk assessment. In view of the above, the current proposal is for CIS NZ to have a non exclusive license to work on commercialising SoDIS with due recognition to the other partners. 3.2 Prospective Client ProfileThe initial clients for whom benefits can be seen are organisations where qualitative and ethical considerations are a lot more important than the usual business driver of cost effectiveness. Potential clients would include central government, local government, Non-Government organizations (NGOs) and the health sector. 3.3 Issues to be AddressedStrategies are being devised to establish SoDIS focussed relationships with the prospective client groups. Issues that need to be addressed include the governance structure, marketing and promotion strategies, the packaging of the process and tools for a commercial environment, resourcing, the financial models, SoDIS development roadmap, quality assurance of the commercial assignments, the research agenda and the implementation plan. In resourcing, there is a need to start off with the existing expertise and subsequently to build upon the base with an ongoing certification programme. The above will be pulled together in a business plan. Interested parties can help by providing constructive feedback and networking with the SEPIA alliance of partners for ongoing SoDIS research and commercialisation. REFERENCESKwan, C., Hitchcock, L., Clear, T., Gotterbarn, D., & Simpson, S. (2005) Refining the SoDIS® Process in the field: A COTS Project as a context for Risk Analysis. Paper presented at NACCQ Conference, Tauranga, New Zealand. Rogerson, S., & Gotterbarn, D. (1998). The Ethics of Software Project Management. In G. Collste (Ed.), Ethics and Information Technology. Delhi: New Academic Publisher. Copyright © 2007 Greig Wakefield |
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