Software Program & Project Management

Papers & Presentations

Software Acquisition & Supplier Management: Part 1 - Product Definition & Supplier Selection: This paper was presented at the American Society for Quality's Annual Quality Congress (ASQ AQC) in May 2003.

Before the task of purchasing commercially available software, contracting a supplier to create a custom software package, or developing a “homegrown” software application can commence, adequate planning must take place. Having a defined software acquisition and supplier management process helps insure that important steps in the acquisition process are not forgotten. Predefined goals and objectives align the business needs with the mission of the acquisition. The software industry is now several decades old, however problems including schedule slippage, budget overruns, missing functionality and poor quality and reliability are still prevalent. These continuing issues make the need for good software acquisition and supplier management practices essential to the success of our organizations. This paper discusses the first seven steps in the Software Acquisition and Supplier Management process, including:

Step 1: Planning the acquisition
Step 2: Defining the software product’s requirements
Step 3: Determining the acquisition approach
Step 4: Identifying and evaluating potential suppliers (and their software products)
Step 5: Defining the contract requirements
Step 6: Selecting a supplier
Step 7: Negotiating and awarding the contract

Authors: Theresa Hunt & Linda Westfall Date Posted: August 4, 2003

Software Risk Management: There are many risks involved in creating high quality software on time and within budget. However, in order for it to be worthwhile to take these risks, they must be compensated for by a perceived reward. The greater the risk, the greater the reward must be to make it worthwhile to take the chance. In software development, the possibility of reward is high, but so is the potential for disaster. The need for software risk management is illustrated in Gilb’s risk principle. “If you don’t actively attack the risks, they will actively attack you"[Gilb-88]. In order to successfully manage a software project and reap our rewards, we must learn to identify, analyze, and control these risks. This paper focuses on the basic concepts, processes, and techniques of software risk management.

Author: Linda Westfall Date Posted: Jan 3, 2002

Recommended References

IEEE Standards for Software Project Management Plans, IEEE Std. 1058-1998; IEEE Standards Software Engineering, Volume 2; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1999; ISBN 0-7381-1560-6.

Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development; Elaine M. Hall; Addison-Wesley, Reading Massachusetts, 1998.

Managing Software Development Project - Formula for Success, 2^nd Edition; Neal Whitten; John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1995.

Peopleware - Productive Projects and Teams, Second Edition; Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister; Dorset House, New York, 1999

The Project Manager’s Desk Reference – A Comprehensive Guide to Project Planning, Scheduling, Evaluation, Control & Systems; James P. Lewis; McGraw Hill, New York, NY, 1995.

Risk Management for Software Projects, Alex Down, Michael Coleman, Peter Absolon, McGraw-Hill Book Company, London, 1994.

Software Engineering Project Management; Richard Thayer editor; IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA, 1997.

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