The focus of software process improvement is on enhancing product quality and productivity to increase business competitiveness and profitability. The Capability Maturity Model Integration or CMMI® remains the dominant standard for software process improvement globally. The lack of software quality standards such as CMMI® is seen as one of the causes of the current uncompetitive state of the South African software industry and so in 2007, a pilot programme called “Bringing CMMI® to South Africa” was launched. This research focused on the experiences of the South African organisations participating in the South African CMMI® pilot study through a combination of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The aim was to assist future managerial decision making to assess the business value CMMI® can bring to South African software organisations. The research found that the adoption of CMMI® improved both the internal quality and efficiencies as well as opportunities for growth. The research also established that CMMI® cannot be regarded as a silver bullet solution and that while process improvements can cause short-term upheaval, there are longer-term tangible and intangible benefits. It is, however, key that the organisational aspects of the change be properly managed. A lack of awareness of quality standards or actual demand for CMMI® along with the relatively high implementation and support costs are further preventing its adoption in South Africa. The recommendations resulting from the research, including a model, are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23092 |
| Date | 10 March 2010 |
| Creators | Cohen, Douglas James |
| Contributors | Mr P Topi, ichelp@gibs.co.za |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria |
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