Industrial Co-production in Software Engineering

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Computing and Artificial Intelligence".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2022) | Viewed by 6755

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Software Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlshamn, Sweden
Interests: market-driven software development; requirements engineering; software product management; decision making in requirements engineering; large-scale software; system and requirements engineering; management and empirical research methods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industry-academia collaboration is one of the cornerstones of empirical software engineering. The role of a software engineering researcher is the application of a scientifically based and valid methodology to develop, validate, and transfer said solution.

In this context, defining usable and useful is critical. Usable in it’s base form denotes if a solution can be used for its purpose, and to what extent. Useful denotes to what degree a solution delivers value during said use, and to what extent. A significant part of “proving” that your solution is good or not involves measuring if it is usable and useful.

One way to develop and transfer research results and solutions to industry is to use co-production as a collaboration approach. The term co-production refers to the collaborative work of researchers and practitioners in industry to identify challenges, and devise solutions that can be used in practice. Co-production has many origins and can be associated with for example action research. However, co-production is a macro framework of research methods in which many other micro-methodologies (e.g., case studies, action research, experimentation, etc.) can be used in combination to achieve co-production.

This special issue is looking for contribution regarding methodological aspects of co-production and experience reports from co-production project with industry partners. We welcome experiences associated with long-term co-production, building the partnership models, founding schema and knowledge dissemination activities.

Dr. Krzysztof Wnuk
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Industry-academia collaboration
  • Co-production
  • Knowledge dissemination
  • Empirical software engineering

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 2309 KiB  
Article
A Collaborative Method for Scoping Software Product Lines: A Case Study in a Small Software Company
by Marta Cecilia Camacho, Francisco Álvarez, César A. Collazos, Paul Leger, Julián Dario Bermúdez and Julio Ariel Hurtado
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 6820; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11156820 - 24 Jul 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2018
Abstract
SPL scoping is the activity for bounding Software Product Lines (SPL), gathering heterogeneous knowledge from diverse sources. For achieving an agreement among different stakeholders, a commonalty scope must be understood and committed to. However, gathering this knowledge from stakeholders with individual interests is [...] Read more.
SPL scoping is the activity for bounding Software Product Lines (SPL), gathering heterogeneous knowledge from diverse sources. For achieving an agreement among different stakeholders, a commonalty scope must be understood and committed to. However, gathering this knowledge from stakeholders with individual interests is a complex task. This paper reports the experience of scoping the SPL of a small Colombian software company, applying and evaluating a collaborative method called CoMeS-SPL. The company was looking to develop a set of products from a product previously developed with great potential to be adapted and sold to different customers. From a collaborative relationship university–enterprise model, the research groups that developed CoMeS-SPL proposed to use it answering to the company needs for defining an organization-suitable reuse scope around its platform called CORA. Both parties joined in the scoping co-production of the first SPL of the company. This method implied that the company would perform new tasks and involve other roles different for those who are used to defining the scope of a single product. The company actors considered that they obtained a useful scope and perceived the collaboration as valuable because they shared different knowledge and perspectives. The researchers were able to provide feedback on their proposed model, identifying successes and aspects to improve. The experience allowed strengthening the ties of cooperation with the company, and new projects and consultancies are being carried out. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Co-production in Software Engineering)
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14 pages, 223 KiB  
Article
Post-Implementation ERP Software Development: Upgrade or Reimplementation
by Adam Domagała, Katarzyna Grobler-Dębska, Jarosław Wąs and Edyta Kucharska
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(11), 4937; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11114937 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3845
Abstract
The paper deals with problems in the post-implementation phase of management Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Proper management of the system maintenance stage is a basis for efficient system development in terms of business needs. Based on the research and analysis of collected [...] Read more.
The paper deals with problems in the post-implementation phase of management Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Proper management of the system maintenance stage is a basis for efficient system development in terms of business needs. Based on the research and analysis of collected materials, it turns out that making a decision to upgrade the system is equally crucial. We present revealed mechanisms determining the post-implementation approach to upgrade or reimplement the ERP system. The main aim is to determine the methodology and difference understanding to achieve success in the post-implementation stage. The paper shows that the systemic approach to the maintenance stage of the ERP system affects its further decisions: upgrade or reimplement. It has a direct impact on future maintenance costs and the scope of new business demands. This research is an outcome of industry–academia collaboration and based on several developed implementation systems, achieved upgrade and reimplementation projects. Based on case study analysis, we show that reimplementation means an evolution of the current ERP processes rather than another attempt to “reimplement” an unsuccessful system implementation. On the other hand, upgrades are not only a tool or system actualization but the easiest way to bolster company sustainability and to have the information system up to date. The issues discussed in the article will be used to develop changes in the implementation methodology of ERP systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Co-production in Software Engineering)
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