Process Dynamics, Variations and Controls in Software Engineering

Business operations are always under the influence of variations due to change in customer needs, market demands, internal processes and technology upgrades. These changes have direct impact on the performance of IT processes cascading down to the quality of products/services. In order to mitigate the adverse effects due to the variations of the aforementioned, organizations need to understand the concepts of software process dynamics and process controls. Variations in IT processes are due to the factors affecting the process equilibrium. The enforced process controls are often not sensitive to these factors. This paper concentrates on the theory of software process dynamics and process variation including the importance of process controls to ensure process equilibrium. This paper focuses on how the understanding of process variation and controls are useful in sustaining and improving process capability. This paper discusses the degree of association between Process and Quality through a Process Quality Relationship (PQR) Matrix that helps in managing the processes and sustaining the product/service quality. This paper expands the possible ways and means to define and develop organizational process assets from a Total Quality Management perspective. This paper details an approach named SDICC (Strategy, Design, Implementation, Control and Continuous improvement) that provides guidance towards designing the processes and sustaining the improvements.