Software Quality Assurance: National Experience

1. Software Quality Assurance: National Experience Dr. Uldis Sukovskis Riga Information Technology Institute Latvian Information Technology and Telecommunications Association uldis.sukovskis@dati.lv ITC Regional Business Roundtable, December 3, 2002, Vilnius

2. Agenda • Growing IT industry in Latvia • How to build brand and be competitive • Distributed software development • National experience • Quality Assurance and Project Management • Human Resource Development

3. IT Sector in Latvia • Fast developing industry  • Established strong Quality Assurance standards  • Supported by HR development and R&D capacity

4. Latvia's IT Sector in Figures(2001) • Production of ICT goods and services was 4.6% of GDP • 10 000 ICT professionals • FDI in the sector USD 14 million • Software development was 0.5% of GDP • ~100 software development companies • Annual growth in software development 15% • Export growth 15.7% Source: Report of Ministry of Economics, June 2002

5. Romania Bulgaria Lithuania Turkey Latvia Poland Slovakia Estonia Hungary Czech Republic Slovenia IT expenditures % of GDP vs IT per Capita WE average: 3.0% of GDP/ EUR 600 per Capita Source: Report of Ministry of Economics, June 2002

6. ICT Companies in Latvia

7. Largest Software Development Companies Source: MicroLink Survey, 2002

8. Turnover of Largest Companies (EUR million) Source: MicroLink Survey, 2002

9. How to build software development brand? • Strategy • cost leadership? • differentiation? • Software product • invent innovative product • high investments in marketing • Custom software development • qualified and skilled labour • high quality standards • developed business environment

10. Governmental Support and Regulations • National Program of Information, 1999 • Mega-System (www.mega.lv) • Socio-economic program e-Latvia, 2000 • Concept on e-Commerce, 2001 • Law on State Information Systems, 2002 • Concept on e-government, 2002 • www.eparvalde.lv • Law on Electronic Documents, 2002

11. ICT Associations in Latvia • Latvian Information Technology and Telecommunications Association (LITTA) • Latvian Telecommunications Association (LTA) • Latvian Internet Association (LIA) • Latvian Electrical Engineering and Electronics Industry Association (LETERA) • Latvian Association of Computer Technologies (LDTA)

12. Competitive Advantages of IT Industry in Latvia • Advantages • Highly skilled and cost-effective professionals • Advanced traditions in systems and software engineering • Western business culture and geographic location • Developed infrastructure • Government support • Developed educational system • Disadvantages • Small local market • Limited pool of local HR for large IT solutions

13. How to overcome • Join resources, be agile and competitive • Establish strong quality assurance • follow international best practice and standards • develop skilled and knowledgeable personnel

14. QA: ISO 9001 • All leading IT companies have ISO 9001 quality certificates: • DATI group, Exigen, TietoEnator Financial Solutions, IT Alise, Fortech/MicroLink Systems, Baltic Data, DataPro, Elva1, Elko

15. QA: Latvian Quality Award • The Latvian Quality Award, based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model of Excellent Entrepreneurship • Since 1997 the Latvian Quality Award was presented annually by the Latvian Quality Association and the Ministry of Economy • IT companies DATI and Tieto Enator Financial Systems were among the companies that were conferred quality awards in Latvia

16. Latvia’s IS Cluster www.is.lv • Collaborative network of companies and institutions whose aim is to increase the competitiveness of Latvia • 18 major local software developers, data centres, educational institutions, professional training centres • Work groups • Project Management and Quality Assurance • Human Resources • Collaboration with Universities • Marketing • Government Support • etc.

17. QA: PM and QA Workgroup • Objectives • Harmonize usage of software engineering standards • Increase awareness of participants in the area of PM and QA • Results • Recommended software engineering framework • Training for project managers

18. QA: Recommended Software Engineering Framework • Basic principles • Contractual regulations • Documented QA system • Quality certification • QA components • Types of QA documents • Software engineering standards, methods, tools • Documented processes • PM and QA processes • Project preparation • Project planning • Project development • Management • Documentation • Testing • Reviews and audits • Measurement

19. Case Study: DATI experience • Custom software development • Application maintenance • Independent testing • etc. • How to ensure quality standards?

20. Meetings every 1 - 3 months 2 Senior managers A N I T E 2 Senior managers D A T I Steering Committee Align withfinancial plans and resources Approval Assign Projects for Outsourcing ProjectAssignmentPlan UCCB Steering Committee

21. Project Assignment Plan Problem passed on to SC Meetings each month 2 Managers A N I T E 2 Managers D A T I UCCB Specifications Resource planning Approval SOW SOW SOW BU Upper Level CCB

22. SOW Passes onthe problem to UCCB A N I T E D A T I Contact persons Project Contact persons Project Project PCCB Project team Resources Change request Project manager Time Material Report Delivery – Acceptance Statement Invoice Project Level CCB

23. HR: IS Cluster Workgroup • Objective • Establish common framework and principles of human resources policies • Results • Development of a common competency model • Basis for resource sharing policies to undertake larger IT projects • Promotion and planning of the professional training curricula and programmes

24. HR: Competency Model • List of standard roles (positions) • List of competencies for each role • Core • Technical • Business development • Detailed competency description

25. HR: List of Standard Roles

26. HR: List of Competencies

27. HR: IT Education • Latvian government announced IT education as a priority since 2001 • Graduated ICT studentsfrom universities 2000 6972001 757 • How graduates fit to IT sector needs?

28. Educational Standard Curriculum Qualification Examination Labour Market Analysis Occupational Standard IT Companies HR: Development of Educational Programmes • PHARE programme Vocational Education and Training 2000 • Development of IT college curriculum • Educational institutions in co-operation with IT companies

29. HR: Occupational Standards • Team of professionals from leading IT companies and other institutions • Standards developed (www.izmpic.lv) • Programmer (PS 0001) • System and network administrator (PS 0055) • System analyst (PS 0067) • IT Project Manager • Content of standards • Job functions and tasks • Skills • Knowledge

30. L EtERA LTA TAL HR: Vocational Education Board • Established by ICTE professional associations • Review and approval of occupational standards • Assessment of vocational education programs • Select experts for professional qualification commissions

31. What is next? • Latvia's IS Cluster • Baltic IS Cluster • European Virtual IT Applications Factory (EVITAF) • Based on • Trusted business environment • High quality standards • Educated and skilled HR

32. Thank You for Your Attention! Questions? uldis.sukovskis@dati.lv