JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology has announced its commitment to the principles of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) to ensure consistent outcomes for its software implementations.
Spearheading this move is the Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) business unit, which sees the commitment as key to its overall success, says EBS CEO Jacques Gilbert.
"RUP is all about discipline and rigour in terms of software deployment," says Gilbert. "The record around the world will show that more than two-thirds of software projects fail to deliver their required value. We enjoy the discipline and consistency RUP enforces, which assures our clients of successful implementations."
Glotec is striving to achieve Level 3 of the Capability Maturity Model. "The Software Engineering Institute`s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) provides a well-known benchmark of software process maturity. The CMM has become a popular vehicle for assessing the maturity of an organisation`s software process in many domains," adds Gilbert. "This will ensure more predictability, delivery on time, within budget, and according to our client`s requirements."
Glotec is applying RUP at a customer site in Ethiopia. This is a benchmark site for Glotec, where the application of RUP against the Globus banking suite has so far proved highly effective. All subsequent Globus implementations will be performed in line with RUP principles, Gilbert stresses.
The commitment to RUP has given Glotec a strategic edge and the sales team a significant boost, with salespeople touting the capability as a major competitive advantage in the group`s ability to deliver.
As Glotec is a distributor and developer of world-class solutions to the financial sector, in SA and elsewhere in Africa and the world, it aims to be a process-driven organisation, comments Gilbert.
"RUP, developed by Nasdaq-listed Rational Software, is a software development methodology recognised worldwide. Its deployment will ensure smoother, proactive, outcomes-based implementations where we can define and guarantee our clients certain deliverables in a project."
What differentiates Glotec - Enterprise Business Solutions` use of RUP is the fact that it is being deployed in a packaged software environment, where Rational`s tools and methodologies are normally indicated in bespoke software projects. Glotec`s bespoke developers also make extensive use of RUP, boosting delivery consistency and overall return on investment. The EBS team will also target non-Globus implementations in the financial sector, as the RUP principles can be applied in any software project.
In accordance with RUP, Glotec EBS has defined four areas of a project: Inception - scoping; elaboration - specifications; construction - development and customisation; and transition - quality assurance, handover and user acceptance testing.
"SA has the expertise and skills to develop and implement software solutions with the appropriate consulting and services," comments Gilbert. "This type of qualification, which is of a high standard and awarded to top-performing companies, will add credibility in our ability to deliver consistently, and align us as a local company able to compete internationally."
The specific tools Glotec has committed to using are:
Rational Rose for package-enabled process re-engineering;
ClearQuest for defect tracking;
ClearCase for configuration management;
RequisitePro for requirements and functional specification management;
Test Manager for quality assurance; and
Robot for release notes.
"As the entire Rational suite is integrated, the individual modules can yield lasting benefits for each other," notes Gilbert. "We can build test cases in RequisitePro, and they roll-out into test conditions for Test Manager, effectively automating up to half of our test case scenarios. With Robot our release notes are printed automatically.
"Best of all, though, is the knowledge base we aggregate, which has a dynamic and positive impact on future implementations. This is what we term our corporate memory. Customers have the confidence of knowing they are benefiting from the knowledge we have gained elsewhere, which leads to more rapid, lower-cost implementations."
Glotec contracted with local Rational distributor Software Futures for licences, installation and training.
Share
Editorial contacts