A PROCESS MODEL FOR PACKAGED SOFTWARE-DEVELOPMENT

As software development migrates from its roots as a process for build ing a custom product to a process for buidling packaged products, ther e is a greater need for an appropriate product development process mod el that is market-oriented. Field data, including an exploratory study that we conducted, suggests that process models are not widely used i n the package industry. An overview of normative process models in the software engineering, engineering management, and marketing disciplin es reveals that all of them fall short in one way or another for packa ged software processes. Eight special needs are identified that set th e packaged software process model apart from other individual models: addressing multiple user types, differentiating the product, finding t he remote customer, involving the remote customer, facilitating speed of development, creating the marketing interface, developing in a high ly iterative mode, and releasing a near defect-free product. These nee ds are operationalized into the proposed packaged software process mod el. The process model is based on two central constructs: a requiremen ts loop's and a quality loop. The loops are separated by a stage in wh ich requirements specifications are frozen. The requirements loop's go al is to discover requirements early and comprehensively. It is increm ental (relying on prototyping), has several evaluation and exit points , and structures involvement of customers and other external sources s uch as marketing. The quality loop addresses the need to reduce defect s: it begins with design and coding stages. It is also incremental and has several evaluation and exit points.