An Evolutionary Software Project Management Maturity Model for Mauritius

Software project management is a relatively recent discipline that emerged during the second half of the 20 century (Kwak, 2003). Many of the software project management methodologies available today were developed in Western/European countries and research showed that there was a need to formalise a software project management framework for developing countries, in particular Africa (Muriithi & Crawford, 2003). Based on surveys and discussions with software professionals, a methodology for software project management is being proposed. The methodology is based on a maturity model as Mauritius is faced with a shortage in skilled professionals. So far, few organisations in Mauritius have been found to be using software project management methodologies developed in Western/European countries. Most maturity models, for example Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Kerzner’s maturity model, have five maturity levels. The trend is towards the development of maturity models that have fewer maturity levels. For example, the Organisational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) and Prince 2 Maturity Model have been developed with three maturity levels. Similarly, the proposed Evolutionary Software Project Management Maturity Model (ESPM) has three maturity levels and a continuous process improvement group of key process areas (KPAs). ISO 9001:2000 is chosen as the quality management system and each KPA is mapped onto the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. The model is conceptually represented as a conical structure to better display the evolutionary development of KPAs. KPAs, which are focus areas to be considered for project management, are developed until they attain maturity at a certain level. As organisations have to be responsive to their environments, these KPAs may require further changes even after they have reached maturity. A continuous process group of KPAs helps in adapting to changes in environment. In order to test the proposed methodology, one case study has been included. The application of the methodology to the project could not be discussed in detail in this paper. The development of KPAs in an organisation takes time and the case study was only a snapshot of the application of the methodology. Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact [email protected] to request redistribution permission. Software Project Management Maturity Model 100