Connect.Engage.Succeed: How to improve the quality of Software-as-a-Service
René Bliekendaal · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2019
The customers that want to use or are using the solutions Centric makes and sells, are having new demands. The customers are demanding solutions based on the software delivery method SaaS. Centric already started with re-writing her monolithic Client Server applications to SaaS applications. However, the most significant change is not the change in the applications but the change in the business model of Centric. Centric will not be selling products with licenses anymore but will be using a service model. With the current situation, the quality of SaaS is not as expected. It takes too long to release new functionality and apply changes. Deployments often result in service failures and interruptions. When producing a new version of a SaaS service, software faults and alignment faults between software and infrastructure emerge. These faults often result in service downtime, extended delivery times, and repair cost. The results are that the customers are disappointed because of the extended delivery times, and the availability of the service. The board of directors, of Centric, is unhappy because of fault costs due to service recoveries. As a result of the problem analysis, the problem statement was formulated that Centric has no control over the quality of the production process of SaaS. The research goal that was defined was to advise Centric and her division's Software Solutions and IT Outsourcing on how to get control over the quality of the production process of SaaS, to achieve the business goal: “Raise the customer satisfaction by raising the quality of SaaS before the end of 2020.” To achieve this business goal, the main research question was stated: How can Centric get control over the quality of the production process of SaaS to establish the desired quality of SaaS?