Implementing an experience factory: maintenance and evolution of the software and systems development process

The ways in which software and systems are developed need to evolve and be maintained to keep pace with technology changes. ICL has developed an "Engineering Process Improvement Framework" to deploy world class engineering practices. The framework is an implementation of an experience factory. A repository to encourage knowledge sharing is at its core, implemented on the company's Intranet. The framework contains a toolkit to enable projects to create specific engineering process descriptions, known as engineering definitions, which are placed in the repository for knowledge sharing and as objects for potential reuse by other projects. The approach defined by a project is assessed and calibrated against an evolving definition of best practices prior to implementation, leading to the identification of risks and actions to be managed by the project. The effectiveness of the framework is reviewed and measured against the business objectives and project closure reports are published in the repository.