Software Management Resources

Software Management is your way of ensuring that your applications remain highly functional, reliable, and consistently available during business hours — no small feat considering the rapid pace of change in today's workplace! To be successful, you need processes to manage daily software changes and major upgrades; high quality assurance standards for debugging, code coverage and testing; fast deployment of all changes; and rapid problem resolution to keep end user productivity high.

Software Management combines all of these processes into one cohesive set of solutions that will propel your IT organization to new levels of efficiency and customer service, and set the stage for continuous improvement.

The following resources explain the engineering discipline behind software management, give you practical advice on how to implement your own software management strategy, and provide examples of how other IT departments have set themselves on the road to continuous improvement.

Software Development Survival Guide: Five Steps from Chaos to Control
by Paul Conte, Picante Software — Paul recommends five practical steps to make your development process more predictable and reliable so you can build better software more quickly with less cost and less risk. | More

Making the Case for Software Management
by Paul Conte, Picante Software — In this sequel to his popular "Software Development Survival Guide," Paul lays out a down-to-earth roadmap for IT Managers to build a rock-solid case for improving their company's software management infrastructure so IT can more effectively help the company meet its business goals. | More

Application Testing Basics: A Practical Guide to Improving Software Quality
by Paul Conte, Picante Software — This no-nonsense primer covers the benefits and basic principles of good testing, offers practical advice for getting the most out of your testing efforts, and pinpoints several areas where automation will help you achieve the most cost-effective results. | More

The Basics of Software Management
by Paul Schlieben, SoftLanding Systems — You can speed development, increase application availability, and improve software quality while reducing risk. | More

A Unified Approach to iSeries Applications Testing
Learn how to build a comprehensive systems testing program so you can increase development productivity, improve systems stability, and start delivering tangible savings quickly. | More

Software Engineering Institute
The Software Capability Maturity Model has become a de facto standard for assessing and improving software processes. Through the SW-CMM, the SEI and community have put in place an effective means for modeling, defining, and measuring the maturity of the processes used by software professionals. | More

Streamline Your Change Management Process
by Paul Schlieben, NEWS/400 — Your software's availability is most at risk when it's being changed. | More

Enterprise Problem Solving in the Internet Era
by Simon Murrell, Midrange Technology Showcase — Applications are being continually improved, integrated, and extended. In the Internet era everything is so interconnected that when one application fails, the whole enterprise can come tumbling down, meaning lost business and a lot of work for you. | More

Maintenance Dollars at Work
by Nina Lytton, Computerworld ROI Magazine — Software vendors have it right: Maintenance work can double as development. | More

SoftLanding Systems Keeps Logistics Supply Moving
by Stephen Elsemore, AS/400 Technology Showcase — Menlo Logistics is a contract logistics firm specializing in cost-effective management of the entire supply chain. | More