Potential Users of EPF | Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP

We expect to see a variety of usage models for EPF. Let's look at a few potential users of EPF and some usage scenarios they might encounter.

Individual Project Teams

Teams working on individual projects within various software development organizations can easily download and deploy the out-of-the-box processes captured in EPF. The out-of-the box processes can be customized by mixing and matching content from various processes, removing content, or adding or customizing content by applying content plug-ins provided by the larger ecosystem around EPF. The teams can also capture their own practices with the content-authoring tools included in EPF. The resulting processes can be deployed and continually evolved to accommodate lessons learned as the project progresses.

Enterprises or Line-of-Businesses

Research shows 66 percent of projects fail or are challenged.

Projects using a formal methodology are 64 percent more likely to succeed.

Let's consider how EPF can be used to address these needs.

Many organizations have problems implementing software projects successfully, and according to the Standish Group's research,^[1] 66 percent of projects fail or are challenged. The main problem, however, is not that we do not know how to develop software in a predictable manner, but that most project teams do not use this knowledge. As a result, organizations that leverage practices with a proven track record have a much higher success rate than those that reinvent the wheel. As an example, the Standish Group's research shows that in 2000, projects using a formal methodology were 64 percent more likely to succeed than was the average project. This percentage is amazingly high, especially considering that many formal methodologies preach out-of-date practices such as waterfall development. It is also important for organizations to incorporate their own lessons learned to allow continuous process improvement, as well as being able to include unique in-house knowledge for their domain to make the process applicable.

^[1] Chaos 2003.

Through the EPF ecosystem, that is, the organizations and community members that support EPF by delivering services or products or being involved in discussion and collaboration with EPF, development organizations can access a large volume of content. Examples include the open source content, content provided free of charge, and content that can be purchased from vendors. These organizations can thus obtain diverse software development knowledge that is integrated within the same framework. Companies can also capture their own best practices using the content-authoring capabilities in EPF.

All of this content can be packaged into a set of delivery processes that capture the relevant aspects of the process content for different project types (see the section Delivery Processes on page 371). Delivery processes can also specify project plan templates that may be appropriate starting points for different projects and link those templates to relevant process guidance, describing milestones and how to accomplish various objectives specified in the project plan template.

Project teams can capture learned practices and deploy them effectively.

As project teams within an organization learn how to improve their approach to software development, they can then capture these learned practices and deploy them effectively. As the EPF ecosystem evolves content, this content can be continually rolled out to the organization, enabling continuous process improvements.

Some select enterprises and line-of-businesses will see the value of evolving key process building blocks in EPF and will be willing to make investments to help improve the framework.

Academic Institutions

Universities can leverage EPF to teach current best practices in their curricula.

Colleges and universities will play two important roles in the EPF ecosystem. First, as consumers, universities can leverage EPF to teach current best practices in their curricula. We expect that supporting material, such as text books and ready-made curricula, will be made available, making it easy for universities to develop courses. We also expect that discussion forums about EPF will allow students to exchange ideas about software development best practices with people in the industry.

Researchers can capture and share their research within EPF.

The second role for academic institutions is to bring state-of-the-art software best practices into the mainstream software industry. Researchers can capture and share their experiences and research data within EPF, for example, research regarding which best practices increase productivity or quality the most. They can then discuss this research in associated discussion forums.

Vendors, Technology Companies, and Companies Interested in a Specific Domain

Vendors can wrap their solutions within the context of a process.

Vendors and technology companies, as well as the companies they collaborate with, typically have unique knowledge of a specific solution or technology. These companies can use EPF to capture this specialized knowledge. They, or consumers of their solutions and technology, can then wrap these solutions within the context of a process. For example, a vendor producing a software requirements tool can now capture guidance on how best to use this technology. The vendor can choose to ship a variant of EPF, including the requirements content, with the product. Companies using their requirements tool can then combine the requirements content with any other set of content available through the EPF ecosystem.

Companies that share an interest in a particular technology or domain may also use EPF to collaborate and develop content for that domain. For example, a handful of companies could jointly develop FDA-compliant guidelines inside or outside the Eclipse organization. They can keep this content as private, sell it, or make it freely available.

System Integrators

System integrators will typically use EPF in the same way as enterprises or line-of-businesses (see above). Some system integrators, however, will add an additional usage scenario. They may be thought leaders or practice specialists within a certain domain and want to use EPF to improve the framework within that area, thus making at least some of their knowledge available through EPF. This approach enables domain specialists to showcase their expertise, which will in turn create more business for them, while providing the larger Eclipse community with an enhanced framework.