* Survey on the Benefits of Object Technology in Australia
@ 1998-09-04 0:00 mdick
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From: mdick @ 1998-09-04 0:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
MONASH UNIVERSITY QUESTIONNAIRE ON
THE BENEFITS OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY IN
AUSTRALIA
Dear Readers of Comp.Lang.Ada,
I am currently conducting a survey of the benefits
of Object Technology to the organisations that use it
as part of my PhD work at the School of Computer Science and
Software Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
This survey is one part of my research.
If you work for an organisation in AUSTRALIA which uses
object technology, then I would greatly appreciate your
feedback on this topic.
All participants who wish it, will receive a summary of
the results of my research.
Yours Sincerely
Martin Dick
Answers to this questionnaire are strictly confidential.
The responses from the survey will only be used for
academic purposes and no commercial use of the responses
will occur.
Your participation is completely voluntary and you are
free to withdraw at any time. To do so, please contact
Martin Dick at the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering
on (03) 9903 1096 or email mdick@insect.sd.monash.edu.au.
If you have any complaints about this survey or the
way it has been conducted, please contact:
The Secretary
Standing Committee on Ethics in Research on Humans
Research Ethics Unit
Monash University, Clayton, 3168
Australia
email: Ann.Michael@adm.monash.edu.au
[Administrative Officer (Human Ethics) - Monash University]
The questionnaire will take approximately 20 minutes to
complete. Please return by emailing the survey to
mdick@insect.sd.monash.edu.au. If you have any
difficulties understanding the terms used in the
survey, please consult the Glossary at the end of the
survey.
DEFINITION
Object technologies are defined as analysis and
design methods, programming languages, databases and
CASE tools which actively support object concepts such
as objects and classes, inheritance, polymorphism and the
encapsulation of data and methods.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This section aims to determine the background of
the organisation answering the survey in relation
to the use of OO Technologies.
1) Position of person completing survey:
2) Name of organisation to which your software development
area belongs:
3) Number of employees in organisation to which the
software development area of your organisation belongs.
Number of Employees Please indicate by placing an X against
the correct number
1-5 ( )
6-10 ( )
11-25 ( )
26-50 ( )
51-100 ( )
101-500 ( )
501-1000 ( )
1000-5000 ( )
5000+ ( )
4) Number of employees involved in full-time
software development work in the entire organisation.
Number of Software Please indicate by placing an X
Development against the correct number
Employees
1-5 ( )
6-10 ( )
11-25 ( )
26-50 ( )
51-75 ( )
76-100 ( )
101-200 ( )
201-500 ( )
500-1000 ( )
1000+ ( )
5) Percentage of software development staff
using OT as principal tools in the development
of software: ___%
6) Number of current projects using OT: ___________________
7) Percentage of software development effort
in the software development area using OT: ____%
8) Who does your software development area
produce software for?. Please place an X in the
relevant space
External clients ( )
External and internal clients ( )
Internal clients only ( )
9) For which industry sectors does your group develop
software for? Please place an X in the relevant space(s)
Insurance ( )
Financial Services ( )
Services ( )
Mining ( )
Retail ( )
Manufacturing ( )
Government ( )
Telecommunications ( )
Other ( )
(Please describe): ____________________
10) When did your organisation commence its first project using OT:
___________________(Month and Year)
11) What OO technologies are being used by your organisation?
Please put an X against the relevant technologies:
ANALYSIS/DESIGN METHODS
BON ( )
Booch OOA/D ( )
Jacobsen ( )
Mentor/OPEN ( )
OMT ( )
Responsibility
Driven Design ( )
UML ( )
Other: _________________
Other: _________________
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
C++ ( )
CLOS ( )
Eiffel ( )
Java ( )
Objective C ( )
Smalltalk ( )
Beta ( )
Sather ( )
Oberon ( )
Ada 95 ( )
Dylan ( )
CLOS ( )
Python ( )
Delphi ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
DATABASES
Gemstone ( )
ObjectStore ( )
Ontos ( )
Versant ( )
Other: ________________
Other: ________________
CLASS LIBRARIES/ FRAMEWORKS
Borland OWL ( )
MFC ( )
Visual Banker ( )
JFC ( )
Other ___________________
Other ___________________
Other ___________________
CASE TOOLS/APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS
NextStep ( )
OMTool ( )
Rational Rose ( )
Visual Age ( )
Windows Builder ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
11) Which technologies have you replaced in projects
that are using OT? Please place an X next to any relevant
technology
ANALYSIS/DESIGN METHODS
Information Engineering ( )
Prototyping ( )
JSD ( )
Structured Analysis ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
C ( )
Cobol ( )
Pascal ( )
4GL ( )
Visual Basic ( )
Ada 83 ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
DATABASES
DB2 ( )
IMS ( )
Ingres ( )
Oracle ( )
Sybase ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
CASE TOOLS/APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS
IEF ( )
IEW ( )
System Architect ( )
Other __________________
Other __________________
EXPECTED BENEFITS
This section aims to determine the reasons why your
organisation adopted Object Technology.
12) What are the reasons your organisation decided
to adopt OT? Please place an X against the relevant reasons.
Need for an improved software process ( )
Client expectations ( )
Change in personnel ( )
Senior management decision ( )
Marketing advantage ( )
Testing of OT's capability ( )
Compatibility with other products ( )
Improved productivity ( )
Need for improved product quality ( )
Inability of current techniques to
handle problem domain ( )
Time to market ( )
Other
Please list: ____________________________________
____________________________________
13) Which of the following benefits did you consider
important in making the decision to adopt OT? Please place an
X against the level of importance of each potential benefit.
BENEFIT LEVEL OF IMPORTANCE IN
DECISION TO ADOPT OO
Major Minor Not
factor factor a factor
a) Quicker development of software ( ) ( ) ( )
b) Better handling of complexity ( ) ( ) ( )
c) Improved maintainability ( ) ( ) ( )
d) Reduced debugging and integration ( ) ( ) ( )
e) Increased re-use ( ) ( ) ( )
f) Seamless transition between analysis,
design and programming ( ) ( ) ( )
g) Better support for client-server
development ( ) ( ) ( )
h) Better support for prototyping
i) Better support for Graphic User ( ) ( ) ( )
Interface development
j) Improved modelling capacity ( ) ( ) ( )
k) Higher quality production of software( ) ( ) ( )
l) Easier management of developers ( ) ( ) ( )
m) Improved ability for managers to do
project estimation ( ) ( ) ( )
Please list any other benefits that you considered in
your decision to adopt OT
n) ___________________________________________________________________
o) ___________________________________________________________________
p) ___________________________________________________________________
14) Please list in order of importance the three most
important benefits that your organisation wished to
gain when making the decision to adopt OT. Please
use the letter code of the benefit listed above.
Ranking Letter Code of Benefit (a to p)
Most important benefit ( )
Second most important benefit ( )
Third most important benefit ( )
15) How long did your organisation think it would
take for the expected benefits to first appear? Please
place an X against the relevant time period.
0-3 months ( )
3-6 months ( )
6-12 months ( )
1-2 years ( )
2-3 years ( )
> 3 years ( )
Not sure ( )
ACTUAL BENEFITS
This section looks at the benefits that you have seen
from OT since you have introduced the new technology
16) Has the use of OT had any disadvantages? Please
place an X against any disadvantages which you have
noticed during the adoption of OT in your organisation.
High cost of implementation ( )
Incompatibilities with current environment ( )
Lack of skilled staff ( )
Unsuitability for type of software development ( )
Lack of standards in OT ( )
Immature development methods and tools ( )
Reduced performance of software products ( )
Developed software too complex ( )
Please describe any other disadvantages you have seen:
17) Considering the experience your organisation has had
with OT, could you rate the level of improvement that
you have received for each particular benefit by rating the
benefit you have received over your old process as follows:
'1'indicating that this area of benefit has seen a major reduction,
'4'indicating that no change for better or worse has occurred and
'7'indicating a major improvement in this area.
Numbers in between indicate correspondingly less
improvement or reduction in this benefit.
BENEFIT YOUR RATING (1-7)
a) Quicker development of software ( )
b) Better handling of complexity ( )
c) Improved maintainability ( )
d) Reduced debugging and integration ( )
e) Increased re-use ( )
f) Seamless transition between analysis,
design and programming ( )
g) Better support for client-server
development ( )
h) Better support for prototyping ( )
i) Better support for Graphic User Interface ( )
development
j) Improved modelling capacity ( )
k) Higher quality production of software ( )
l )Easier management of developers ( )
m) Improved ability for managers to do
project estimation ( )
n) Other __________________________________ ( )
o) Other __________________________________ ( )
p) Other __________________________________ ( )
18) Please list in order of importance the three most
important benefits that your organisation has
gained from using OT. Please use the letter code
listed above.
RANKING LETTER CODE OF BENEFIT
Most important benefit ( )
Second most important benefit ( )
Third most important benefit ( )
19) For each of the benefits listed below,
please indicate the number of months it took
before the benefit was first visible to your
organisation.. Leave blank any line where the benefit
has not yet to be observed.
BENEFIT TIME TAKEN TO OBSERVE BENEFIT
a) Quicker development of software ___________ months
b) Better handling of complexity ___________ months
c) Improved maintainability ___________ months
d) Reduced debugging and integration ___________ months
e) Increased re-use ___________ months
f) Seamless transition between analysis,
design and programming ___________ months
g) Better support for client-server
development ___________ months
h) Better support for prototyping ___________ months
i) Better support for Graphic User
Interface development ___________ months
j) Improved modelling capacity ___________ months
k) Higher quality production of software ___________ months
l) Easier management of developers ___________ months
m) Improved ability for managers to do
project estimation ___________ months
n) Other ________________________________ ___________ months
o) Other ________________________________ ___________ months
p) Other ________________________________ ___________ months
METHODS USED TO INTRODUCE OBJECT ORIENTED TECHNOLOGIES
This section looks at the methods by which your
Organisation introduced Object Technology.
20) Did your organisation do a formal cost
benefit analysis prior to introducing OT into
the organisation? Please answer Yes or No. ( )
21) If a formal cost benefit analysis was done,
did it indicate: (Please place an X in the relevant space)
Positive tangible returns ( )
Positive tangible and intangible returns ( )
No tangible returns but proceeded due to
positive intangible returns ( )
22) Did your organisation use any of the following
management techniques to enhance the adoption of OT?
Please place an X in the relevant space.
a) Internally-provided formal training ( )
b) Externally-provided formal training ( )
c) Staff communication program where the benefits
of the new technology were actively advocated ( )
d) External OT consultants integrated into your
software development process ( )
e) Champion to promote OT in the organisation ( )
f) Pilot project(s) to demonstrate OT ( )
g) Highly visible senior-level management commitment ( )
Were there any other management techniques used to
assist the adoption of OT?
h) _________________________________________________________
i) _________________________________________________________
j) _________________________________________________________
23) Do you believe the benefits of adopting OT, to date,
have outweighed the costs (financial and other)? Please
place an X in the relevant space.
Benefits considerably greater than costs ( )
Benefits marginally greater than costs ( )
Benefits and costs approximately equal ( )
Costs marginally greater than benefits ( )
Costs considerably greater than benefits ( )
24) How does your organisation measure the benefits gained from OT?
25) Has the structure of your software development teams
been changed by the use of OT? Please answer with a Yes
or No ( )
If Yes, in what way?
26) Does your organisation have a formal quality program?
Please indicate which of the following quality programs
your software development area is certified for. Please
place an X in the relevant space
ISO9000 ( )
AS3563 ( )
TQM ( )
CMM ( )
Other ( )
Please describe: ___________________________________________
27) In the next 12 months, does your organisation plan to:
Decrease the amount of software developed using OT ( )
Keep at the same level the amount of software developed using OT( )
Increase the amount of software developed using OT ( )
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
The following information will be used for administrative
purposes only and will not be used or revealed in the
research.
Name ____________________________________________________________
Contact phone number ____________________________________________
Contact E-mail (IF DIFFERENT) ___________________________________
Do you wish to receive a copy of the
results of the survey?
Please answer YES or NO ( )
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
This section provides a list of terms used in the survey with their intended
meaning.
BETTER HANDLING OF COMPLEXITY:
The capacity to build complex software systems
more easily than the methods your organisation
was previously using.
BETTER SUPPORT FOR CLIENT-SERVER DEVELOPMENT:
The development of such software is quicker and easier
using OT than the methods your organisation was
previously using.
BETTER SUPPORT FOR GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT:
The development of such software is quicker and easier
using OT than the methods your organisation was
previously using.
BETTER SUPPORT FOR PROTOTYPING:
OT provides a more natural approach to the
development of software using a prototyping
approach than the methods your organisation was
previously using.
EASIER MANAGEMENT OF DEVELOPERS:
Using OT for your software development has improved
the management of your software developers.
HIGHER QUALITY:
The end-product of your software development,
has fewer bugs, more completely supports the needs
of its users and/or will be more adaptable to the
changes that those users will require in the future
than the products which your organisation built with
your previous methods.
IMPROVED ABILITY FOR MANAGERS TO DO PROJECT ESTIMATION:
The use of OT in the software development process has
increased the ability of managers to estimate the usage
of resources and project duration than was possible with
the methods that were previously used
IMPROVED MAINTAINABILITY:
The ability to build systems which are easier to
change, improve or correct than the methods your
organisation was previously using.
IMPROVED MODELLING
Capacity: OT provides a more natural and accurate
way of modelling the world than the methods your
organisation was previously using.
INCREASED RE-USE:
Levels of re-use of previously built software
within new software development projects has increased
due to the use of OT in your organisation.
ORGANISATION:
An organisation is the overall company/public entity
that the software development area belongs to. For
example BHP IT is a separate and independent company
from BHP, therefore if BHP IT was completing the
questionnaire it would be the organisation rather
than BHP. Alternatively one of the software development
groups of Westpac would indicate their organisation as
being Westpac itself. An organisation which specialised
in software development such as Arthur Anderson Consulting
should indicate the organisation as being Arthur Anderson,
rather than a particular client or section of the organisation.
OBJECT TECHNOLOGIES:
Object technologies are defined as analysis and
design methods, programming languages, databases
and CASE tools which actively support object concepts
such as objects and classes, inheritance,
polymorphism and the encapsulation of data and
methods.
QUICKER DEVELOPMENT OF SOFTWARE:
The building of a software system in a shorter
period of time with equivalent resources than
the methods your organisation was previously using.
REDUCED DEBUGGING AND INTEGRATION:
Software built using OT has fewer bugs, bugs are
more easily found and corrected and the ability to
integrate different parts of the software is superior,
to the methods your organisation was previously using.
SEAMLESS TRANSITION BETWEEN ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING:
The removal of barriers from the software development
process so that there are no transition phases between
analysis, design and programming and one integrated set
of methods can be used for all three phases.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AREA:
The part of an organisation which is devoted to
the development, maintenance and support of software.
In some organisations this may be the major part of
the organisation or even the whole organisation.
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