Title: Determinants of software quality in COTS products: an exploratory study

Authors: K. Sankaran, G. Kannabiran, P.D.D. Dominic

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015, India. ' Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015, India. ' Department of Computer and Information Science, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

Abstract: More recently, the emphasis has shifted to the ability of vendors in providing high quality rather than low cost software products and services from India. The present research is to explore key organisational and socio-technical factors which influence software quality, through case study of a leading midsize Indian software firm, which offers consulting and software services globally to some of the well known companies, specifically in the context of COTS (ERP) environment. Our research reveals that the factors such as requirements uncertainty, process maturity, communication and control, knowledge transfer and integration, trained personnel and infrastructure facilities have significant impact on achieving product quality. Based on our research, we suggest organisational factors have greater influence on achieving software quality. We present the implications for practice and directions for further research.

Keywords: software quality; commercially available; off-the-shelf; COTS components; organisational factors; socio-technical factors; India; vendors; high quality; low cost; consulting services; software services; requirements uncertainty; process maturity; communication; control; knowledge transfer; knowledge integration; trained personnel; product quality; globalisation; business information systems; ERP; enterprise resource planning; ICT infrastructures; information technology; communications technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2011.041084

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2011 Vol.8 No.1, pp.4 - 22

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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