International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security

International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security (국제컴퓨터통신보호논문지학회)
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An Empirical Investigation of Vendor Readiness to Assess Offshore Software Maintenance Outsourcing Project

  • Ikram, Atif (School of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu) ;
  • Jalil, Masita Abdul (School of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu) ;
  • Ngah, Amir Bin (School of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu) ;
  • Khan, Ahmad Salman (Department of Software Engineering, The University of Lahore) ;
  • Mahmood, Yasir (Department of Software Engineering, The University of Lahore)
  • Received : 2022.03.05
  • Published : 2022.03.30
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Abstract

The process of correcting, upgrading, and improving software products after they have been handed over to the consumer is known as software maintenance. Offshore software maintenance outsourcing (OSMO) clients benefit from cost savings, time savings, and improved quality software through OSMO. In most circumstances, the OSMO vendor makes a lot of money but not in all the cases. Especially, when the OSMO project offer is not properly assessed. An efficient outsourcing contract might yield successful outcomes for outsourced projects. But before sending a detailed proposal to bid on the OSMO project the vendor must have to assess the client's project (business offer) requirements. The purpose of this study is to find out common trends within the assessment of a OSMO project. A case study approach along with semi-structured interviews from eight companies concluded ten common practices and several roles. Among these practices, four (code structure, requirements, communication barriers and required infrastructure) were consistent amongst the responses .The findings, limitations and future work are discussed.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

All the authors are thankful to Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia for offering state-of-the-art research opportunities. We would also like to acknowledge valuable feedback provided by Dr Raghda Zahran from Newcastle University (UK) and Dr Asaad Alzayed from Computer Science Department, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Kuwait on an early draft of this paper.

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