Path: news.daimi.aau.dk!news.net.uni-c.dk!newsfeed1.uni2.dk!newsfeed1.swip.net!swipnet!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.mel.connect.com.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!towncrier.cc.monash.edu.au!mdick From: mdick@insect.sd.monash.edu.au () Newsgroups: comp.lang.beta Subject: Survey of the Benefits of Object Technology in Australia Date: 4 Sep 1998 12:35:04 GMT Organization: Department of Software Development, Monash University Lines: 661 Distribution: world Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: insect.sd.monash.edu.au X-Trace: towncrier.cc.monash.edu.au 904912504 7114 130.194.224.102 (4 Sep 1998 12:35:04 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@monash.edu.au NNTP-Posting-Date: 4 Sep 1998 12:35:04 GMT X-Newsreader: slrn (0.8.4) Xref: news.daimi.aau.dk comp.lang.beta:11679 MONASH UNIVERSITY QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE BENEFITS OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY IN AUSTRALIA Dear Readers of Comp.Lang.Beta, 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.