Small company action training and enabling

Project Information

SCATE

Grant agreement ID: 24291

Project closed

Start date 1 January 1997

End date 31 December 1998

Funded under

• Software Best Practice initiative within the framework of the specific research and technological development programme in the field of Information Technologies, 1994-1998

Total cost € 583 000,00

EU contribution € 583 000,00

Coordinated by

Pgcc Technologie
France

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Exploitable results

Small company action training and enabling

Small Company Action Training and Enabling (SCATE) is a complete cost-effective solution to the management of software development. SCATE is specifically designed for small companies (and small software organizations in large companies) where resources are scarce and so is time. Smaller organizations have often been left out of the software process improvement programmes.. SCATE is a 'train the trainer' programme, following the basic premise that since smaller organizations don't have a training department or specialized resources, they need to 'grow' a trainer ( a Champion) who will be able to work within the organization on a daily basis. Improved processes are being incorporated step-by-step in a baseline project. The SCATE programme consists of nine group working sessions. Companies are divided into SCATE user groups (SUG). There is a minimum of 6 people in each SUG, 2 people from each of three organizations, but it can go as high as 8 organizations, 16 people for a group. SCATE achieves its objectives by following an innovative training approach, providing background knowledge, guidelines, and case study material. The SCATE programme takes a well-known concept for improvement, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), expands it to include more than technical issues and refines it to suit small organizations where individuals and small groups are closer to the problems and more likely to influence results. The Champion who is committed to gaining real benefit will leave the programme with: excellent skills in working with people to support planned change; the basics of software process improvement; the confidence to practice and help others to practice these on a regular basis. In the first pilot run of SCATE, sessions were run in Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Greece with enormous success.