Objective
Organisations are looking for better ways to face the challenge of increasing competitive pressures resulting from globalisation, even including the possibility to "re-invent" themselves. They need more flexible and effective working methods. Teleworking is now viewed as one possible answer to this problem.
In this context, the main objective of TECODIS is to demonstrate that a more flexible and cost-effective allocation of skilled resources is possible by resorting to teleworking with the support of existing advanced communication technologies and services.
Subsequently, the overall efficiency of the organisation could be improved, and in particular the lead time required for distributed industrial development software projects can be reduced and a better quality of life perspective can be assumed for key participants.
The project has already defined the Teleworking Model for software development
The project has already defined the evaluation methodology and criteria to be used when monitoring the usage trial
The project is finalising the integration of the Teleworking Platform and its adaptation to the real usage conditions and networks
The project expects to start running the demonstration project during the current year as well as the monitoring activities to perform the trial's evaluation
Expected Impact
The results of TECODIS are expected to pave the way for teleworking support in many industries by demonstrating its viability in the distributed engineering of complex systems. These results can also be extrapolated to other industrial sectors and to a wider social scope (employment level increase due to the improved productivity, integration of less favoured regions, positive impact on the environment due to the reduction in commuting and in general a better quality of life).
Main contributions to the programme objectives:
Main deliverables
Development of large scale real-time software systems for teleworking
Contribution to the programme
Increase of teleworking and a wider social scope
Technical Approach
The TECODIS industrial project demonstration will be based on the co-operative development of large scale real-time software systems by teams of people which are distributed across several European countries located in Local Design Centres. These design centres have the responsibility to develop specific system components with well defined interfaces among them.
TECODIS will integrate Teleworking Platform, initially using components developed in RACE II projects, to support the telework scheme by providing real users with a set of tools, methods and advice to satisfy their conceptual communications need.
Definition of the organisational framework and the type of industrial projects on which the pilot experience is expected to be run.
To capture the users requirements of the main actors involved under this teleworking scheme, with emphasis on the distributed software engineering and project management domains.
To develop a Teleworking Model for distributes software development (describing the human-to-human communication needs imposed by the software development business process) and Teleworking Platform Requirement, as already described in TECODIS' Deliverable 03.
Identification, selection and further adaptation of a state-of-the-art Technological Platform capable of meeting the functional requirements identified. As a result of this process ISABEL, a platform developed under the RACE II Programme, has been selected.
An Evaluation Methodology and Success Criteria has been developed to evaluate teleworking in the Industrial Demonstration Project, and is contained in TECODIS deliverable 05. A more generic Social Impact Study will be produced in light of the results from the demonstration experience.
A demonstration of teleworking based in the use of the teleworking platform in an Industrial Demonstration Project will be run.
A final evaluation, using the Evaluation Criteria previously defined, will be carried out, covering the different parameters of interest for the different stakeholders involved. This evaluation will be happend on both a formative and a summative basis, with the purpose of being able to react to new factors that may arise during the demonstration trial.
Along the whole project a set of dissemination activities have been and will continue to be carried out, in order to make the experience widely known.
In parallel, TECODIS is actively participating in ACTS concertation activities (particularly at the Chain level) with a view to collaborating in the development of good practices guidelines for the whole industry and contributing to the extent that it may be possible to have a pre-standardisation of a Teleworking Model for Distributed Industrial Software production.
A combination of National Host and Public network ISDN and GSM infrastructure will be used as the basis for the pan-European trial.
Summary of Trial
The TECODIS trial, based on running a real industrial project under a real working environment will involve three Ericsson's design centres in Madrid (Spain), Stockholm (Sweden) and Aachen (Germany), using the principles contained in the TECODIS Teleworking Model for software development and running on the TECODIS Teleworking Platform. The trial will start in June 1997 and will finish in June 1998.
The TECODIS trial will be closely monitored and evaluated to strengthen the learning process. This evaluation will in a first instance evaluate the feasibility of this type of solution in a real working environment, both from a technical (availability of the applications and networking technologies and services) and economical point of view (relative measurement of the economical feasibility of the solution and comparison among the different networking technologies). In a second instance, the evaluation will asses how the bottom-line parameters are associated with the business process (cost, lead-time and quality) affected by the introduction of these new more flexible and efficient ways to use the resources, together with a study of the possible impacts on the organisational structure and the business process (possibility of performing outsourcing for some developments due to the better communications means).
Key Issues
Real user involvement, real work environment
Teleworking model for Distributed Industrial Software Development
Organisational, Individual and Social impact study
Teleworking support platform
Evaluation, promotion, concertation and dissemination
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software applications system software
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software development
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
- social sciences other social sciences development studies development theories global development studies globalization
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Coordinator
28045 Madrid
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.