COV

Abstract

After the three decade of war economy of Sri Lanka begin to boost up since 2009. Software

industry is one of key sector who is actively participating uplifting Sri Lanka economy to

higher level. DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is a software company which is helping

the Sri Lanka software industry achieve above mission.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is three decade old company. It is one of leading

software development and business process outsourcing company in Sri Lanka. “It has

founded in 1977 as the software division of Data Management Systems DMS Software

Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. was incorporated as a private limited liability company in Sri Lanka

in 1992. DMS is a member of the DMS group of companies.

The company specializes in offering Software/Web Application Development, Rich Internet

Application Development, System Integration, Software Testing, Quality Assurance services,

and more. In addition, DMS has industry-specific software expertise in Banking & Financial,

Manufactures, Tea, and other diversified sectors “(DMSSWT, 2013).

Their main product is making software. Software is a set of programming statement which

controls the hardware elements of the computer and support to the end user task.

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Acknowledgement

We take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and deep regards to our guide Mr.

S.J Sudath, Operations Management consultant of NIBM for his exemplary guidance and

constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis. The blessing, help and guidance

given by his time to time shall carry us a long way in the journey of life on which we about to

embark.

We also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to Mr. M. GayanRashika,

Associate application support engineer for DMS software technologies (Pvt) Ltd For his

cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped us in completing this task

through various stages.

We are obliged to staff members of DMS software technologies (Pvt) Ltd for the valuable

information provided by them in their respective fields. We are grateful for their cooperation

during the period of our assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, our parents, brothers, sisters, and friends for their constant

encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.

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Table of ContentsAbstract.................................................................................................................................................. i

Acknowledgement................................................................................................................................. ii

1.0 Introduction of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd (DMSSWT)..............................................1

1.1 Introduction to the report.............................................................................................................1

2.0 DMS Software Technologies...........................................................................................................2

2.1Process of DMS............................................................................................................................4

2.1.1Flow of Software development process.................................................................................6

2.1.2Definition of Scrum...............................................................................................................6

3.0Literature Review.............................................................................................................................8

3.1 Purpose of operations management.............................................................................................9

3.2 Functions of Operations Management.........................................................................................9

4.0 Analysis of the DMS engineering (Pvt) Ltd...................................................................................10

4.1Internal analysis of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd.......................................................11

4.1.1 SWOT analysis of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd Technologies (Pvt) Ltd...........12

5.0 Recommendations.........................................................................................................................13

6.0 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15

Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................16

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1.0 Introduction of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd (DMSSWT)

DMS software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd (DMSSWT) is a member of the DMS Group. DMS

Software Technologies together with DMS Electronics (DMSE) provides end to end

solutions to customer from Hardware to Software.

DNSSWT is an Oracle Gold Partner in Sri Lanka. The Oracle partnership dates back to 1991.

Since the inception of the partnership with Oracle Corporation, DMSSWT has specialized in

Oracle Based Solutions, providing the full range of services including Consulting,

Application Development, Technical Support and Education & Training

DMSSWT’s focus on Oracle has led to the development of the infrastructure at DMSSWT, in

terms of skills and technology, capable of supporting all Oracle products on all platforms.

This enables DMSSWT to support the Mission Critical Applications being used by the many

national and multi-national companies operating in Sri Lanka and has built a very large

installed base of customers in both the public and private sectors. DMSSWT is the only

Oracle Implementation partner in Sri Lanka with ERP experience over 15 years.

Data Management Systems company pioneer in the Information Technology Industry in Sri

Lanka has provided ICT products and services for more than 35 years to more than 5000

customers in various industry verticals. DMS Group has a staff strength of more than 600 at

present specialized in many areas within the ICT Industry and They represents many of the

Leading Information Technology Companies in the world. Some of these include Hewlett

Packard, CISCO, Diebold, Hypercom, 3Com and the world’s two largest software companies

Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation etc.

1.1 Introduction to the report

This report is done under the module of operations management and the selected session was

process selection. DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd was the selected organization and in

this report the selected process and practical application of the process, the strengths and

weaknesses, the analysis, the main recommendations of the process will be explained.

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2.0 DMS Software TechnologiesDMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is one of the leading ICT solution providers in Sri

Lanka, which is a member of the DMS Group. DMS Group represents many of the Leading

Information Technology Companies in the world. Some of these include Hewlett Packard,

CISCO, Diebold, Hypercom, 3Com and the world’s two largest software companies Oracle

Corporation and Microsoft Corporation etc. DMS Software Technologies together with DMS

Electronics (DMSE) provides end to end solutions to customers from Hardware to Software.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd has established their head office at the heart of

Colombo city at the postal address of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) LtdNo 106, Kynsey

Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka., which is an ideal location convenient for both their

customers, employees and the business as well.

DMS Software Technologies is an Oracle Gold Partner in Sri Lanka. The Oracle partnership

dates back to 1991. Since the inception of the partnership with Oracle Corporation, DMS

Software Technologies has specialized in Oracle Based Solutions, providing the full range of

services including Consulting, Application Development, Technical Support, and Education

& Training with a staff strength of more than 600 at present specialized in many areas within

the ICT Industry.

At DMS Software Technologies they provide following consultancy services.

1. End-to-end Project Delivery

2. Business Readiness Services

3. Project Management and Advisory

4. BI Dashboard & Report Development

5. Tools & Accelerators

6. Integration & Customization

7. Support & Managed Services

8. Resource Augmentation

Over a decade of solution engineering experience enables them to offer the full spectrum of

activities. They have turned their lean processes and technology knows how to warrant high

quality that in turn helps their customers to better manage their business process, budgets and

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risks. Their teams of consultants have solid work ethics, delivery focus and passion, which

are the necessary building blocks in providing world class solutions.

1. Oracle ERP Implementation & Consultancy Services.

2. Oracle ERP Post Go-Live Support Services.

3. Oracle ERP Specialized Services.

4. Oracle Technology Product Installation, Upgrade and Implementation Services.

5. Oracle Technology Post Go-Live Support Services.

6. Oracle Migration and Upgrade Services.

7. Oracle Licensing and License Management Services.

8. On-site, Off-site and Managed Services.

9. Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Solutions.

10. Middleware Application Servers Implementation, Support Services.

11. Linux Subscription Management and Support Services.

12. DMS ITOS Applications Suite for Travel & Destination Management Industry.

13. Treasury & Investment Management Solutions.

14. Project Management & PMO.

And their main product is Software which is a set of instructions or programs that make

computer works.

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2.1Process of DMS

(Figure1.0)

Requirement analysis

Requirement analysis is the process of determining user expectations for a new or modified

product. These features, called requirements, must be quantifiable, relevant and detailed.

Requirements analysis involves frequent communication with system users to determine

specific feature expectations, resolution of conflict or ambiguity in requirements as demanded

by the various users or groups of users, avoidance of feature creep and documentation of all

aspects of the project development process from start to finish. Energy should be directed

towards ensuring that the final system or product conforms to client needs rather than

attempting to mold user expectations to fit the requirements.

Requirements analysis is a team effort that demands a combination of hardware, software

and human factors engineering expertise as well as skills in dealing with people.

Software design

Software design is the process by which an agent creates a specification of software, intended

to accomplish goals, using a set of primary components and subject to constraints. Software

design may refer to either all the activities involved in conceptualizing, framing,

implementing, commissioning and ultimately modifying complex systems or the activity

following requirements specification and before programming, as a stylized software

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engineering process. Software design usually involves problem solving and planning a

software solution. Software design is the process of implementing software solutions to one

or more set of problems. One of the important parts of software design is the software

requirements analysis. There are also semi-standard methods like Unified Modeling

Language and Fundamental modeling concepts. In either case, some documentation of the

plan is usually the product of the design.

Software construction

Software construction is a software engineering discipline. It is the detailed creation of

working meaningful software through a combination of coding, verification, unit

testing, integration testing, and debugging. It is linked to all the other software engineering

disciplines, most strongly to software design and software testing.

Software testing

Software testing is an investigation conducted to get information about the quality of the

software. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to

allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test

techniques include, but are not limited to the process of executing a program or application

with the intent of finding software errors or other defects.

Software testing uses some strategy to select tests that are feasible for the available time and

resources. As a result, software testing typically attempts to execute a program or application

with the intent of finding software errors or other defects. Software testing can be conducted

as soon as executable software (even if partially complete) exists. The overall approach to

software development often determines when and how testing is conducted.

Software maintenance

Software maintenance in software engineering is the modification of a software product after

delivery to correct faults to improve performance or other attributes. A common perception of

maintenance is that it merely involves fixing defects. Normally, over 80% of maintenance

effort is used for non-corrective actions. This perception is perpetuated by users submitting

problem reports that in reality are functionality enhancements to the system. More recent

studies put the bug-fixing proportion closer to 21%.

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Software maintenance is a very broad activity that includes error correction, enhancements of

capabilities, deletion of obsolete capabilities and optimization. Because change is inevitable,

mechanisms must be developed for evaluation, controlling and making modifications.

So any work done to change the software after it is in operation is considered to be

maintenance work. The purpose is to preserve the value of software over the time.

2.1.1Flow of Software development process

(Figure 2.0)

Requirement, design and development

Design and development focus on meeting the technical requirements; generally the

functional performance requirements can be met.  Additional design and development is

usually not needed for specific assistive technology products.  If there is an agency

requirement to support specific assistive technology, that is an additional requirement. 

Test to the requirements

Track the defects and allow time in the project schedule to remediate so that the software

tests fully compliant before implementation. If the defect found in a coding section, transfer

coding defect to coding section or if the customer requirement is change, transfer the defect

to requirement section and continue the process.

2.1.2Definition of Scrum

Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while

productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.

Scrum is:

Lightweight

Simple to understand

Difficult to master

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Requirements Design Development Testing Implementation

Defect found in coding

sectiondevelopment

If the customer requirement is change

Scrum is a process framework that has been used to manage complex product development

since the early1990s. Scrum is not a process or a technique for building products; rather, it is

a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques. Scrum makes

clear the relative efficacy of your product management and development practices so that you

can improve.

The Scrum framework consists of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts,

and rules. Each component within the framework serves a specific purpose and is essential to

Scrum’s success and usage.

The rules of Scrum bind together the events, roles, and artifacts, governing the relationships

and interaction between them. The rules of Scrum are described throughout the body of this

document.

Specific tactics for using the Scrum framework vary and are described elsewhere.

The Sprint

The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done”,

useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created. Sprints best have consistent

durations throughout a development effort. A new Sprint starts immediately after the

conclusion of the previous Sprint .Sprints contain and consist of the Sprint Planning, Daily

Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

During the Sprint:

No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal;

Quality goals do not decrease; and,

Scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and

Development Team as more is learned.

Each Sprint may be considered a project with no more than a one-month horizon. Like

projects, Sprints are used to accomplish something. Each Sprint has a definition of what is to

be built, a design and flexible plan that will guide building it, the work, and the resultant

product. Sprints are limited to one calendar month. When as print’s horizon is too long the

definition of what is being built may change, complexity may rise, and risk may increase.

Sprints enable predictability by ensuring inspection and adaptation of progress toward a

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Sprint Goal at least every calendar month. Sprints also limit risk to one calendar month of

cost.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is a software engineering company. They have used

traditional software development process models like waterfall and structured system analysis

and design method (SSADM) to develop software in early days. Those process models are

out dated and cannot be used to accommodate changing customer requirements. Most of the

IT companies now a day are using Agile methods to response changing customer needs.DMS

Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd company also using Scrum methodology to develop their

application software.

Scrum is an agile method. There are specific jargons using with Scrum methodology. Product

backlog is a prioritize set of requirements. It is prepared by the product owner who is the

person responsible about the requirements. Sprint is a maximum of two weeks and during a

sprint developers should arrange and develop the set of functions. Every day scrum master

conducts the scrum meeting which is maximum 30 minutes. End of each sprint it delivered

with the working version of the software.

Then customer gives their feedbacks and comments and any changes required. Then next

iteration developers should arrange their functions to achieve the changes and next product

backlog. The below figure illustrates the Scrum process.

3.0Literature Review

What is Operation Management?

Operations management is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the systems

that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and services.

Why they use operations management in organizational activities?

Operations management teams design the method of conversion of inputs (materials, labor,

proprietary information, etc.) into outputs (goods, services, value-added products, etc.) that is

most beneficial to the organization. Operations management teams attempt to balance costs

with revenue to achieve the highest net operating profit possible.

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3.1 Purpose of operations management

Input Conversion Output

Raw materials Skills Goods

Component parts Machines Services

Labor Computers

(Table 1.0)

Operation management plays a vital role within the organization as it is the main function

that converts input into output. In order to successfully implement the production process of

the good or the service which provides by the organization to the customer, it is really

important to have an effective management of operational activities of the organization. The

above diagram demonstrates the process of converting inputs into output by using skills,

machines computers and etc.

3.2 Functions of Operations Management

(Chart 1.0)

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The operations functionand its relationship tobusiness objectives andbusiness strategy

Ethical and socially responsibleManagement of an operations system

Strategies adopted to optimizeoperations, including:• Facilities design and layout• Materials management• management of quality• extent of the use of technology

Characteristics of operationsManagement withinLarge-scale manufacturingand service organizations

Key elements of an operationsystems (inputs, processes andoutputs) in different types oflarge-scale organizations

Productivity and businesscompetitiveness, theirimportance for and impacton the operation systems

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

Process Selection

Process Selection plays an important part in overall design of production and operations

management systems. Process Selection allows an organization to offer a safe and reliable

product and service through pragmatic design and effective capacity planning. With the help

of process selection we can understand the different types of processing including manual,

rigid, and flexible as well as various automated approaches to processing. Process selection

allows an operations manager to better understand the need for management of technology.

Together with capacity planning it helps an organization to develop different approaches to

meet the irregular demand pattern of the customers.

Types of Processes

Conversion

Fabrication

Assembly

Testing

4.0 Analysis of the DMS engineering (Pvt) Ltd

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is a three decade old company, which is also known

as one of the leading software development and business process outsourcing company in Sri

Lanka. “It has founded in 1977 as the software division of Data Management Systems Ltd,

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. And it was incorporated as a private limited liability

company in Sri Lanka in 1992. And also, DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is a member

of the DMS group of companies.

The company has staff strength of over 100 persons in different disciplines. A pioneer in the

field of Packaged & Bespoke Software development in Sri Lanka, DMS software solutions

are used by over 150 companies in Sri Lanka and in overseas.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner is one of the well

experienced and pioneered software development and consultancy organizations providing

comprehensive solutions to its clients. The company specializes in offering Software/Web

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Application Development, Rich Internet Application Development, System Integration,

Software Testing, Quality Assurance services and more. In addition to these, DMS has

industry-specific software expertise in Banking & Financial, Manufactures, Tea, and other

diversified sectors. “(DMSSWE, 2013).” The organizational customized software

development services provide the Information Technology backbone of their customers’

businesses. Therefore, the highly capable and expertise technical teams of the organization

understand the requirement of their customers and provide them the world’s best solutions.

4.1Internal analysis of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd

Usage of value chain

Organizational value chain is much more technical term which comes under Logistics

management of an organization. When come to software industry it bit more difficult put

those term into normal software process. However in DMS do not purposely use the value

chain in their product development and service process. The process they are following in

software development process can be map to simple value chain. The below simple diagram

will demonstrate the DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd organization’s value chain.

(Figure 3.0)

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The above diagram demonstrates the simple value chain at DMS Software Technologies (Pvt)

Ltd. Rectangles with orange color describe the primary activities in software development

process. Red ovals describe the supporting activities which are using in the primary activities.

Most of senior managers using value chain to clarify their budgetary requirements, time

requirements, and resource requirements. At the initial stages total budget, time line and

resources will be identified. According project or product constraints those importance or

effort need to execute those activities may change. Because some projects are time constraint,

some are cost constraint and also some may be resource constraint. Based on above

conditions senior managers are using the value chain to determine those factors in software

development project. When project is time constraint, primary activity like development and

testing will get more attention. More costs will need to be allocating to those activities to get

thing done. In this kind of situation resource management should also get affected. Since it

time constraint resources like employees must manage very critically. More percentage of

costs and human resource may need to execute those critical tasks. Value chain will provide

good demonstrate on these types of critical factors. Most of DMS Software Technologies

(Pvt) Ltd senior managers are using this value chain to analysis those kind of critical

information to make valuable decisions.

4.1.1 SWOT analysis of DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd Technologies (Pvt) Ltd

Strengths

The organization has a strong and well established business process outsource

service.

Current product portfolio is consisting with wide variety of products which can cater

into different markets.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd has a good support from sister companies

since it is a part of the DMS group of companies.

Stress free working environment.

The company has staff strength of over 100 persons in different disciplines.

DMS software solutions are used by over 150 companies both in Sri Lanka and in

overseas.

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The ability of providing solutions in many categories such as Software/Web

Application Development, Rich Internet Application Development, System

Integration, Software Testing, Quality Assurance services and etc.

DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd is a Microsoft Gold Certified Company in Sri

Lanka.

Weaknesses

Higher rate of staff turns over.

Lack of investment in research and development (R & D).

Less usage of project management practices.

Lack of investment towards the new product development.

Opportunities

In current market, business process outsourcing has a tremendous growth rate and

demand for their service.

Increasing demand for Enterprise resource planning systems is a great opportunity for

the DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd.

There is an increasing demand for services like SaaS (Software as Service)

Threats

Rapid changes in the technology.

High rate of software security threats.

High rate of new entries of the organizations to the ICT industry.

5.0 Recommendations

Update with the new technology

Software business is a fast growing market segment in the industry. People in this

industry must update themselves very frequently and must be keen on the changes in the

industry. Because of these technological changes most of organizations who are using

these systems can expect additional features or techniques to ease their life. In such kind

of situation if an organization cannot deliver customer requests they will be in trouble. So

it is imperative to DMS to keep themselves updated on these technological changes to

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keep alive in the industry. By being updated with new technology DMS will be able to

reduce delay times and errors in their process.

New Product Development

New product development is crucial in any organization. However DMS is lacking in the

new product development process. Over the years they just redevelop their product to

cater into current market request. Within the last 6 years they did not release and new

product into market. The last product which they released to market was the ABC Imago.

As mention earlier this product gave a breakthrough performance over the last few years.

So it is important to build new products. Current customer requirements and expectations

are very high. So if they can do a literature review they can find many things which can

help to build new products.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Enterprise resource planning (ERPs) systems demand is having considerable demand in

the market. DMS Financials is mini ERP which can fulfill organization financial

requirements. This product have features like Accounting, General ledger, Fixed Assets,

Inventory etc. DMS has to compete with giants like SAP, Microsoft dynamics and Oracle

Financials. However these giants target the higher and lower market in the industry. If

DMS can sharpen their product which can cater into lower market segment which

represent larger portion they can earn considerable income from this product. Above are

some recommendations which can give to DMS to increase their performance in the

industry.

More Training and Development

If DMS can implement more training and development programs for new technology, the

productivity of their employees can be increased and the mechanism of the processes will

be run smoothly. With more trained employees, the defects of the software can be

reduced and with that the maintenance cost can be reduced. It’s more important that, if

DMS can invest more on training programs to cut down the cost in long term.

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6.0 ConclusionIn this assignment the selected area was process selection according to the operations

management module. According to the process selection, the main processes were job, batch,

mass and continuum processes. But as the selected organization is IT software related

company (DMS Software Technologies (Pvt) Ltd), their process system is very different

unlike the manufacturing products.

The main strengths are that DMS is a well reputed company and with the support of skillfully

employees and great working environment their processes run quite successfully.

The main weakness of DMS process is that they have no technically updated employees

because they do not invest for training project management practices. Because of that the

employees get disappointed and the staff turnover gets high and most importantly the process

smoothness will breakdown.

The main recommendations for the DMS process is to be updated with new technologies like

SAP systems, develop new software instead of modifying them, and invest on training and

development of the employees.

With that DMS will be able to be cost effective and be more practical and successful in their

process selection and implementation.

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Bibliography

DMS Software Engineering (pvt) ltd, [Online], Available: http://www.dmsswt.com/index.html [5 Feb 2015].

Investopedia, [Online], Available: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operations-management.asp [6 Feb 2015].

M, R. Software Quality, [Online], Available: http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/requirements-analysis [5 Feb 2015].

Wikipedia, [Online], Available: http://en.wikipedia.org [06 Feb 2015].

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