After this course the student should:

• know what developing a software product entails
• be able to work with the scientific theories of product software
• be able to start an own software enterprise

A software product is defined as a packaged configuration of software components or a software-based service with auxiliary materials, which is released for and traded in a specific market.
In this course the creation, production and organization of product software will be discussed and elaborated in depth:

• Requirements management: functional categorization, prioritization for releases (QFD, AHP), tracing en tracking, scope management
• Architecture and design: application genericity and typologies, variability, product architectures, internationalization, platforms, localization and customization
• Development methods: prototyping, realization and maintenance, testing, configuration management, delivery; development teams
• Knowledge management: web-based knowledge infrastructures, quality improvement programs (CMM, SPI)
• Protection of intellectual property: NDA, Software Patents
• Organization of a product software company: business functions, financing, venture capital, partnering, business plan, product/service trade-off, diversification

This course is explicitly meant for students Information Science and Computer Science. Pre-arranged or mixed teams are are no problem, it is the product idea that matters.

After the course the students can continue working on the product in the Utrecht student software incubator, called Netherware, see www.netherware.nl. Netherware provides product and business coaching, access to the financial network, and the possibility to perform a master thesis project on your own product.

The aim of this course is to create a prototype and business plan for a novel software product. Students can join the course either with a product idea or without. In both cases your participation in the course must be formally approved. To get approval send your product idea or your willingness to participate in a product to Slinger Jansen (s.jansen@cs.uu.nl). After you have become part of an approved product team your application to the course will be finalized.

 

http://www.cs.uu.nl/education/vak.php?vak=INFOIE&jaar=2008