DevOps: Introducing Agility and Flexibility to BPO-IT Organisations – Service Providers’ Perspective

Continuous Delivery refers to a software development practice where members of a team frequently integrate their work, so that the process of delivery can be easily conducted. However, this continuous integration and delivery requires a reliable collaboration between development and IT operation teams. The DevOps practices support this collaboration since they enable that the operation staff making use of the same infrastructure as developers for their systems work. Our study aims at presenting a practical DevOps implementation and analyzing how the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes was automated. Our approach follows the principles of infrastructure as code, where a configuration platform – PowerShell DSC – was used to automatically define reliable environments for continuous software delivery. In this context, we defined the concept of “stage for dev”, also using the Docker technology, which involves all the elements that enable members of a team to have the same production environment, locally configured in their personal machines and thus empowering the continuous integration and delivery of system releases.

Coordination of interdependent tasks across geographical, temporal and socio-cultural boundaries has been identified as a critical antecedent to global software development (GSD) team performance. Since GSD teams are increasingly required to achieve software development agility and respond to changing business requirements, conventional plan-driven software development methods become inadequate to manage the cross-boundary dependencies. To cope with this issue, there is an emerging trend of implementing change-driven agile methods in GSD; we call this practice agile GSD. This paper focuses on the formulation of coordination strategies in agile GSD. We argue that Coordination Theory (CT) can serve as a useful lens to develop a deeper understanding of the formulation process. We present a case study in a leading software development company using agile GSD and present preliminary results by applying the lens of CT.

The DevOps movement intends to improve communication, collaboration, and integration between software developers (Dev) and IT operations professionals (Ops). Automation of software quality assurance is key to DevOps success. We present how automated performance benchmarks may be included into continuous integration. As an example, we report on regression benchmarks for application monitoring frameworks and illustrate the inclusion of automated benchmarks into continuous integration setups. This dataset supplements the paper and contains the raw experimental data for each experiment.

Modern software development approaches rely extensively on tools. Motivated by practices such as continuous integration, deployment and delivery, these tools are used in a fashion where data are automatically accumulated in different databases as a side-effect of everyday development activities. In this paper we introduce an approach for software engineering data visualization as a mash up that combines data from issue management, software development and production use. The visualization can show to all stake holders how well continuous delivery is realized in the project. The visualization clearly shows the time spent to specify and develop the features as well the length of the delivery cycle. Further more the visualization shows how much work is unfinished and waiting for delivery. This can help the development team to decrease the amount of unfinished work and by that help them to keep up in continuous delivery mind set. In addition to development data usage of the features is also visualized.

This study aims to find ways and strategies to improve service quality by analyzing the influence of other variables on service quality. The other variables are organizational support, work motivation, job satisfaction, and work commitment. Furthermore, the methods and strategies for improving the quality of education and training services found were made recommendations to related parties, namely the Republic of Indonesia Police, leaders of education and training institutions, and training instructors for the Security Unit in Bogor Regency. The population is as many as 168 instructors of security training and training from 33 security training institutions, spread across 16 sub-districts in the Bogor Regency area. The research sample is 118 respondents. Data analysis used SITOREM analysis. The results of the study show 1) There is a direct positive effect of organizational support on service quality with a path coefficient (βy1) of 0.302, so that strengthening organizational support can improve service quality; 2) There is a direct positive effect of work motivation on service quality with a path coefficient (βy2) of 0.211, so that strengthening work motivation can improve service quality; 3) There is a direct positive effect of job satisfaction on service quality with a path coefficient (βy3) of 0.201, so that strengthening job satisfaction can improve service quality; 4) There is a direct positive effect of work commitment on service quality with a path coefficient (βy4) of 0.212, so that strengthening work motivation can improve service quality; 5) There is a direct positive effect of Organizational Support on job satisfaction with a path coefficient (βy31) of 0.432, so that strengthening organizational support can increase job satisfaction; 6) There is a direct positive effect of work motivation on job satisfaction with a path coefficient (βy32) of 0.535, so that strengthening work motivation can increase job satisfaction; 7) There is a direct positive effect of Organizational Support on work commitment with a path coefficient (βy41) of 0.553, so that strengthening organizational support can increase work commitment; 8) There is a direct positive effect of work motivation on work commitment with a path coefficient (βy42) of 0.412, so that strengthening work motivation can increase work commitment; 9) There is an indirect positive effect of organizational support on service quality through job satisfaction with a path coefficient (βx13y) of 0.091, so that strengthening organizational support can improve service quality through strengthening job satisfaction; 10) There is an indirect positive effect of work motivation on service quality through job satisfaction with a path coefficient (βx23y) of 0.113, so that strengthening work motivation can improve service quality through strengthening job satisfaction; 11) There is an indirect positive effect of organizational support on service quality through work commitment with a path coefficient (βx14y) of 0.087, so that strengthening organizational support can improve service quality through strengthening work commitment; 12) There is an indirect positive effect of work motivation on service quality through work commitment with a path coefficient (βx24y) of 0.117, so that strengthening work motivation can improve service quality through strengthening work commitment; 13) There is a direct positive effect of work motivation on organizational support with a path coefficient (βy12) of 0.852, so strengthening work motivation can increase work commitment.

This paper illustrates how Jenkins evolved from being a pure Continuous Integration Platform to a Continuous Delivery one, embracing the new design tendency where not only the build but also the release and the delivery process of the product is automated. In this scenario Jenkins becomes the orchestrator tool for all the teams/roles involved in the software lifecycle, thanks to which Development, Quality&Assurance and Operations teams can work closely together.Goal of this paper is not only to position Jenkins as hub for CD, but also introduce the challenges that still need to be solved in order to strengthen Jenkins' tracking capabilities.

In this paper, we identify a set of factors that may be used to forecast software productivity and software development time. Software productivity was measured in function points per person hours, and software development time was measured in number of elapsed days. Using field data on over 130 field software projects from various industries, we empirically test the impact of team size, integrated computer aided software engineering (ICASE) tools, software development type, software development platform, and programming language type on the software development productivity and development time. Our results indicate that team size, software development type, software development platform, and programming language type significantly impact software development productivity. However, only team size significantly impacts software development time. Our results indicate that effective management of software development teams, and using different management strategies for different software development type environments may improve software development productivity.

Evaluation of Quality of Healthcare: To What Extent Can We Rely on Patient Expectations and Preferences

Background: Patients’ loyalty to visit and use the services provided by the primary health centers (PHCs) is an important requirement of a patient referral system in many countries. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of internal service factors (service provider, service process, and service environment) on service quality and behavioural loyalty of patients in Indonesian PHCs.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 14 districts in Aceh Province, Indonesia between September and December 2020. Data were collected in 102 PHCs that were selected randomly from 137 PHCs that have an Inpatient Unit in the province. A proportional number of patients were recruited from each PHC and 389 patients were included. The demographic data, three components of internal service factors (service provider, service process, and service environment), the service quality and behavioural loyalty were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Hypothesis testing was conducted by using the structural equation model (SEM).Results: Our data suggested that two elements of internal service factors (service provider and service environment) had a positive and significant influence on service quality of the PHCs with p<0.001 and p=0.021, respectively. Service quality had a positive and significant influence of behavioural loyalty of patients to the PHCs (p=0.003). Service quality however did not serve as an intervening variable between internal service factors (service provider, service process, and service environment) and behavioural loyalty of patients, with p=0.091, p=0.230 and p=0.260, respectively. Conclusions: Service provider and service environment are two main factors that influence the service quality and the service quality directly influence the behavioural loyalty on PHC users. Therefore, to increase the patients’ loyalty to use the PHC services, the quality of the services should be improved by levelling up the quality of providers and both physical and social environments in the PHCs.

Aim: Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is important in the development of the Sri Lankan economy. To remain competitive in the service sector it is essential to focus more on improving service quality as it directly creates greater customer satisfaction. In respect of international airports satisfied passengers often revisit a destination thus increasing micro and macro level income and profitability. Hence, satisfied and loyal passengers are an important factor in remaining competitive among international airports. Although there is ample research that explores service quality and passenger satisfaction with airports, research is sparse in regard to Sri Lanka. Hence, the aim of this study is to identify the most important service quality dimensions influencing passenger satisfaction at BIA and to examine the relationship between each SERVQUAL dimension on passenger satisfaction. Place and Duration of Study: Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) between April to July 2019. Methodology: The sample for this study consisted of 150 passengers at BIA and a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed for this study based on the SERVQUAL model to analyse the impact of the five dimensions (reliability responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibility) of service quality at BIA. A quantitative approach was used and questionnaires were distributed by hand as well as by electronically using Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and Email. The data was analysed using SPSS Version 23.0. Results: The regression model confirmed that tangibility, assurance and empathy contributed to passenger satisfaction. The findings of this study could be used by passengers, researchers, service providers, civil aviation authorities and other decision makers for their decision-making purposes.

This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of competition in the field of providing hotel lodging services, where the growing development of tourism causes the growth rate of tourism accommodation such as hotels to also increase. This causes non-star hotels as one of the providers of hospitality services to also improve to face this competition by changing the system they have in order to still have an advantage over their competitors. In this study using respondents as many as 91 people with quantitative analysis and testing the research path test was carried out using the Partial Least Square (Smart PLS) 2.0 analysis tool. Based on the results of the research analysis, it was found that internal marketing had a significant positive effect on job satisfaction, job satisfaction had an insignificant positive effect on service quality, and internal marketing had a significant positive effect on service quality. The implementation of this research is to maintain and improve internal marketing by rewarding work performance, to increase job satisfaction by listening more to the suggestions given by employees, and to maintain and improve service quality by always giving personal/special attention to guests who stay and understand the special needs of staying guests. In addition, the results of this study also create a gap for further research, where the relationship between internal marketing and service quality has no significant positive effect.

Scrum is an agile software development methodology that suggests highly structured and iterative processes of software development by small autonomous teams (Schwaber & Sutherland, 2011). It is hypothesized that Scrum can be implemented in a way that supports and potentially improves Development Team members’ self-control. High self-control yields positive effects in countless life domains (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). One correlative study with 23 Development Teams and a total of 171 team members from an international software company investigated relevant conditions of Scrum to support and improve the self-control of Development Team members. Findings indicate a potential self-control improvement by the creation of a moderate concrete plan, the Sprint Backlog, at the beginning of a development cycle (Sprint), and performing an active team internal progress monitoring during the Sprint in short daily meetings (Daily Scrum Meetings). Planning and monitoring correlated simultaneously with high trait self-control and with low state self-control, indicating a possible self- control improvement through Scrum. Frequent team internal discussions targeting process improvements in Sprint Retrospective Meetings were related to high state self-control. In addition to correlations found with team members’ self-control, high team performance correlated with finishing committed Sprint Backlog Items by the end of the Sprints and reviewing these in the Sprint Review Meetings. Development Team members’ good health and low stress correlated with high team members’ self- control. High team autonomy was an essential requirement of the potential self-control improvement process. Moreover, high team autonomy correlated positively with high team performance and low experienced stress of Development Team members. Adding to these results, one laboratory experiment found indications that Sprint Backlog Item specificity may affect self-control during the processing of that item, suggesting a preference for moderate as opposed to low or highly specific Sprint Backlog Items. A second laboratory experiment failed to reproduce and extend this finding, probably because of the plan specificity operationalization. Overall, theoretical considerations and empirical indications are presented that Scrum could be implemented in a way that supports and potentially improves Development Team members’ self-control and health, reduces Development Team members’ experienced stress, and improves performance of the Development Team.

Providing high-quality service to all users is a difficult and inefficient strategy for e-commerce providers, especially when Web servers experience overload conditions that cause increased response time and request rejections, leading to user frustration and reduced revenue. In an e-commerce system, customer Web sessions have differing values for service providers. These tend to: give preference to customer Web sessions that are likely to bring more profit by providing better service quality. This paper proposes a reinforcement-learning based adaptive e-commerce system model that adapts the service quality level for different Web sessions within the customer’s navigation in order to maximize total profit. The e-commerce system is considered as an electronic supply chain which includes a network of basic e- providers used to supply e-commerce services for end customers. The learner agent noted as e-commerce supply chain manager (ECSCM) agent allocates a service quality level to the customer’s request based on his/her navigation pattern in the e-commerce Website and selects an optimized combination of service providers to respond to the customer’s request. To evaluate the proposed model, a multi agent framework composed of three agent types, the ECSCM agent, customer agent (buyer/browser) and service provider agent, is employed. Experimental results show that the proposed model improves total profits through cost reduction and revenue enhancement simultaneously and encourages customers to purchase from the Website through service quality adaptation.

This study aims to determine the effect of service quality on patient satisfaction at the Salomekko Health Center, Bone Regency. This study uses a quantitative approach. The subjects of this study were patients who came for treatment at the Salomekko Health Center, Bone Regency, and a sample of 50 people was taken. The data collection method used a questionnaire. The data analysis technique used is Simple Linear Regression Analysis using statistical calculations through the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) application. The results showed that Service Quality (X) had a positive and significant effect on Patient Satisfaction (Y), as seen from the results of t count&gt; t table ((2.332.&gt;1.676) and a significant value = 0.24 &lt;0.05. This finding indicates that improving service quality at Salomekko Health Center is directly correlated with increasing patient satisfaction. The implications of this study emphasize the importance of continuous efforts in improving service quality in primary health facilities such as puskesmas. Improvements in aspects such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and physical evidence of service can significantly contribute to increased patient satisfaction. In addition, the results of this study can serve as a reference for the management of Puskesmas Salomekko and other health agencies in designing strategies to improve service quality that are more effective and oriented to patient needs.

The convergence of Business Process Automation (BPA) and DevOps represents a transformative shift in enterprise operations, aiming to bridge the gap between process efficiency and continuous software delivery. This systematic literature review investigates the role of BPA-DevOps integration in enhancing agile technical support systems, operational agility, and organizational scalability. Employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, a total of 147 peer-reviewed scholarly articles published between 2014 and 2024 were meticulously selected from six prominent academic databases. The selected studies span a range of domains, including IT services, SaaS, healthcare, finance, and public sector applications, offering a comprehensive cross-sectoral perspective. The review identifies that the synergistic adoption of BPA and DevOps contributes to streamlined deployment pipelines, automated incident resolution, enhanced customer support responsiveness, and measurable performance improvements such as reduced change failure rates and faster lead times. Notably, mature automation environments were found to yield greater consistency, resilience, and scalability across organizational functions. However, the review also surfaces critical research gaps—particularly the lack of unified implementation frameworks, inconsistent performance measurement indicators, limited empirical assessments of long-term automation impacts, and insufficient evaluation of ethical and socio-cultural considerations. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the pivotal role of organizational culture, leadership engagement, role redefinition, and continuous skills development in ensuring successful BPA-DevOps adoption. Through thematic synthesis, the review advances the academic discourse by integrating technical, operational, and managerial dimensions, while also advocating for future research that prioritizes inclusivity, longitudinal evaluation, and domain-specific adaptability. The insights generated from this review serve as a foundational reference for both scholars and practitioners seeking to design, implement, and assess sustainable, scalable, and value-aligned automation strategies within DevOps ecosystems.