Abstract
M.Tech. (Operations Management)
The cost of poor software quality can have a devastating effect on Information Technology (IT) companies. The price of poor software can be very high, leading to loss of revenue, bad company reputation and in a worst case scenario to loss of business and a lawsuit. For example, the South African (ZA) Department of Labour (DoL) has terminated Siemens Information Systems and Services (SISS) public private partnership (PPP) contract worth R1.7 billion. This happened after it alleged that SISS failed to deliver the IT projects it was meant to have delivered in 10 years.
It was alleged that some of the projects that were delivered were not of the right quality and had created bad relations between the two entities. The aftermath of the allegations lead to SISS having bad publicity from both the South African government and the local press. SISS eventually loss the business from the DoL and sold its South African division to EOH which took over the contract from Siemens South Africa.
The South African IT industry has been of the fastest growing industries in the last two decades. However, within the IT industry, the one IT area that did not get enough growth in terms of skills and training from South African tertiary institutions is software testing. It is one of the fastest growing fields in IT and, surprisingly, South African tertiary institutions do not offer diplomas or degrees on it in their curricula to date.
This research investigates the need or appetite by South African IT industry and IT students for tertiary institutions to introduce a formal qualification curriculum in the software testing field. The research focuses on the benefits and economic impact of tertiary institution by introducing the software testing curriculum. The researcher has performed surveys to IT students at South...