Open Source Software: Management - Report Example

? Open Source Software: Management Report The study will try to highlight various features of open source software. Comparative benefit analysis of open source technology will be part an important part of the study. Australian Government is trying to implement Open Source Software technology in educational department and this study will try to create a market report about OSS to help the government to understand critical success factor of the technology. Secondary research based on books, online journals, industry report and descriptive statistics report is used to prepare this report. The report primarily took help from academic resources like books and peer review journals to analyze critical success factor for OSS. Main finding of the report can be described in the manner, 1- low ownership cost of OSS, 2- integration of OSS into Change Management, 3- competitive advantage of OSS over proprietary software. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 Open Source Software 5 2.0 Government Agency and Open Source Software 7 2.1 China 8 2.2 Germany 8 2.3 Austria 8 2.4 United Kingdom 9 2.5 South Korea 9 2.6 USA 9 3.1 Technical Aspects 10 3.2 Universal Acceptance 11 3.3 Vendor Lock in 12 3.4 Source Code 12 3.5 Open Source Licenses 12 4.0 Implementation of Open Source Software 13 14 5.0 Evidence Based Practice 14 6.0 Financial and Strategic Benefit 15 7.0 SWOT Analysis for OSS 17 7.1 Strength 17 7.2 Weakness 18 7.3 Opportunity 18 7.4 Threat 18 8.0 Change Management 19 9.0 Conclusion 19 1.0 Open Source Software Organizations require manipulating various resources (financial power, human resource capital, technological aspects) in order to sustain in the hypercompetitive market. No organization has unlimited resources and for this reason they need to use it carefully to survive in the market competition. Business management is a broad term used by management researchers to define various elements of business operation. Not only has private sector given importance on business managing but also other types of organizations (NGOs, public sectors) give importance on the subject. Business management is important counterbalance any types of organizational disruptions or inconveniences. Organizational sustainability depends on efficiency of management team. The organization is not a mere set of employees or top management. Organizational sustainability depends on synchronization between top level management, middle level management and lower level management. Business Process Management has emerged as latest trend in recent years. Business Process Management emphasizes on using the organizational resources to create business excellence and gain gung ho edge over other competitors. Reducing cost of the business operation is one of the major aspects of Business Process Management. The process plays cordial role on designing a scalable, robust and flexible information system for the organization. Utilizing financial resources in a cost effective manner decides the centrality of application process for information system. Top level management of the company uses integrated model of Business Process Management and information system to create a sustainable strategy to increase efficacy of business operation (Daniel, Barkaoui and Dustdar, 2011, p. 26). Many research scholars have suggested various management theories about resource management and companies use them as guideline to create sustainable business process framework. Financial resource management is one of the most important aspects in order to analyze feasibility of any business process. Top management of the company requires understanding the importance of investment planning on state of art technology to create competitive edge over competitors. Companies have a common belief that implementing information technology can decrease operational cost but in many of the cases implementation process fails. Reasons for failure can be summarized in the following manner. Organizations do not understand the importance of the problem regarding business process and implement wrong software solution to eradicate the problem. Organizations do not allocate sufficient financial resources for software implementation. Organizations do not have the technical knowledge to implement customized information technology solution. Many organizations prefer to use customized software solution for specific solution like Wall mart uses RFID technology for retail management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is used by many companies to maintain transactional data, large organization uses Business Intelligence (BI) for managing operational activity, VoIP technology is used by vendors for supply chain management and many of the time above mentioned software solution is provided by external vendors. In many cases, organization uses customized software solution created by their own technical experts. In both cases, companies need to invest huge amount of money for implementing information technology to eradicate internal or external problems. This is the business scenario for large companies but many research scholars believe organization can use Open Source Software to counterbalance the negative impact of huge investment for purchasing customized software solution. Paraphernalia of open source software is available in the internet and companies can use them as technical tools for solving specific business problem. Importance of open source software has increased in recent years with respect to freeware, vendor management software and shareware due to its multifaceted functionality, degree of automation, customization and cost benefit offered by the solution. Open source software can be categorized into two parts. 1- Free/ Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) - customers can access it freely without paying any additional charges and 2- open source software- customers access it after paying the subscription fee. Sometimes proprietary software (Linux) can be classified as open source in terms of usage pattern, license renewal scheme and intention of the vendor. Many people believe free software and open source software is the same thing due to their similarities in terms of application and definition. In real practice they are different from the view point of objectivity rather than subjectivity. Free software emphasizes on giving the freedom to the user to access it while customers can view source codes for open source software (Lindberg, 2008, p. 172-180). 2.0 Government Agency and Open Source Software Not only private players are cherishing about cost benefit and other functional benefits of open source software but various government agencies also showing interest on the subject. Centrality of government function deals with various issues like maintaining transparent information system, establishing coordination between various departments and setting privacy policy for various business transactions. Government needs to invest huge amount money on license renewal of proprietary software. License renewal is essential for them to keep on track with ever changing information system requirement and also the funding cycle created by government might be out of period with software requirement. The situation demands for a cost effective solution that eradicate license renewal cost of government. Government agencies can resolve the problem get motivated to use open source software in order to cut down cost on license renewal and deliver counterpunch to the silhouette of the problem. Certain government functions like allowing everyone to access files, activities for public welfare and activities for children with low requirement for technological barrier can be synchronized with application of open source software. Following text will describe how government of various countries has adopted open source software in contrast to proprietary software. 2.1 China Government of China has employed Sun Microsystems’s Java Desktop application complemented by open office, Linux technology and Gnome for millions of people in the country. The country is already using system enabled with Linux technology and they have a national plan to expand the network of open source technology within next few years. 2.2 Germany The government of the country uses open source technology to publish migration standard for common people. Migration standard for Munich city can be openly accessed by common people of the country. 2.3 Austria Government of the country uses open source software solution for ministry of finance, communication board and census board to increase efficiency of various operational actions. 2.4 United Kingdom Government of UK has planned to use open source technology for water industry and pension department to save cost of license renewal and maintenance charge for proprietary software. 2.5 South Korea The country has replaced windows operating system with open source technology to save $300 million operational cost. 2.6 USA Government agencies like NSA has already implemented open source technology like Linux Kernel to save cost of license renewal while census bureau of the country developed a new system harnessed by Apache, Perl and MySQL. Above mentioned examples can be used to understand importance of open source software technology for government agencies (Kavanagh, 2004, p. 86-88). 3.0 Benefits of Open Source Software (OSS) 3.1 Technical Aspects In 2002, Grotenfelt has described the following technical aspects of Open Source Software. 1- Anyone one can redistribute the service the person can take maintenance service by paying minimum charges, 2- source code of the program is available to users, 3- license of the software can be derived and modified without paying additional charges, 4- license of the software do not discriminate against specific groups or individuals, 5- license of the software should not restrict to access the program, 6- license of the software should not be program specific and users have the permission to access program code. Open source software is flexible in terms of changing source code or software maintenance. In most of the cases reliability of the system is superior in contrast to efficiency. Efficiency of the software solution depends on performance of supporting program. User can access the program in any type of environment while proprietary software can be used in particular system environment. For example, customer can view text written in MS office in open office application. OSS helps the user to share open source software solution in any computer after loading the program in personal computer. Open source software like Linux can be used in older computer system while many of the upgraded versions of proprietary software do not run in older computer system and this is the reason why developing nations like India and China prefer to use open source software system. OSS not only decreases the ownership cost but creates an amicable environment for users to access the system. Easy handling feature of the software creates the competitive edge over proprietary software (Remenyi, 2005, p. 350- 360). 3.2 Universal Acceptance For last twenty five years OSS has been used to build technical mores of internet. Government agencies are trying to create a standardized rule for using OSS. Technical giants like IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and SAP has shifted their focus on open source software. Industry analysts of International Data Corporation (IDC) have forecasted more than fifty percent growth rate for open source technology in next five years. Impact of OSS can be understood in terms of three aspects like increasing the bottom line for companies, escalating customization level in the government process and accelerating real time customer support for government agencies. Chief Technical Officer of InfoWorld magazine has pointed out that only twenty eight percent of government agencies do not use open source technology in USA while rest of the agencies take help open source technology or free software technology to perform operational activity. Survey conducted by the magazine shows more than eighty percent of CTO’s of government agencies believes open source technology provides cost benefit and helps to take strategic decisions. Governments use both commercial off the shelf (COTS) or proprietary software and open source technology for e-governance. Local peer to peer open source communities help government to communicate their vision and action statement to the people of the country. Long term outlay associated with OSS in terms of maintenance and support is negligible with respect to commercial off the shelf (COTS) or proprietary software. According to International Education Departments, support cost is 20% higher for maintaining COTS with respect to OSS. In 2004, survey conducted by Centre for Strategic and International studies showed more than twenty countries in the world prefer using OSS in the education sector (Hanna, 2010, p. 180-184). 3.3 Vendor Lock in Proprietary software restricts the independence of users to select vendors according to their wish. Users need to pay certain price for switching vendors but OSS gives the independence to select vendors according to their choice. Users become more independent to chose the right vendor from different alternatives without paying switching cost associated with commercial off the shelf (COTS) or proprietary software (Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, 2010). 3.4 Source Code Availability of source code for open source software increased the potentiality of the application in terms of increasing confidence among users, easy to spot bug in the software, easy to inspect performance of the software. In 2000, Raymond pointed out that Linus’s Law can be used to understand benefits of availability of source code. According to Linus’s Law, source code availability helps the user to monitor and fix system failure of open source software. 3.5 Open Source Licenses In 2004, Laurent pointed out developer of open source software has the independence to choose license according to their needs. Developers can use General Public License develop the program in a cost effective manner. Following table will show various software licenses can be used by open source software developer. Open source licensing is the key reason behind low cost of ownership for open source software (Source: Sonnenburg, Braun and Ong, 2007). (Source: Sonnenburg, Braun and Ong, 2007) 4.0 Implementation of Open Source Software Implementation of the software can be done by using space syntax technology. For example, government can use the technology to design special configuration. Government has the opportunity to use open source technology to design road maps for public. In space configuration complex architectural items like buildings, retail outlet is treated as convex elements of the design and points are treated as occupied space. The whole design can be described in the following manner. (Source: Wang and Liao, 2007) Educational department of the government can use the space technology to increase inter connectivity of various technology. OSS will help them to identify void spaces in terms position in departments, schools and colleges, absence of teachers in classes and then design an integrated connectivity model to eradicate the problem. Government has the obligation to use public license for the open source software and in this way they can renew license annually by paying minimum price to the vendor. The connectivity model is given below (Wang, and Liao, 2007). (Source: Wang and Liao, 2007) 5.0 Evidence Based Practice In Belgium, ministry of education department and Flemish community has promoted OSS as an alternate solution school based education system. They created a didactic sheet for open content software and used it for primary education. The process increased the reach of Flemish community to students of the country. In Netherland, educational department of government implemented OSS technology to integrate all stakeholders like publishers, schools, universities of Dutch education field. They have implemented OSS platform called SIIEE (service intranet internet in educational establishment and schools) complemented with 15,000 Linux based server across the country. In Finland, National Education Board uses OSS to design educational content for students. Country’s Centre of Open Source Software (COSS) uses the technology to promote e-learning among students and students can access books without paying any additional charges. They also deployed LinEx educational software for giving training to lecturers and teachers. In Ireland, NCTE (National Centre for Technology in Education) did an agreement with Sun Microsystems to provide STAR Office (based on openoffice.org) to all schools of the country. The agreement saves huge amount of money for the government in terms of implementing and using costly Microsoft office system. The government has conducted market research about the relevance of STAR Office in schools and the outcome of the survey is that more than 90% of them consider the process is very useful. In 2005, British Educational Communication and Technology Agency (BECTA) have conducted a study to measure impact of OSS in education. More than 80% of respondents believe OSS helps them to understand various concepts like chemical formulas, Feynman diagram, chart, numerical formulae and theories in a better manner and with the help of OSS they can access study material to prepare for important examinations (Lytras, and Naeve, 2007, p. 247-255). 6.0 Financial and Strategic Benefit OSS has strategic benefits like low cost of ownership, low renewal cost over proprietary software but still many users believe reliability of the software is greater than OSS. Strategic benefits like online community formation, high degree of customization, sustainable diversification have created competitive edge for OSS. Descriptive statistics can be used to calculate the market value of OSS. Tobin’s Q of market capitalization can be calculated by using the following formula. Approximate q = (MVE +PS + DEBT) / TA MVE= Month end price, PS= Liquidating value of stock, DEBT= Sum of long term liabilities and current liabilities, TA=Book value of total asset of the firm. Descriptive variables can be explained in the following manner. (Source: Aksoy, Fosfuri and Giarratana, 2011) Government can calculate market value of OSS by using the above mentioned formulae. Many of Governments use both OSS and proprietary software for operational purpose. Distribution for both the technology in various industries can be described in the following manner (Aksoy, Fosfuri and Giarratana, 2011). (Source: Aksoy, Fosfuri and Giarratana, 2011) 7.0 SWOT Analysis for OSS 7.1 Strength OSS reduces cost of ownership by using free licensing and other related facilities. The process can be used to share information among peer group or by creating online community. Implementing OSS decreases vendor dependency of the user and user can use the system without purchasing the software service from external vendor. Business management helps to integrate functions of each department to increase the efficiency of service delivery and OSS can be used to integrate various departments to achieve organizational objective. Business management plays a cordial role to solve critical organizational issues (labor related problem, irregular trade practices, and employee disruption, maintain transparency between each department’s works, designing vision and mission statement and maintain a stable organizational hierarchy) and many of them can be solved by implementing OSS. Many companies use Business Crisis Management (BCM) and Continuity Management (CM) to identify and solve business related problems. Few government organizations try to integrate OSS with BCM to create a sustainable development model. 7.2 Weakness Security and reliability of the data is major concern for OSS user. Although source code is available but many of the OSS lacks in authenticated data. Centrality of management functions revolves around few departments of the organizations. Various departments (like production, marketing, finance, operation) play pivotal role to decide the dynamics of business management. Security and reliability issues can decrease the acceptance of OSS to various departments. 7.3 Opportunity Government agencies have the opportunity to use open source technology in educational sector and other public relation departments increase the acceptance of the technology. Governments in the developing countries like India, Brazil can use the technology in old computers and due to high degree of customization offered by open source technology they do not need to use high priced upgraded version of Microsoft software. 7.4 Threat Major threat for OSS developers arises from counterfeiters and government needs to identify counterfeiters offering fake software and hacking important government data. SWOT analysis will help the government to design a stable e-business model complemented by open source technology (Ferrell, and Hartline, 2010, p. 122). 8.0 Change Management Implementing OSS in the organizational change management can be done by using ADKAR model (Hiatt, 2006, p. 43-60). A- Educational department of Australian government generates awareness about benefits of OSS among stakeholders (schools, teachers, internal departments) of educational society. D- Change agents will express their desires to participate in the change process. K- Knowledge in terms of application of OSS, source code information and protocols regarding the application pattern will be given to stakeholders. A- This is the application part and education departments will run the program in pilot phase for sixth months. R- After six months government will reinforce OSS technology if pilot phase implementation becomes successful. 9.0 Conclusion The study shows that implementing OSS will help government to save cost but they can also increase penetration level of operational activity. Educational department of government can use OSS technology to create a common platform for all the stakeholders and most importantly they can use open source technology to communicate the vision statement to various stakeholders of educational department. References Aksoy, D., Fosfuri, A., and Giarratana, M., 2011. Open Source Software vs. Proprietary Software: A Strategy of Complementary. [pdf] Available at: < http://www2.druid.dk/conferences/viewpaper.php?id=502415&cf=47> [Accessed 19 September 2012]. Daniel, F., Barkaoui, K and Dustdar, S., 2011. Business Process Management Workshops. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Ferrell, O. C., and Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing Strategy. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Hanna, N. K., 2010. Transforming Government and Building the Information Society: Challenges and Opportunities for the Developing World. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Hiatt, J., 2006. ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community. Loveland: Prosci. Kavanagh, P., 2004. Open Source Software: Implementation and Management. University of California: Digital Press. Lindberg, V., 2008. Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media. Lytras, M. D., and Naeve, A., 2007. Open Source for Knowledge and Learning Management: Strategies Beyond Tools. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea Group Inc. Ministry of Economic Development and Trade., 2010. Open Source Software. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.ontariocanada.com/ontcan//1medt/smallbiz/sb_downloads/ebiz_open-source_software_en.pdf > [Accessed 19 September 2012]. Remenyi, D., 2005. Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on IT Evaluation (ECITE 2005). London: Academic Conferences Limited. Sonnenburg, S., Braun, M. L., and Ong, C. S., 2007. The Need for Open Source Software in Machine Learning. . [pdf] Available at: < http://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/papers/volume8/sonnenburg07a/sonnenburg07a.pdf > [Accessed 19 September 2012]. Wang, W. C., and Liao, H. J., 2007. Implementing Space Syntax in an Open Source GIS: Grass GIS Approach. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.spacesyntaxistanbul.itu.edu.tr/papers%5Clongpapers%5C100%20-%20Wang%20Liao.pdf> [Accessed 19 September 2012]. Read More