Configuring design centers, assembly lines and job shops of a global delivery network into “on demand” factories

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a data bus coupled to the processor;
• a memory coupled to the data bus;
• and
• a tangible computer-usable medium on which is stored computer program code, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for utilizing design centers, assembly lines and job shops in a global delivery network across multiple software factories by performing the steps of:
• launching a project, wherein the project comprises designing and delivering a software deliverable utilizing work packets, wherein the work packets are self-contained work units that are assembled within a software factory, wherein each work packet constitutes a contractual agreement that governs a relationship among a design center, a software factory governance board, a software factory operations unit, and an assembly line and job shop in the software factory, wherein the design center breaks a software project into major functional areas, wherein the software factory governance board determines whether or not to allow the software factory to accept the software project, wherein the software factory operations unit dispatches the software project to the assembly line and job shop, wherein the assembly line and job shop receives and executes work packets that are specified by the design center to create the software deliverable, wherein said each work packet further comprises an exit criteria, and wherein the exit criteria is a checklist for returning said each work packet from the assembly line and job shop to the software factory operations unit and for returning the software deliverable from a customer to the software factory;
• identifying pre-qualified factory organizational units in the global delivery network by establishing a competence of a design center, an assembly line and a job shop within the global delivery network, wherein the assembly line and job shop are composed of one or more software engineers, and wherein the competence of the software engineers is established according to the software engineers' experience/expertise with a particular type of work packet, customer, and software/hardware environment;
• checking for compatibility and performance characteristics of one or more of the pre-qualified factory organizational units to create and deliver the software deliverable to the customer;
• matching organizational unit capabilities of each design center, each assembly line and each job shop with customer requirements, wherein the customer requirements are pre-specified requirements established by the customer, and wherein the customer requirements describe capabilities and experience levels of each design center, each assembly line and each job shop, that are mandated by the customer;
• checking for availability and capacity of organizational units that meet the customer requirements;
• in response to requisite organizational units being unavailable in a first software factory, configuring and deploying a second software factory to create the software deliverable by sending appropriate notifications to individual organizational units in the second software factory, and enabling the individual organizational units in the second software factory with automated processes, an integrated tooling platform, and an information technology infrastructure needed to run such processes and tools in the global delivery network, wherein the IT infrastructure includes servers, storage, desktops, laptops, communication networks;
• and
• dynamically load balancing resources between multiple software factory organizational units by swapping resources between software factories of the global delivery network.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

• launching a project, wherein the project comprises designing and delivering a software deliverable utilizing work packets, wherein the work packets are self-contained work units that are assembled within a software factory, wherein each work packet constitutes a contractual agreement that governs a relationship among a design center, a software factory governance board, a software factory operations unit, and an assembly line and job shop in the software factory, wherein the design center breaks a software project into major functional areas, wherein the software factory governance board determines whether or not to allow the software factory to accept the software project, wherein the software factory operations unit dispatches the software project to the assembly line and job shop, wherein the assembly line and job shop receives and executes work packets that are specified by the design center to create the software deliverable, wherein said each work packet further comprises an exit criteria, and wherein the exit criteria is a checklist for returning said each work packet from the assembly line and job shop to the software factory operations unit and for returning the software deliverable from a customer to the software factory;
• identifying pre-qualified factory organizational units in a global delivery network by establishing a competence of a design center, an assembly line and a job shop within the global delivery network, wherein the assembly line and job shop are composed of one or more software engineers, wherein the competence of the software engineers is established according to the software engineers' experience/expertise with a particular type of work packet, customer, and software/hardware environment;
• checking for compatibility and performance characteristics of one or more of the pre-qualified factory organizational units to create and deliver a software deliverable to the customer;
• matching organizational unit capabilities of each design center, each assembly line and each job shop with customer requirements, wherein the customer requirements are pre-specified requirements established by the customer, and wherein the customer requirements describe capabilities and experience levels of each design center, each assembly line and each job shop, that are mandated by the customer;
• checking for availability and capacity of organizational units that meet the customer requirements;
• in response to requisite organizational units being unavailable in a first software factory, configuring and deploying a second software factory to create the software deliverable by sending appropriate notifications to individual organizational units in the second software factory, and enabling the individual organizational units in the second software factory with automated processes, an integrated tooling platform, and an information technology infrastructure needed to run such processes and tools in the global delivery network, wherein the IT infrastructure includes servers, storage, desktops, laptops, communication networks;
• and
• dynamically load balancing resources between multiple software factory organizational units by swapping resources between software factories of the global delivery network.