Re engineering software development process for eBusiness application development

![CDATA[We now need to develop a new class of software applications; eApplications, to support business processes for eBusiness organisations. The attempts to develop these applications using traditional software development methodologies have met with limited success. In order to better understand the requirements for these applications we studied how a business can transform into an eBusinesses. We call this process eTransformation. Our focus was on Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). We discovered that this is an iterative process that can take several years. Based on our studies we also developed an eTransformation Roadmap and an eTransformation methodology to support the eTransformation of SMEs. We also realised that the eApplications need to evolve with time as part of this iterative process. As these applications evolve with time, traditional software development approaches that require the system to be fully specified as the first step of the development process are not suitable for the development of eApplications. We looked at various software development methodologies and adopted the concept that software is a medium to capture knowledge rather than a product. This led us to change our thinking from looking at methodologies to develop eApplications to developing a framework within which eApplications can evolve. We developed a Component Based E-Application Deployment Shell (CBEADS) as our framework. CBEADS has the ability to create new functions within its own framework so that it can evolve. These functions can be grouped together to form eApplications. We have deployed CBEADS into several organisations and we are receiving very positive feedback.]]