Software Improvement Group (SIG), the independent global authority on software assurance, and digital service provider Macaw have jointly developed KPIs for what quality apps built with the Microsoft Power Platform should look like. They are doing this to provide a standard and governance structure to ensure software quality and security as citizen development has become very popular. With this, companies can increase their development capacity to meet the growing demand for developers.
Reliant on software and developers
Pien Oosterman, CEO of SIG: ‘Companies struggle with understanding the quality of the software they rely on and whether or not the software is future-fit. They need fact based and independent insights about the risks and costs involved in building healthy software applications. We recommend to measures the quality and security of the entire landscape continuously by an independent authority and to set company goals for software quality and security levels that need to be met before production.
Quality assurance KPIs for Microsoft Power Platform apps
As there is a lack of measuring software code quality and security of Microsoft Power Apps, SIG and Macaw have joined forces. Together they have developed software quality KPIs for Microsoft Power Platform apps that can be measured in the code itself including an early detection of antipatterns.
Popularity outpaces development
Companies are choosing Microsoft Power Platform to streamline business projects, improve efficiency and reduce costs. As well as to bridge the developer gap, as high demand for enterprise applications outpaces development, and to give employees more autonomy. The Microsoft Power Platform allows business users to create business applications outside the IT department using development tools and IT-approved development and runtime environments. The amount of so-called citizen developers is on the rise, and Gartner stated that ‘By 2023, the number of active citizen developers at large enterprises will be at least four times the number of professional developers’.[1]
Set the bar
‘This shift requires companies to be accountable. They must roll out Power Platform in a controlled way, set the bar as a company and have their governance in place to ensure quality and security’, said Jack Klaassen, Director of Innovation and Technology at Macaw. He continued: ‘We help companies not only build functionalities, but to do it in the right way. You want to avoid an environment that’s cumbersome to maintain, delivers no value and looks more like a plate of spaghetti. Together with SIG, we look for risks and opportunities in companies’ Power apps, accelerating them toward legacy modernization and digital transformation.’
Oosterman adds: ‘Using our guiding Software Assurance Platform, Sigrid, both citizen developers and regular system developers can easily check the health of their Power apps on a continuous basis. Sigrid will show the quality and risks and gives prioritized recommendations on where to improve. This helps developers to learn fast and to apply their new knowledge in next iterations. Sigrid allows to support peer to peer reviews and coaching citizen developers as well as setting companywide goals for security and quality standards. This has proven to be a best practice allowing to balance team autonomy and business control.’
About Macaw
The digital service provider Macaw helps major companies with solutions and services in the field of digital marketing (including social media, influencer, and content marketing), e-commerce, data, and AI, working in the cloud and integrated business applications. By combining creativity, data, and technology, Macaw helps companies to accelerate their digital transformation. And thanks to Macaw’s specialization in Microsoft and Sitecore software solutions, they can take advantage of the first-class technology and broad knowledge and experience of over 500 employees working from the head office in the Netherlands, but also from offices in Germany and Lithuania, who help clients like Heineken, Deutsche Telekom, Eneco, Henkel, L’Oréal to be successful. Macaw’s taste for challenges ensures a unique company culture and valuable partnerships. The company has been high up in the Great Place to Work ranking for many years. For more information visit: www.macaw.net.
About Software Improvement Group
Software Improvement Group (SIG) helps organizations trust the technology they depend on. We’ve made it our mission to get software right for a healthier digital world by combining our intelligent technology with our human expertise to dig deep into the build quality of enterprise software and architecture – measuring, monitoring, and benchmarking it against the world’s largest software analysis database. With SIG software assurance, organizations can surface the factors driving software total cost of ownership and make fact-based decisions to cut costs, reduce risk, speed time to market, and accelerate digital transformation. Software Improvement Group is the first fully certified laboratory in the world to measure against the ISO 25010 standard. We make this lab accessible to our clients through our SaaS software assurance platform – Sigrid – which enables them to take a risk-based approach to improving the health of their IT landscapes. We serve clients spanning the globe in every industry, including DHL, Philips, ING, KLM, BTPN, Weltbild, KPN, as well as leading European governmental organizations. SIG was founded in 2000 as an independent technology company with embedded consulting services. SIG is headquartered in Amsterdam, with offices in New York, Copenhagen, Brussels, Malmö and Frankfurt.
Learn more at www.softwareimprovementgroup.com.
1] Gartner, Future of Applications: Delivering the Composable Enterprise
