Master of Business Administration in Information Technology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/49

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item: Thesis-Abstract
Factors influencing freelance intention of Sri Lankan IT employees
(2023) Rupasinghe, KHS; Rathnayake, RMS
With the COVID-19 pandemic, freelancing has become more popular in many sectors around the world due to unemployment, lack of job security, the flexibility of remote working, and increased demand from employers. The purpose of the study is to determine the drivers of the freelance intention of Sri Lankan IT employees. Convenience sampling was adopted as the sampling technique, and data was gathered from 384 IT employees engaged in freelancing via an online survey. SPSS Statistics 20 and Microsoft Power BI were used to interpret collected data, and correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed to test hypotheses. According to the results of hypothesis testing, Financial Motivation, Opportunity, and Primary Job-related Motivation have a positive and significant impact on the Freelance Intention of IT employees. These findings suggest that IT companies should focus on these factors when managing human resources. The originality of the study is the examination of the freelancing intention of Sri Lankan IT employees with the emergence of COVID-19. To create harmony between employer and employees, the author recommends prior recognition of drivers and form strategies accordingly and identify challenges in advance and mitigate potential performance issues for a win-win situation.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Information technology and E-accounting usage : determinants among S.M.Es in Sri Lanka
(2023) Weerawickrama, VL; Ambegoda, T
This research study aims to examine the factors affecting e-accounting practices in Sri Lankan small and medium-sized enterprises (S.M.Es). The rapid advancement of information technology has brought about significant changes in accounting practices, with e-accounting emerging as a viable solution for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in financial management. However, there is limited empirical research focusing specifically on the implementation and utilization of systems in e-accounting among Sri Lankan SMEs. To address this research gap, a quantitative research approach was adopted. Data was collected from a sample of SMEs in Sri Lanka through structured questionnaires, and statistical analysis such as descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and analysis of regression were employed to identify the relationships between various factors and e-accounting practices. The findings of this research provide valuable inputs into the factors affecting E-accounting practices in Sri Lankan SMEs. The results reveal that information technology cost, risk of information technology, and employees’ information technology skills significantly influence the adoption and utilization of e-accounting systems where employee theoretical knowledge was not significantly contributed. And also study has investigated that organizational supportiveness has a moderating effect on E-accounting practices. The theoretical implications of this research highlight the importance of considering both technological and human factors in understanding the adoption and usage of systems in E-accounting. Practically, the findings highlight the need for SMEs in Sri Lanka to invest in developing their employees' IT skills and information technology to facilitate the successful implementation of E-accounting practices. In conclusion, this research provides valuable insights into the factors influencing E-accounting practices among Sri Lankan SMEs. The outcomes contribute to both academic understanding and practical implications for SMEs aiming to enhance their financial management practices. Further research is recommended to address the limitations and expand the scope of this study, ultimately supporting the advancement of E-accounting practices among SMEs in Sri Lanka and beyond.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Perceived employment - related health risks for mid-career employees in Sri Lankan IT- operation sector
(2022) Samaranayaka HM; Perera I
There are currently over 10,000 middle-aged IT workers in Sri Lanka, many of whom face increasing health problems as the country's IT sector grows rapidly since the 1990s’. This profession necessitates a lot of effort and stress on both a mental and physical level. They now require a better working environment in order to continue their operations, and research is being carried out to find them one. This is because the workplace serves as a person's second home. This research study focuses to determine the factors that influence employment-related health risk for mid-career employees in the Sri Lankan IT operation sector. The primary research goals were obtained by conducting a comprehensive review of the literature and interviews with top-level IT operation professionals in Sri Lanka. As a result of that, research could identify five main factors namely career model, Work life balance, occupational environment, work stress and working hours. Five hypotheses were derived from the conceptual model, each based on a different variable identified in the study. An online survey was sent to professionals in the mid-career IT operation sector in order to collect data for testing hypotheses developed to prove if there are associations between the identified variables and work-related health risks. Research evaluation was done using statistical analysis. Research findings reveal that all the factors have positive relationship with employment-related health- risk, such that work stress, career model and occupational environment have comparatively higher influence, whereas working hours and work life balance have the lower influence.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Computer crime investigation process in Sri Lanka : comparative analysis with UK and EU laws
(2022) Dayananda DSS; Abeysekara TB
The rapid advancements in the field of Information Technology have rendered several positive impacts for carrying out normal daily tasks easily and successfully. As a result of that, the usage of computer related systems have grown fast by attracting more people. Despite all the advantages that can be gained through such computer systems, negative impacts have also started to emerge in the form of “Computer Crimes”. Since these crimes are making challenges in various ways it is utmost important to prevent and control them. The Computer Crime Investigation is the procedural and systematic way that is used to conduct legal investigations on computer crimes in preventing and controlling such crimes through revealing the real criminals behind any offence. Thus it is crucial of having a strong legal framework that consists of validated laws which render a proper investigation process for any computer related crime. This study focused on addressing the sufficiency level of existing laws related to Computer Crime Investigation in Sri Lanka in combatting the computer related crimes through strengthening out the process of computer forensic which used to present legally admissible evidence to the court. For identifying any loophole the research was conducted as a comparative analysis with UK and EU laws in the same context. The qualitative research approach has been adopted as a combination of interviews and library based research to gather data. Key findings were extracted based on the analysis. Thus, the research reached out to the implication that the existing laws in Computer Crime Act are not sufficient to conduct proper investigations. According to the data gathered via interviews and library research, this study has provided recommendations to strengthen the current legal framework. Meanwhile the research pointed out EU and UK law areas which have the possibility of adopting into existing Sri Lankan laws.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Recommendations to implement software metric programs in agile scrum environment
(2022) Gnanaratne I R N P; Perera I
Agile Scrum is a widely used framework that helps to control complex and chaotic scenarios within the IT industry. Scrum helps to address changing requirements and deliver a shippable product increment in a short period. Moreover, Agile Scrum is based on a set of norms and best practices that revolves around the people factor. To improve the process, certain attributes of the process should be measured and based on the measurement data, need to evolve the process. Process improvement depends on the success of the ingested measurement program and how sustainable the program is. This research intends to provide recommendations to implement software metric programs in Agile Scrum environment. The objectives associated with this research are to identify the existence of software metric programs in the Sri Lankan IT industry and find factors that influence the successful implementation of Scrum metrics. The quantitative approach has been used when conducting the research and used an online survey form to collect data required for the analysis. Software professionals within the Sri Lankan IT industry have been considered as the population. The collected data has been cleaned and fed into the IBM SPSS tool for analysis. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics have been performed upon the data set and conclusions derived for the sample and the population accordingly. Descriptive analysis for demographic data revealed that most of the sample respondents follow Agile Scrum and the majority have awareness about software metrics. ‘Process adherence’, ‘effective utilization of metric information’, ‘presence of professional bodies within the organization’ and ‘goal alignment’ have a positive moderate correlation with the ‘successful implementation of scrum metrics’, but ‘infrastructure & tools’ has a positive weak correlation with the ‘successful implementation of scrum metrics’. After the analysis, the researcher identified that, ‘process adherence’, ‘effective utilization of metric information’, ‘presence of professional bodies within the organization’, ‘goal alignment’ and ‘infrastructure & tools’ have an impact on the successful implementation of scrum metrics. To achieve the successful implementation of scrum metrics, an organization should consider about above factors so it would help to establish a sustainable metric program within the scrum environment.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Impact of Work - Life balance on Career Advancement of female software quality assurance engineers
(2021) Hewavitharana KIDM; Meedeniya D
Work-life balance has traditionally been defined solely in terms of work and family obligations. Besides those two perceptions, many factors are affecting work-life balance where a person places a different value on the different factors depending on the sector in which they work. Better work-life balance enables employees to succeed in their careers. The effect of work-life balance factors on the career advancement of female SQA employees in the Sri Lankan IT industry is investigated in this study. Factors affecting stability between work and life such as Organizational Support, Organizational Culture, and Career Aspiration, etc have been identified through the review of the literature. An online survey was conducted with 357 female SQA employees who work in the IT industry in Sri Lanka. The data set is analyzed following a quantitative approach. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that organizational support, work arrangements, career aspiration, and family support all have a significant impact on female SQA employees' career advancement. A series of recommendations have been introduced to strengthen the work-life balance of female SQA workers, thus advancing their careers. The results of this study can be used by both employers and workers to achieve those strategies that have the most persuasive positioning in the hopes of achieving work-life balance and career advancement for female SQA employees.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Critical success factors affecting build or buy decisions for in-house used embedded systems in Sri Lankan companies
(2021) Gunawardhana CL; Gunasekera K
BUILD or BUY embedded systems, which are used in-house/within the company; which is inherently better for the requirement? The decision between these two types gets a lot of effort and focus in many companies around the globe. While some companies fail to meet their minimum expectations due to their decisions, some succeed and some even go well beyond their expected level. This dilemma has been there since companies started using embedded system inside their companies. While many factors may need to be considered when making this decision, identifying the critical success factors for BUILD or BUY decisions on in-house used embedded systems is of vital importance with the heightened competitiveness in Sri Lankan embedded industry. Managers can align their goals and strategize to avail from these critical success factors to propel the company to success while avoiding potential pitfalls. Since many business owners are vague on the factors to favour when making such decisions, through this study the author identifies the critical success factors for BUILD or BUY decisions on in-house used embedded systems by interviewing Sri Lankan companies who made such build or buy decisions. When analysing the gathered data, Straussian Grounded Theory was used and a case-by-case account of each decision-making event is used to then identify: Decision Maker’s Experience, Strategic Relevance, Decision Making Process, Vendor Selection, IT Workforce, and Cost to be the 6 critical factors to consider for a successful decision. The author then constructed recommendations with the above findings.
item: Thesis-Abstract
The Motives for enterprise social network usage and its effect on employee job performance
(2021) Deyalage PA; Kulathunga D
Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) have brought revolutionary changes to business organizations as they offer enormous potential to enhance collaboration, interaction, innovation, and efficiency. However, despite of these benefits many organizations have failed to encourage its employees to actively engage with ESN, making their investment decisions questionable. Therefore, in order to drive employees to use ESN more, it is important to examine what motivate employees to use ESN. Prior literature indicated that the findings were not conclusive in relation to the gratifications/motivations driving the employees to use ESN at work and the effect of ESN use on employee job performance. Therefore, this study focused on examining the motivations to use ESN and the effect of ESN use on employee job performance in terms of both in-role and innovative job performance. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the gratifications motivating the employees to use ESN. Identification of gratifications for this study was primarily based on the Uses and Gratification theory. Accordingly, information sharing, self-documentation, information seeking, entertainment and social interaction were identified as the gratifications driving the employees to use ESN at work. Based on the literature review, a conceptual framework was developed depicting the relationships between gratifications, ESN use, and employee job performance. This framework led to the development of nine hypotheses. Data were collected from employees in the software industry who use ESN at work, through an online survey-based structured questionnaire. The unit of analysis of the study was individual respondents and data were collected from 146 respondents. The results revealed that amongst the five gratifications examined in this study, information sharing, self-documentation and social interaction have positive and significant effects on ESN use. It was also confirmed that ESN use has positive and significant effects on aggregate employee job performance as well as on both in-role and innovative job performance. The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical implications. Because the studies examining the gratifications driving ESN use are scarce, the present study helps to fill the existing knowledge gap in this context. This is especially important in the Sri Lankan context. Further, the study could reveal five gratifications which were cited most by the previous researchers. The finding that ESN use has a positive and significant effect on employee job performance is important from an organizational perspective since they can motivate the employees to use ESN more as it results in better performance of them. Further, the findings can be used by organizations to justify the investments they make on ESN as it translates into better employee job performance.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Identifying factors affecting job risk of specialized software developers in Sri Lanka
(2021) Gunawardana OWP; Perera I
A Specialized developer is defined as a person who use dialects which are not ordinarily utilized in the Sri Lanka. The other fact is that they work for an explicit structure where it's not utilized in somewhere else except if for the specific organization or association itself, which makes it extraordinary and unprecedented with different developers, this could be the specific organization inbuilt or it very well may be ERP framework which isn't usually utilized. In any case, workers have some job risk once they need to move out of their current positions. Now and again they can't get a new line of work identified with their experience which they acquired from the past organization. Accordingly, this exploration intends to find the elements affecting to developer’s job security when they work in such conditions. There are less studies made about this subject area at the present. In view of the writing of specialized developers and job security of the software professional, a portion of the components are recognized by the sources. The pilot review had been led to recognize the primary risk factors which could effect on the positions of Specialized Software developers in Sri Lanka. Income level, Availability of job opportunities, Labor market competition, extended learning, and job satisfaction are the variables researcher has been considered within this study. The quantitative investigation measure had been viewed as an investigation method within this research. Henceforward an online study review is passed among the 200 employees which randomly selected from the software development organizations in Sri Lanka. Before circulating, the researcher has done a dependability examination to research the quality and internal consistency of the requests. Descriptive analysis is utilized to portray the vital properties of data in the exploration study. And the Pearson correlation coefficient is used to test the speculation of the exploration. Additionally, to survey the impact of independent factors, the researcher has done the regression analysis. As an overview of the examination, it reflects the relationship between the independent and dependent factors. As indicated by the outcomes of the analysis, the lack of job security has most elevated positive critical relationship with availability of job opportunities, extended learning and job satisfaction. And further research could be carried out to do more research on the captioned area as it will be beneficial for the future of the specialized software developers all around the world.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Identifying the barriers of implementing an ERP system in construction companies in Sri Lanka
(2021) Perera MDNT; Perera AS
The construction companies in Sri Lanka invest millions of rupees for both local and international ERP systems. However, the return on investment of the ERP system is not at the expected level due to implementation barriers. As a result, those companies could not get the advantage of having an ERP system such as fast communication, transparency of project progress, and reducing corruption. Further, those companies having an ERP system could not even get the competitive advantage over other construction companies. Even though there are previous studies in other countries in a similar context, the findings of those studies may not be valid for the Sri Lankan context. There are ERP implementation barriers that are common within construction companies and barriers that are unique to a particular company which are not addressed by previous studies. Identifying those unique barriers from a quantitative study is difficult. Therefore, this study has been carried out as a qualitative study by conducting one-to-one semi-structured interviews with sixteen industry experts with middle management, including ERP project managers, construction project managers, and quantity surveyors. Those interviewees have been selected according to „theoretical sampling‟, one of the purposive sampling techniques. As a result, the participants‟ real feelings, and experience towards the ERP and ERP implementation. Data collection and the analysis were parallel activities. The analysis has been done according to the „Grounded Theory‟. At the end of the analysis, there were forty implementation barriers identified and out of them, „employees‟ reluctance to change‟, „bugs in ERP systems‟, and „poor internet speed in remote sites‟ are highlighted by majority participants. Additionally, the recommendations have been suggested for the identified implementation barriers, which were pointed out by a number of interviewees. Further, those forty barriers were divided into six major themes as „barriers related to management‟, „barriers related to employees‟, „barriers related to ERP systems‟, „barriers related to implementation process‟, „barriers related to vendors‟, and „barriers related to organizations‟. These identified ERP implementation barriers and the recommendations would be important for a construction company that currently initiates ERP implementation in their company and the companies that plan to implement an ERP system in the near future. Further, the recommendations suggested for the ERP vendors are also important to those software development companies in order to achieve a competitive advantage.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Factors affecting customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty of digital self-service mobile applications
(2021) Jayawickrama JPDIS; Gunasekera K
Most of the people in society use different kinds of mobile applications and tend to use digital self-service mobile applications to help their day-today lifestyle. Digital self-service mobile applications which allow users to take the service or do a transaction without having the help of customer representatives play a major role in this century. This research found what are the factors that affect customer value, satisfaction, and customer loyalty on digital self-service mobile applications. Having proper knowledge about these factors will help mobile application service providers to retain their customers. According to the findings of the present study, customer loyalty is impacted by customer value, satisfaction, and perceived value. Customer satisfaction is impacted by customer value, utilitarian benefits, and perceived value. Furthermore, incentive affects the customer value of digital self-service mobile applications. Therefore, digital self-service mobile application providers, marketing teams, and development teams of the digital self-service mobile application need to pay more attention to above mentioned factors.
item: Thesis-Abstract
A Study on the behavioural changes that indicate turnover of software engineers in the Sri Lankan IT industry
(2021) Athukorala AKP; Ranathunga S
Employee turnover is increasingly becoming a trending problem in most industries, which has made recruiting and retaining talented professionals is a challenging task today. Software engineer turnover rate is also of no exception and noted to be competitively higher, especially due to rising demand for software engineers within the software industry. Sri Lankan IT industry is a fast-growing major industry in Sri Lanka; thereby, demand for software engineers is also relatively high and is impacting largely on the problem of software engineer turnover. Recruiting and grooming an employee is a costly process, and employers are interested to identify turnover intention in advance to mitigate the problems arising with employee turnover. Usually, employee turnover is the result of series of dissatisfactory experiences. Attitudes can be visible through behaviour, and employees’ dissatisfaction and demotivation towards work can be visible through daily behaviour. Therefore, behavioural changes can be used to identify employees’ turnover intentions. This research was conducted as a quantitative study to identify the behavioural indicators that cause software engineers’ turnover in Sri Lankan IT industry. The main objective of this research is to provide an insight to employers in Sri Lanka who deal with software engineers to identify employee turnover intention using behavioural changes and providing highly impacted behaviours to take necessary actions to retain employees or to mitigate the problems that arising with sudden turnover of software engineers in their companies. Data was gathered using an online survey distributed among software engineers in Sri Lanka. It was identified that attendance, absenteeism, task negligence, and organizational commitment have a connection with software engineers’ turnover, while social media usage and software engineers’ turnover has no relationship. Among these indicators’, absenteeism has the highest impact; and organizational commitment, attendance and task negligence have lower impacts in the sequential order. Interestingly, organizational commitment has a negative impact on software engineer turnover, while the other three factors have an impact on software engineers’ turnover.
item: Thesis-Abstract
The Impact of following automated testing life-cycle methodology (ATLM) on the success of functional test automation an overview of the Sri Lankan software industry
(2021) Wijesooriya DPMM; Perera I
Functional test automation is a very important and trending software testing technique which enables achieving improved efficiency, accuracy and coverage of testing. Automated Testing Life-cycle Methodology (ATLM) is the systematic process used in the test automation. As following a proper process is important to achieve success in any task, it should be applicable for test automation also. Hence it is crucial to follow ATLM in test automation in order to achieve a success in it. Therefore, this research intended to identify the impact of following ATLM on the success of test automation in IT industry in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted as a quantitative research by collecting data from Quality Assurance professionals in Sri Lankan IT industry as it was considered as the sample here. Data collection was done with an online survey with Voluntary Response Sampling technique by reaching out to the potential survey respondents. Data analysis was done with the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) tool. The distribution of the sample was analyzed with the descriptive statistics techniques. The Analysis of Variance (ANNOVA), Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression analyses were done as inferential analysis. As per the results of data analysis, 4 steps out of the 6 steps in ATLM namely “Decision to Automate Tests”, “Test Tool Acquisition”, “Automation Testing Introduction Process” and “Test Planning, Design and Development” are highly impacting on the success of test automation while the other 2 steps namely “Execution and Management of Tests” and “Test Program Review and Assessment” are having a medium level of impact. Therefore, this study concludes that following ATLM has an impact on the level of success of test automation in the IT industry in Sri Lanka.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Factors affecting successful adoption of destination management systems in Sri Lankan hospitality sector
(2021) Kuruppuachchi KADYL; Samarasinghe GD
Sri Lanka, as an emerging tourism destination, destination management companies have to cater large tourist arrivals in the future. Large portion of tourism revenue coming through inbound tour operators. Foreign destinations management companies achieve this by using successfully adoption of Destination Management System. Therefore the main purpose of this research study is to identify factors affecting successful adoption of Destination Management Systems. The conceptual model was built upon combination of constructs in TOE & TAM Frameworks. To empirically validate the conceptual model, a quantitative survey methodology was used. A representative sample of 217 top executives working on Destination Management Companies (DMC) or Tour Operator Companies was selected for this study while the population is DMCs’ in western province. Study used single informant method to collect data. The data were collected using a standardized questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 26 and SMART PLS-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study's major findings indicated that technological factors such as relative advantages, compatibility, complexity and as well as organizational factor such as top management support significantly affect adoption of destination management systems in these companies. In order to adopt DMS successfully, author of this study recommends government or Sri Lankan tourism board to initiate awareness program about DMS adoption and its benefits as well as to initiate national ICT framework for Destination Management. The findings also depict top managerial implications and potential future research opportunities in the same field.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Impact of performance appraisal on the relationship between compensation and benefits and turnover intention : case of the Sri Lankan IT Sector
(2021) Suthan S; Tennakoon D
Employee turnover is well-known for being both expensive and disruptive to business operations. It is one of the most discussed topics in the Sri Lankan IT industry, which experiences a scarcity of workers to meet demand. Compensation and benefits (C&B) have been identified as one of the major contributors to employee turnover by previous studies. However, not all organizations can afford to pay competitive compensation and benefits comparable to those paid by large well-established companies. This study quantitatively examines how performance appraisal (due process of performance appraisal and the purposes of performance appraisal) moderates the impact that compensation and benefits (both financial and non-financial) have on employee turnover intentions. The theoretical lens used to justify the hypothesising and later discussions was the Theory of Organizational Justice. The primary data was collected using a questionnaire survey done among employees from various Sri Lankan IT firms. The sample consisted of 213 employees, with 86.9% of them being between the ages of 26 and 35. The data was analysed using the Structural Equation Modelling technique. The findings of this study confirmed previous findings that compensation and benefits have a negative relationship with turnover intention. According to the findings, satisfaction with non-financial benefits has a greater impact on turnover intention than financial benefits. According to the findings, performance appraisal has no significant moderating effect on the impact of compensation and benefits on turnover intention
item: Thesis-Abstract
Critical success factors for managing data science projects within agile methodology
(2021) Limesha GAI; Perera S
Data science is an evolving discipline with a major emphasis on developing accessible data analysis techniques. But far less emphasis has been given on the factors which affect the success of data science projects under the Agile umbrella. In the field of software engineering agile approaches were initially developed and are characterized by their iterative software development approach. It is recommended to use process models or methodologies in literature to increase the success rate of data science projects however, organizations, which are perceived to be too restrictive and do not accept the traditional iteratives and transparent nature of data science projects, reluctant to use them. And there are some potential challenges which have been identified in the literature for using Agile methodologies in data science projects. The characteristics of possible critical success factor (CSF)s for Data Science projects have been established from the literature by updating Chow and Cao's list of success factors for agile software development projects in this research. The factors have been identified under five dimensions of organizational, people, process, technical and project. The findings of this study indicate team environment, team capacity, client engagement, project definition processes, agile software engineering techniques and project schedule as the factors that impact the success of data science projects within Agile methodology. Even though these factors were listed as important for managing data science projects within Agile methodology, the significance of these factors may vary according to the nature of the project that the team is involved in. Therefore, the team should always focus on these factors relative to the nature of the project.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Impact on ROI for corporate decision making with SD-WAN :
(2021) Liyanawadu LGPM; Fernando S
Advancements in networking appear to be in the forefront of the technology revolution of the modern world. Software Defined - Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology is one of such advancements which has been promoted by networking solution vendors to replace the widely used but increasingly dated Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. Before the SDWAN’s appearance, businesses used MPLS, a protocol with reliable and steady network traffic between two or more locations. SD-WAN has been enriched with various features developed to compete with MPLS as well as with competitor products in the market. SD-WAN challenges the consequences of MPLS in terms of network expenditure, capacity, agility, and visibility. The technology promotes dynamic path selection over multiple data services (MPLS, broadband and wireless Communication) and offers direct cloud access possibilities. On-demand provisioning and a pay-as-you-grow model offer flexibility for enterprises where they can simply update or upgrade by accessing new links without altering their infrastructure or network. This research has been carried out with the intention of investigating the impact on the return on investment (ROI) from the adoption of SD-WAN by large scale Sri Lankan organizations. In this research, it has been attempted to identify the key factors affecting the decision-making process of migration from MPLS to SD-WAN. The research has been inferred on a preliminary survey and a case study conducted within the Sri Lankan context. Throughout the case study, discussion was caried out on whether SD-WAN has the capability to significantly reduce MPLS expenditure by minimizing the hassle of managing infrastructure and connectivity. Further by using softwarebased management, enterprises can force automation to phase out expensive routing hardware, enhance IT productivity and decrease network operating expense. A large-scale Sri Lankan organization with the potential to adopt SD-WAN, which has already started evaluating SD-WAN to explore the factors affecting the investment decision, has been subjected to the case study. This organization being one of the leading and scaled out organizations in Sri Lanka, it is believed that the findings and conclusion of the case study can be referenced by similar scale organizations during their evaluation on the adoption of SD-WAN technology.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Identification of skills to improve software developer productivity
(2021) Wanniarachchi RL; Fernando S
Software Engineering has become one of the essential requirements for today’s business, and software development has become one of the trending employments today. Due to the business’s technical advancement and competition, the IT industry’s expectation of software development skill level increases. Therefore, the industry is looking for more qualified software developers even though software developers are available. Some companies arrange technical improvement training or/and soft skill improvement training to improve software developers’ skills. These training programs improve the software developer’s skills to a level required at the moment, and some training programs are too late to initiate. As a lesson learned from that when hiring fresh graduates, some companies provide training before employment. Therefore, this research aims to find out the skill gap of the software developers in Sri Lanka and determine which skills impact the software developer’s productivity, and find out how to improve the software developer’s productivity. A survey was carried out among a sample of software developers. A series of interviews were conducted with industrial experts to determine the aspects influencing the software developer’s productivity and present significant factors. Based on the analysis undertaken to the collected data, the results revalidate that the software developer has to strengthen soft skills such as Team Working, Problem-solving, Communication Skills, and improving programming skills to improve the software developer’s productivity. The results revalidate that even though programming skills are considered the key skill for a software developer, the software developer should improve soft skills to benefit programming skills. Industrial experts suggest several approaches to improve these skills. Based on the survey result and expert feedback, sharing knowledge in platforms, taking online courses, and trying out new technologies can improve software developers’ productivity by improving technical skills. Further, the findings show that training such as leadership and team working training and business communication training should improve soft skills. This training was suggested to be arranged by the employer based on the business requirement. Employers should encourage the employees to do self-learning and try out new technologies. Education institutes should also provide training that focuses on soft skills such as teamwork and communication to improve software developer’s soft skills. Also, expert feedback suggested that the education institutes should encourage students to take online courses to match the IT industry’s expectations
item: Thesis-Abstract
Analysis of the night shift work in software application support sector
(2021) Malan TDK; Perera I
This study explores and analyses the association between the strategies on night shift related work and job performance in the Sri Lanka Software application support sector in the IT industry. The main objectives are to identify the factors that affect the night shift work in the Software Application Support sector, examine the relationship between factors of night shift work and job performance, and recommend a set of guidelines to improve job performance during the night shifts. The analysis of the literature review discusses the current research on night shift work and factors that help to improve employees’ performance during shifts such as compensation, recognitions, and rewards, promotions, workplace arrangement, shift time allocation, etc. This study has identified five main factors using a pilot test, to be addressed throughout the research. The research methodology is based on a quantitative approach, hence a survey is conducted with 150 employees who work in the Application Support Sector of the IT industry. The survey questionnaire contains 30 questions such that five questions per each variable. Descriptive analysis was performed to analyze the demographic characteristics given by respondents depending on central tendencies measurement and frequency analysis of constructs. The reliability analysis was performed using the scale measurement. Then the inferential analyses are performed using the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis. Finally, the ANOVA test is applied to identify the impact of the five independent variables with the dependent variable, job performance in the night shift. According to the analysis results, it can be concluded that leadership management and workplace arrangement have a high impact on job performance during the night shifts. Also, Rewards and recognition having a considerable relationship with job performance even though it has a medium level impact. The Time allocation and Nature of work do not have an impact on performance. Further, a set of recommendations are proposed to improve night shift job performance of employees in Application Support sector, IT industry in Sri Lanka. These recommendations will enable organizations to identify employees’ needs and wants. These strategies can be implemented based on a priority level, which includes the most prominent ranking with the intention of improving employee satisfaction on night shifts. Thus, by meeting the needs of employees, job performance can be increased on night shifts.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Implications of job-hopping on employees : a case study from Sri Lankan software development industry
(2021) Sivananthan N; Kapiyangoda KK
The main purpose of this study was to identify the implications of job-hopping on employees. This study deeply focuses on the implications of staff who are working in the Srilankan software development industry. This research can be an ideal document for employees to get a better knowledge about the implications of job-hopping and guide them to take correct decisions at the correct time. Tonnquist’s model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was incorporated as a theoretical lens to make sense of how each factor mentioned in the model is getting affected by job-hopping. The study adopted a qualitative methodology. Data has been mainly collected through interviews which were carried on, with employees who have been identified as job hoppers in the software development industry. Employees with different designations (SE, QA, BA, PM) are considered for the interviews. The findings of this study first briefly illustrate how each phase of the theoretical framework is getting implications due to job-hopping. Then some other general implications of job-hopping are also discussed. Next, it clarifies whether employees are achieving the expected outputs by hopping the jobs. Finally, some recommendations were suggested for job hoppers to get the right decisions and mitigate the risks/negative impacts of job-hopping.