The document discusses introducing agile methodologies like Scrum to the development of an ERP system called UNIVERSITAS XXI. It describes challenges in transitioning from traditional to agile approaches, including gaining management trust and adapting methodologies to development vs support teams. A pilot project showed benefits of agile like increased team commitment, more frequent software deliveries aligned with customer needs, reduced time to market, and predictability. The goal is now to progressively expand the agile approach to more areas of UNIVERSITAS XXI development.

1. EUNIS 2018: Extended Abstract
INTRODUCING AGILE TO ERP (UNIVERSITAS XXI)
DEVELOPMENT
Roberto Clemente, Oficina de Cooperación Universitaria (Spain), robertoc@ocu.es,
Manuel Rivera, Oficina de Cooperación Universitaria (Spain), manuelr@ocu.es
Keywords
Agile, software development, methodology.
1. Summary
Agilism is becoming the paradigm for software development, but many software manufacturers, or
software/IT departments are used to work with traditional methodologies. In Oficina de Cooperación
Universitaria (OCU) we have started to transform our way of developing software (our ERP for
universities called UNIVERSITAS XXI) from traditional to agile. These first steps in this transformation
2. INTRODUCING AGILE TO ERP (UNIVERSITAS XXI) DEVELOPMENT
Scrum, Kanban, Lean, SAFe, LeSS, DA, Scrumban, are an example of the diversity of models that we
have at our disposal to apply the principles of agilism as a software development methodology. The
adoption of these models responds in many cases to fashions by which certain terms are popularized
and push organizations to make changes in their processes and techniques.
The effect of applying these models only because they are fashionable can result on a forced adoption
not adequate to the reality of each organization and its software, forgetting that, although
methodologies can help to improve development, original values of agilism must be the base to follow.
These values are fixed in the agile manifiesto:
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
In 1993, Jeff Sutherland formally invented the Scrum process, adopting many other practices already
in use, such as the daily Stand-up meetings, and with the passage of time it becomes a de facto
standard for many organizations that decide incorporate agile methodologies to your software
developments.
The detractors do not take long to appear and many focus on the suitability of the methodology for
small start-up organizations, but not so much for large organizations. In response to this criticism, the
concept of Big Agile emerged, scaling Scrum, with frameworks such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)
or LeSS (Large Scale Scrum), which help to make a comprehensive agile management, not only at the
project level, but also of program and portfolio.
The standardization of Scrum as a working framework in the development of software has not
prevented the popularity of other methodologies such as Kanban, for development cases more focused

2. on maintenance than on the project. Other variants have also emerged that imply an innovation on
these models, such as:
Scrumban: mix the best of Scrum and Kanban, in which you can give cases such as a Kanban
slate with planned time frames (i.e. sprints).
Dual Track Development: establishes two parallel work paths, one dedicated to discovery
(Discovery track) and definition of new functionalities and another to the development and
delivery (Delivery track) of the products with said functionalities; More information in this
interesting article on how to configure Jira with Dual-Track Scrum.
Modern Agile: redefines the principles of the agile manifesto, trying to flee from large
frameworks and the excessive bureaucracy that is being generated around the agile
methodologies that have already been implemented for some time, as in the case of Scrum.
The emergence of practices such as DevOps or User Xperience, in which it is necessary to involve the
operations and design teams throughout the life cycle of software development, or the increase in the
trend of team relocation, are causing organizations feel that in their processes of digital
transformation it is necessary to adopt agile methodologies for their operation, but making small
adjustments (process tailoring) to the methodology that suits their needs, as promoted in the DA
(Disciplined Agile Framework).
In conclusion, it is very important that these processes of change are based on the values of the agile
manifesto, and that they know how to adapt to the objectives of each organization to achieve a
balance between methodology and needs, putting agility in front of the labels.
During last two years OCU has run a pilot project in the department responsible for the development
of the core of UNIVERSITAS XXI (ERP for universities) introducing the agile philosophy.
The main difficulties to adopt the new paradigm has been:
Gain management trust in the agile transformation
Methodology tailoring: Development vs Support
Mini-waterfall vs Scrum: mind the gap
Remote teams & Tools: JIRA, Slack
But regardless these barriers, the experience has shown the big advantages of the approach to agilism:
Team commitment
Software delivered more frequently
Customer needs are fulfilled more precisely
Time to market
Predictability
The current roadmap is to increase progressively the scope of the project reaching more units of
UNIVERSITAS XXI software development.
3. REFERENCES
Agile Manifesto website (2001). Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Retrieved February 7,
2018, from http://agilemanifesto.org/iso/en/manifesto.html
4. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Roberto Clemente is Team Manager in the unit of core development for UNIVERSITAS XXI, in Oficina
de Cooperación Universitaria (www.ocu.es)
Manuel Rivera is Communication and Marketing Manager, in Oficina de Cooperación Universitaria
(www.ocu.es)
Oficina de Cooperación Universitaria is a Higher Ed Management software manufacturer. The
universities in 9 countries.