>Annual Report2011 - 2012

objectives

Building capacity and skills

Encouraging innovation

Supporting transformation

Promoting investment

Improving performance

Educating experts to lead Africa’s software development sector

Applied research, technology incubation and IP development.

Aligning with the objectives of the ICT Charter, to create new leaders and to encourage growth of

SMMEs in the sector.

Establishing a business friendly environment that attracts investment in the local ICT industry.

Promoting international best practice in Software Engineering within an African context.

Sean McLean IBM

Themba Khumalo DTI

Vumani Mangali City of Joburg

>contents

>board members Mark Harris – Chairman IBM

Barry Dwolatzky JCSE

Barry Vlok Vodacom

Duncan Rafthesath Wits Enterprise

Fernando Moreira FNB

Fazel Mayet Psybergate

Zolani Matebese City of Joburg

Beatrys Lacquet Dean – Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Clifford De Wit Microsoft

Foreword Memo from JCSE

Message of Support JCSE bridges the gap

Message of Support JCSE transforms ICT industry

CoachLab@JCSE Ziphorah finds her groove

Bright innovation makes planetarium accessible

Continued Professional Development Imtiaz gains greater prospects

Personal Software Process John follows his passion thanks to PSP

CIO ProgrammeUnathi finds her niche

Pre-Incubation Programme Crunchyard set for business

Financial Overview

02 10

03 12

04 13

06 14

08 16

02

JCSE bridges the gapFrom the JCSE

The highlight of the year was the opportunity we have had to work with senior management and

staff at the State IT Agency (SITA) to improve its service delivery capability. In September 2011,

SITA engaged the JCSE to provide training and appraisals as part of an organisation-wide process

improvement initiative. Starting in October 2011 and continuing until 2014, the JCSE will be

delivering CMMI training to thousands of SITA employees in all major centres in South Africa. This is

a huge undertaking. Most significantly, it gives the JCSE an opportunity to positively influence SITA’s

ability to service the ICT needs of all government departments.

Another key achievement is our ongoing work at Nedbank in support of its strategic decision

to adopt the Team Software Process (TSP) as its software development methodology. Nedbank’s

decision to do this was based on its success in piloting TSP adoption with support from the JCSE,

in partnership with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The

JCSE is continuing to support its ambitious TSP rollout strategy.

While these major initiatives have been important highlights, all of the Centre’s existing activities

have continued to support and transform the local ICT sector. These include CoachLab@JCSE, the

CPD Programme, the JCSE’s industry forums, the Distinguished International Visitor Series and

others.

This annual report focuses on some of the inspiring individuals we have worked with over the

past year. By telling their stories, we hope to show how the JCSE has made an impact on these

individuals and hundreds of others – each of whom is just as remarkable and inspiring as those we

have featured.

The upcoming year – 2012 to 2013 – holds out the prospect of being even more successful. The

JCSE is coming of age and our contribution to ICT in South Africa is certain to grow in size and

importance. We thank all of our partners and stakeholders for your support and look forward to

working with all of you in the year ahead.

Prof Barry DwolatzkyDirector: JCSE

The year 2011-2012 was the best year yet for the JCSE. After years of laying foundations and developing capacity, a number of initiatives began to bear fruit.

The programmes offered by the JCSE make an excellent contribution to developing skills required by the ICT

sector and bridging the gap between the workplace and academic world. This is one of the reasons why Wits

University was actively involved in setting up the JCSE and supports the Centre’s efforts to develop local

capabilities.

One of the JCSE’s key functions has been to highlight the importance of the ICT sector through its

work with government and the private sector. The Centre has played a pivotal role in promoting process

improvement and quality standards in software development, and in this manner it has supported the

powerful forward leap the industry has made over the past five years.

Indeed, its influence is far-reaching – the JCSE embarked on a massive process improvement initiative

with the State IT Agency (SITA) this past year. It conducts all training and process assessments for the SITA

initiative and is closing the gap between local software engineering practice and best international practice.

Within Wits the JCSE provides an interface between academic schools offering ICT-related programmes.

The Schools of Electrical and Information Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Wits

Business School and others are collaborating through the JCSE. These interactions are valuable as they have

led to new cutting-edge academic courses at Wits, including the Professional Certificate Programme in CIO

Practice and the Masters of Engineering in Software Engineering.

The JCSE is therefore instrumental in equipping people with skills that will help South Africa to realise

some of its developmental ambitions. In fact, its impact on industry and government is such that its model

could be followed by other industries wanting to achieve similar success.

Wits University will remain a firm supporter of the JCSE as it continues on its pioneering path in future

years and widens its influence. One of the projects I would like to see it undertake is the development of

innovative tools for learning to transform the educational experience of both school children and university

students.

Prof Loyiso NongxaVice-Chancellor and Principal, Wits University

>memo >message of support

Wits University has always been an institution that adeptly responds to the country’s needs. In this light, the University has answered the call to promote the growth of the local ICT sector through its Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE).

03

The past year was marked by the ICT industry’s

realisation of the important role the JCSE plays

in this sector.

The JCSE has connected the previously

isolated industry in South Africa with the rest

of the world by importing global standards

and practices, such as the Capability Maturity

Model Integration (CMMI) framework, and by

assisting local companies and government in

its adoption.

This alignment with global practices

is essential for local companies and ICT

professionals interacting with multinationals

and customers around the world.

The CMMI model also benefits the local

industry in the sense that the skills levels of

job applicants, including business analysts and

developers, can be assessed in terms of their

CMMI knowledge and certifications. The value

thereof can be seen in the fact that some of the

most important investments the industry makes

in delivering software-related products and

services are heavily dependent on the people

it uses.

The JCSE is also influential in the ICT sector

because it has contributed to the development

of high-level skills via activities such as its

Continued Professional Development (CPD)

Programme. Availability of high-level skills

The past year was marked by the ICT industry’s realisation of the important role the JCSE plays in this sector.

encourages companies around the world to

consider outsourcing work to South Africa. Of

course this is both good for the industry and

the South African economy.

Another element of its success is its pre-

incubation programme. Business incubation is

vital in light of government’s focus on small,

medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and

because there are many small companies

which can be guided by the JCSE. While there

are a number of business incubators around

the country supporting start-ups, a large

number of these develop applications without

adopting good software engineering practices.

The result is that their software is not saleable

as it cannot easily be “productised”.

However, if we could build the capacity

of the JCSE with the right investments from

government and business, we could achieve

a far higher rate of success in IT innovation

than what we currently have. The key is to

give prospective entrepreneurs the necessary

disciplines to become successful and this is the

role of the JCSE.

Application development initiatives stretch

across Africa, but their success is also

heavily dependent on whether governments

or individual sponsors find them interesting.

Africa lacks the type of venture capitalist in

software development that made the United

States and India successful in this sphere. In

this respect, the JCSE makes core capabilities

available to entrepreneurs, thus increasing their

chances on success dramatically.

The local ICT sector respects the work of

the JCSE as it is clear that it is a true enabler

for the industry and for our country.

Its success can mostly be attributed to its

good leaders who are experts in the field of

ICT and who act in the best interest of the

industry as a whole. Secondly, the JCSE has

shown an ability to deliver – its initiatives and

partnerships have all been very successful.

I believe the JCSE could support government

and industry even more in future. The JCSE

already has a sound financial model and with

government’s support its influence can grow.

By Mark HarrisChairman, JCSE Board

>messageFrom the industry

04

>partnersPlatinum Gold Silver Bronze

Gijima

Opsi Systems

05

CoachLab@JCSE Programme

The CoachLab Programme

is a nine month leadership

programme offered to

postgraduates in the applied

sciences and technology

fields while they complete

a postgraduate degree. A

partnership between the

Innovation Hub, the JCSE,

local ICT sector, UJ and Wits

University, the programme

bridges the gap between

university studies and

employment.

Students participate in

real life projects, including

a shared project for a client

and individual project for

industry sponsors, and

complete short courses of ICT

technical training. In addition,

they have the opportunity to

develop emotional intelligence

through soft skills training and

coaching. They are mentored

by their industry sponsors

who help to instil business

principles and the value of

innovative and entrepreneurial

thinking throughout the

programme.

Participants earn an

allowance for working a

25-hour week at CoachLab

and graduate from the course

with business and leadership

skills, several best practice

certifications, work experience

and references.

Ziphorah Mosimane, a 2011 graduate of the JCSE’s CoachLab Programme wears bright pink lipstick. It speaks of the bright and optimistic manner in which she has started her career at Standard Bank in downtown Johannesburg.

“When I walk into work in the morning, I am wearing a smile. Getting out of bed is not even a problem,” says the upbeat 23-year-old. “CoachLab helped me to adapt to the work routine.

Students had to arrive and leave the programme on

time and make up for lost hours if their studies got in

the way,” she explains enthusiastically where she sits

in Standard Bank’s meeting room.

Now a confident systems analyst at the bank,

Ziphorah admits she found CoachLab a “bit scary”

when she started the programme. She not only faced

the high demands of CoachLab last year, but also

completed an Honours degree in IT Management for

which she attended night classes.

“It was not an easy year as my family experienced

some financial difficulties after my dad was retrenched.

But CoachLab’s training courses in soft skills and its

support mechanisms helped me to see it through.

“The programme was very worthwhile in that it

helped me to find a work-life-study balance. Time

management was central to what we did. Our training

CoachLab, which involved the design of a “real-life”

reporting system for the Legal Resources Centre in

Johannesburg. Ziphorah fulfilled the role of business

analyst (BA) on the job, which is similar to her current

systems analyst role.

Full of character, the young woman elaborates

that she enjoys documenting, working with detail and

reading: “In business analysis you do the process

flow for systems and the design and functional

specifications. You elicit the requirements from

customers and document them. When the development

starts you have to do the system testing, integration

testing and invite the client to do user acceptance

testing.”

She recalls fondly that the students were quite

nervous when they piled into each other’s cars to go to

their first meeting with the client. “We didn’t know how

to drive the session. But Annlize, the CoachLab project

manager, led the way. She showed us, ‘this is how

you interact with clients’ and made us understand ‘it is

their project, too’.”

Ziphorah continues to enthuse about the benefits

of the programme: “It taught me the pure basics of

business analysis. Fresh from varsity, I really didn’t

know what a requirements document should look like

and what you should put in it.

in this area started immediately after CoachLab kicked

off with a teambuilding session in Pretoria,” she

recounts.

Leaning forward on the table in the centre of the

room, she smiles: “We were thinking, like really, time

management? But the training showed us that if you

managed your time well, you would have enough time

to study, go to ‘work’ for CoachLab, do assignments,

attend classes, and to sleep and relax.”

Ziphorah’s time management plan saw her attending

the programme from 8am until 1pm, taking a two-hour

break of sleeping and watching TV, and starting class

at 5pm. A true night owl, she took another short break

after class and then studied from 10pm until 2am in the

morning.

She says the most valuable thing she learnt in the

time management training, was not to get stuck on one

subject, but to divide her time between her various

courses: “I learnt to stop after studying Informatics

for three hours, and then to ‘push’ something like IT

management as well. Multi-tasking is very important.”

Ziphorah has been with Standard Bank for only a

few months now, but is already certain that her role as

a systems analyst is a perfect fit.

Her confidence stems from the Shared Project

the students did during their first months in

Ziphorahfinds her groove with CoachLab

Ziphorah Mosimane (23), is unstoppable when she tells how CoachLab@JCSE has equipped her for the workplace with business and personal skills.

06

“Our draft requirements document was really bad since

it had a lot of things missing. But Annlize told us ‘you guys

need to do this and this and this’. We had to get it up to a

professional standard, before it could go to the real client;

it was not play-play,” she adds.

The project also imparted wisdom. Ziphorah says

she learnt that people dynamics will always be a part

of team work. She and the project manager had a small

disagreement at the start of the project, after which she

avoided the other student. “However, she approached me

and we talked things through privately, which was a good

way to handle the situation on her part.”

Ziphorah now prefers talking about differences that

may come up in the workplace. “Last year’s incident taught

me not to run away from conflict, as it is likely to crop up

again,” she says.

By mid-year, the programme took an interesting turn

when she discovered it was “pretty cool to develop a

mobile application” during her work experience stint at

sponsor company Microsoft.

“I learnt about Windows Phone 7, the software is simply

unbelievable. Mobile applications are big; this is where

technology is moving to. You can do almost anything on

your phone if you have the application.”

Smiling mischievously, she adds the work experience

is coming in handy as it allows her to sound intelligent in

conversation with developers at Standard Bank.

Her mentor here has also noticed that she is fitting in

well and has asked her to influence other first jobbers.

She inspires easily: “When I woke up in the UJ res this

morning – I am still living there because I am furthering

my studies – one of the girls told me ‘Ah, you are going to

work; we are going to relax the whole day’. I thought, that’s

nice for you, but I am going to work.

“I am glad I am doing it now. I gained the experience last

year and got my head around the fact that I can’t live off my

parents forever. That girl will remember how she laughed

at me one day when she goes to work.”

07

makes planetarium accessibleBright innovation

08

Standing in the auditorium, under the thousands of twinkling stars, director of the planetarium Dr Claire Flanagan explains how a new captioning system - designed by the CoachLab@JCSE students as their 2012 Shared Project - has the potential to make this sight more accessible.

“Live planetarium shows worldwide share a specific challenge:

visitors can’t see the presenter in the dark. A deaf visitor,

therefore, can’t lip-read,” explains Claire. South Africa has the

additional challenge of children not understanding English well

because it is not the first language of the majority.

She notes that the planetarium has tried different systems

over the years to accommodate deaf and English second-language

visitors. “We have learnt that visitors don’t want to read the

presentation transcribed on notes, they want to see the visuals

and keep up with the show. We have thought about using notes on

mobile devices, but to look down and read, then refocus your eyes

in the distance to see the stars, is difficult too.”

The planetarium believes the CoachLab students have provided

them with the right solution. The system designed by the group

displays captions, triggered by keywords, on a LED screen.

At the moment, one test screen is mounted behind the

planetarium control desk, but the planetarium eventually wants

multiple screens installed around the auditorium, just below the

dome: “We don’t want the captions to be projected on the dome,

because we want the sky to look as real as possible. The real sky

doesn’t have writing on it,” comments Claire.

She explains that if the captions are crafted carefully, other

visitors won’t be irritated by them. “The captions will add to what

is being said and complement it, rather than repeat it. Anything

we can do to get across what we’re saying in a different way

makes our work more accessible,” she explains.

Claire emphasises that the students’ task was not a simple

one: “We do live shows because they are more affordable.

Our brief to the students was that we weren’t going to have a

fixed script, or a particular order for the captions. We wanted a

system capable of handling a situation where the presenter will

sometimes talk about Mercury first, then Venus, and at other

times talk about Venus and then Mercury.”

“This is what makes the CoachLab students’ system

innovative,” she adds.

The students designed the captioning system around a

Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in, along with the Microsoft speech

recognition engine and database with a dictionary full of

keywords. The speech recognition engine and database picks up

certain keywords or phrases in the presenter’s speech, such as

‘star’ or ‘galaxy’, and releases a caption.

“What is really clever is that the captions themselves are

PowerPoint slides. Because it’s PowerPoint, we can be very

creative with the slides and play around with different types

of captioning. We can put pictures in, or add a video clip with

sign language, without interfering with the software at all,” she

explains.

The CoachLab project ran from 12 March to 12 May 2012.

According to Claire, there are still a few technical glitches to

address, mostly the fact that the speech recognition isn’t reliable

enough yet. Although the correction isn’t within the scope of

the CoachLab project, the students completed a comprehensive

report on speech recognition packages, which was very useful.

“It has helped us define the way forward,” says Claire.

She describes her interaction with the students during the

project as constructive: “They were efficient with answering

emails and on time for every meeting.”

The fact that the project was an ideal one for students is

underlined by the CoachLab members. “The Shared Project is

a perfect platform for students to experience how it feels to

work on a dynamic project with a broad variety of people from

different backgrounds. It helps one develop technical, social

and leadership skills in a short space of time,” says CoachLab

student Thabo Mphuthi.

Other students emphasise the value of the teamwork during

the Shared Project. They also agree that they learnt by making

mistakes and that they have gained good experience.

CoachLab student Neeleshan Thanthony echoes the

sentiments of the group when he says: “Every experience was

astronomical.”

The white domed roof of the Johannesburg Planetarium at the University of the Witwatersrand looks prosaic in the early morning light. But when a few switches are pulled, it quickly transforms into a realistic replica of the night sky.

09

we end up learning on the job.”

“But you get to a stage in life when you realise

experiential learning is only going to get you so far – if

you have aspirations, you also want to get the academic

side behind your name, so you can move forward.”

He adds that the JCSE is important in helping one

to realise your aspirations. The Centre’s Continued

Professional Development (CPD) Programme provided

him with the bridge to do a Masters degree in

Engineering without having to do a Bachelor’s degree

first, saving him years of study in the process.

Having planned to further his education for some

time, he received the final push to enrol in the CPD

Programme when his project manager at Standard

Bank pointed out that he had a strong technical

background, but needed to develop his business and

managerial skills to continue advancing in his career.

Reflecting on the programme, Imtiaz says one of

the aspects that got him hooked was the fact that it

enhanced his technical skills, but most importantly,

improved his business and management abilities.

“I liked the fact that the programme offers electives,

including management subjects. I chose Management

of Technology and Principles of Management, which

taught me how to bridge the gap between Information

Continued Professional Development Programme in Software Engineering

The Continued Professional

Development (CPD) Programme

offers advanced courses

in software engineering to

ICT professionals who lack

formal qualifications in related

disciplines. The programme

is open to people who have at

least five years of practical work

experience and who aspire to

become software architects,

designers, senior developers or

project managers.

It introduces students to

key aspects of the software

development lifecycle, giving

them the tools to understand

and apply key concepts

and principles in software

engineering and software project

management.

Taught from a modern

perspective by experienced

university lecturers and

industry experts, it could serve

as a stepping stone to Wits

University’s Master of Science

in Engineering degree focusing

on Software Engineering.

Through the CPD Programme,

this sought-after degree can be

obtained within three years.

gains greater prospectsImtiazImtiaz Abdul Kazer enrolled for the CPD programme after he realised that work experience only limited his opportunities.

Imtiaz Abdul Kader is one of many South Africans who did not have the financial means to go to university straight after school.

The senior manager at Standard Bank comes from a disadvantaged community near Durban and had to support his family when he finished matric, as his dad was the victim of a hit-and-run accident that left him unfit to work at the time.

His first job was an internship in the Umhlanga

Rocks Hotel’s maintenance department where

his dad had been the handyman. During this time,

Imtiaz pursued a diploma in heavy-current electrical

engineering through the former Technikon SA,

before moving over to Telkom where he worked in

telecommunications and electronics.

This experience led to an opportunity to work

on a voice technology project at FNB and RMB in

Johannesburg where he did voice biometrics, thus

broadening his work experience. He subsequently

joined Standard Bank as a business analyst.

A few years later he sits in Standard Bank’s coffee

shop in downtown Johannesburg and says in his

friendly manner: “People like me have to get into the

work market immediately after school out of necessity

– we have to earn a salary to put food on the table. So

Technology, business and management.”

He is passionate when he talks about the

Management of Technology: “it introduced a completely

new way of thinking that says technology can be used

as a profit centre as opposed to a cost centre that only

enables business.”

“The approach demands that one has to understand

the technology and all its technical aspects: its

maturity and how it ages, why the technology has to be

changed at certain times, the reasons behind licensing,

the reasons behind protocols related to legal and

compliance aspects. If you don’t understand technology

and only manage by numbers in this space, you lose a

great amount of value.”

The training Imtiaz received at the JCSE, as well as

his hard-working nature, led him to make big jumps at

Standard Bank. He moved from business analyst to lead

analyst on his completion of the CPD Programme and

became portfolio manager just before he completed his

Masters degree in August 2009.

He recently made another great leap to become head

of the project management office for core banking at

Standard Bank, which came about because he has both

the practical experience and academic perspective

needed to bring different methodologies together.

10

“The management skills the programme imparted to me,

helped a great deal – I could land on my feet every time I made

a jump,” says Imtiaz. “What the programme helped me to do is

build confidence. It allows you to interact with various people

and to make many presentations, building your communication

skills as well.”

It appears that the CPD Programme has been very successful

in this, as it is hard to picture Imtiaz as the introvert he describes

himself to be at home, when he talks confidently and warmly

about his experiences of the programme and his career.

Currently working towards a doctoral degree at Wits

University, he believes his academic studies have put him on

a different footing in both his professional and personal life: “I

have become more marketable and people have come to see me

as a trusted advisor, because they know I am equipped for the

job.”

He illustrates the point by saying he has been reporting to

executive managers for the past 2,5 years who do not only listen

to his opinions, but also implement his recommendations.

Contemplative for a moment, Imtiaz reveals: “One of the

things I have realised is that whatever you do in life, people will

always see you the way they saw you before – until you have

actually showed them you have improved. One of the ways to

show them that you have bettered yourself is by getting that

academic background.”

Then on a personal note: “My aspirations have always been

driven by the thought that if I have a family, I would want to

give them the chances I didn’t have. I do have a wife and baby

daughter (1) now and I feel that our prospects have improved

dramatically.”

11

Capability Maturity Model Integration Programme/CMMI Programme

The JCSE has facilitated and supported the

adoption of Capability Maturity Model Integration

(CMMI) in South Africa since 2006, by training

and certifying local trainers, consultants and

appraisers.

CMMI is a process improvement model

at the heart of the international software

quality movement, overseen by the Software

Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon

University in the United States. It measures the

maturity and capability of a software development

organisation on a scale of one to five. Companies

that have been successful in the international

software market use CMMI to benchmark

themselves against best software engineering

and project management practices.

The JCSE has presented official CMMI training

to over 1 000 South Africans and has conducted

numerous CMMI appraisals. In the past year,

it started working on a three year contract to

support a major process improvement drive at

the State IT Agency (SITA).

What is more, the Centre has developed

capacity to support Team Software

Process(TSP)- and Personal Software

Process(PSP)-related training. TSP and PSP

are bottom-up methods which accelerate CMMI

adoption and improve the performance of

software teams. The JCSE has supported the

roll-out of a TSP pilot project at Nedbank, which

has led the bank to run over 20 TSP projects. It

has also trained over 400 developers in PSP.

The JCSE first brought CMMI to South Africa

in 2005 by entering into a partnership with

Carnegie Mellon University. The Department of

Trade and Industry (dti) gave financial support to

the project.

John follows his passionthanks to PSP

John Goble (39), didn’t know what to expect when

he and 29 other developers were sent on a Personal

Software Process (PSP) Fundamentals training

course in August 2009 at Nedbank’ s offices in

Sandton. But the humorous and relaxed man, who

is also driven to excel, soon found that the course

opened new avenues for him.

After immersing himself in the PSP course, John

embarked on a Team Software Process pilot project

at the bank, which enabled him to start working on

two individual projects, namely Extended Trading

Branch (ETB) and Realtime Clearing (RTC). The TSP

pilot project was part of the JCSE’s training course

and was presented by the Software Engineering

Institute (SEI) on its behalf.

“I really didn’t know what it was about when the

training pilot was launched, but I was inquisitive – I

like to find out what’s going on, it’s my nature,” jokes

The Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JSCE) may be revolutionising the local ICT sector with its introduction of Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the Team Software Process (TSP), but it is also changing lives.

John, who started working at Nedbank in 2007, as a

software developer in Group Technology.

Subsequent to a promotion within Nedbank, John

worked as an analyst programmer, but he did not

know that his next career move would emerge from

the TSP training pilot.

“I enjoyed the training and I quickly saw the

benefit of the pilot – so much so that I asked to go

on the advanced PSP course when I completed the

initial PSP training,” he recalls. I acquired both the

PSP Certified Developer and TSP Certified Coach

certificates, so I gained specialist status,” he says.

John says he learnt how to analyse his data and

plan tasks more efficiently; he also learnt how to

use proxy-based estimation (PROBE) to better his

estimates. “I discovered that it’s crucial to back up

any decision you make with data,” he reveals.

He went on the courses with the idea of

becoming a part-time consultant in later years. But

unexpectedly, he found himself in a unique position

– he enjoyed the process so much that when an

employee who had signed up to be a TSP coach was

no longer able to fulfill the duty, he decided to step in.

“It seemed to be the logical next step for me,”

he chuckles. “I really enjoy training people. I have

always been the kind of person who cares for my

fellow colleagues, so becoming a coach has given me

the opportunity to help them grow and develop.”

John says that he learnt to identify focus points

in his personal growth to gain maximum benefit for

himself and the team. So the courses were fulfilling

on a more personal level, too.

He is quick to add that TSP is not a ‘top-down,

process-driven’ methodology. Developers are given

the tools they need to work with and they can come

up with their own ‘plans’.

“This was a big selling point for me, because

designers like to ‘own’ the development process,”

he says. “Afterwards, we go back to the project and

assess what did and didn’t work and we develop

continuously from there.”

The entrepreneur in him enjoys the implicit

mentorship: “Seeing people grow to the point at

which they are more self-assured, and standing up

for themselves, using data to back up their theories,

makes it all worthwhile,” he asserts.

John is very grateful to have had the opportunity

to gain this unique skill set: “I’d like to go on to make

South African Software development houses world-

class and sought-after companies.”

12

Unathi Mtya, (35), is one of the dynamic women at the

cutting edge of ICT in South Africa.

Vivacious, elegant and confident, the General

Manager of Functional & Application Support Services

(acting) at SITA represents a new breed of leader.

It is therefore not surprising that she enrolled in the

Professional Certificate in CIO Practice course offered

by the JCSE, which she completed in 2010.

The Chief Information Officer course prepares

senior executives for some of the challenges brought

about by rapid growth in ICT in South Africa. These

executives find themselves at the forefront of this

dynamic knowledge economy – part of their job is to

ensure that best practice and its benefits make an

impact on our shores.

“I chose to go on the course as it supported

my passion of translating business strategy into

operational delivery,” Unathi says, citing the

programme’s emphasis on business re-engineering,

as well as how to access and manage information that

affects an organisation’s supply chain.

Responsible for managing IT solutions for

government with regard to various service-level

agreements in the areas of Functional Application

Support and LAN & Desktop services, Unathi had

been working at SITA for three years, as Senior

Management: Advanced Specialist Network Operations

(Strategy), when she went on the course.

“It is not the kind of course one would want to do

online – the value of interacting with people from

different disciplines cannot be overestimated. You

find the way you’ve always approached things will be

challenged; you learn a great amount by dissecting

Unathi finds her niche

ideas and processes,” she recounts. “I found it useful

to compare structural and agile methodologies; I learnt

a lot focusing on flexible processes, which influences

how I strategise.”

Speaking thoughtfully but decisively, she says she

has always been keen to further her education. She

graduated with a BSc majoring in Computer Science

and Geographical Information Systems and has

completed an Executive Development Programme at

the University of Pretoria Gordon Institute of Business

Science (GIBS).

Working in the IT industry for well over a decade

now, she initially focused on her technical knowledge

and skills and then went on to work on the sales side

of business at Business Connexion (BCX).

“In hindsight, I was trying to find my niche – which

was complemented by participating and completing

the CIO programme,” she says. “I enjoy finding

Unath Mtiya (35), has been equipped to take a holistic approach.

solutions for clients, whether I am managing budgets,

adhering to delivery specifics or assisting my teams

with problem-solving. Over time, I have come to have

a deep appreciation and understanding of the crucial

enabling role IT plays in support of business.”

Unathi points out that the course brought her

technical, business and leadership skills together to

enable her to perform all these tasks. The challenge of

managing IT solutions for government is significant,

but she feels that the CIO programme “gave me depth

and the ability to make decisions differently”.

She says she refers to the knowledge she gained on

the course often, even though the new ways of looking

at problems “have now become second nature”.

“I like to think I have gained wisdom,” she smiles.

“I certainly learnt a lot from the course; I can stand

back and look at things holistically, which makes a big

difference to how one does business.”

Professional Certificate in CIO Practice

Wits University’s “Professional Certificate in CIO

Practice” is the only educational programme

offered in South Africa which aims to equip

aspiring chief information officers with the

complex combination of technical, business and

leadership skills they require. The JCSE, working

in partnership with the Wits School of Electrical

and Information Engineering, the School of

Economics and Business Sciences and the LINK

Centre, has run this prestigious multi-disciplinary

programme since 2005.

13

Pre-Incubation Programme

The Pre-Incubation Programme

of the JCSE assists

entrepreneurs in developing

professional-quality software

and business plans.

Aimed at entrepreneurs who

want to take their solutions to

the market in 12 to 18 months

from starting the programme,

it provides access to hardware

and software infrastructure for

development and testing. The

JCSE also conducts detailed

assessments of software

architecture and design, quality

of code, test plans, and process

capabilities. Based on these

assessments gaps are identified

and improvement plans are

produced. Technology-related

coaching is also provided on an

on-going basis.

Incubator companies gain

access to experts within the

JCSE, Wits and the JCSE partner

network, who help them to

develop their business plans.

The JCSE has piloted a company

named Crunchyard through

its pre-incubation process.

Crunchyard has attracted

venture capital investment and

has entered a formal incubator

programme.

14

Renier Dreyer, a 36-year-old with a PhD degree in

electrical engineering, emerges from behind five rows

of computer boxes stretching from floor to ceiling in

a compact server room in the Electrical Engineering

School at Wits University. He grabs a keyboard from a

small table and pretends to play it like a guitar, leaning

backwards and strutting the notes with feeling.

Clearly an inventive person, Renier explains that

the 50 dual-core computers make up the engine

of Crunchyard. Crunchyard is a number-crunching

enterprise that is getting off the ground with the help of

the JCSE’s Pre-Incubation Programme.

The programme enabled Renier to develop the

first concept of the undertaking that will offer large

simulation power over the internet on a pay-per-use

basis. It also connected him with his first big customer.

Renier started the Pre-Incubation Programme in

2009 and says the process helped him to find direction

– the first crucial step in building a meaningful

business.

It came about after the JCSE gave him the

opportunity to present his business concept to a group

of research chemists and engineers in the early stages

of prototyping. Renier made a convincing presentation

of making the simulation power available to engineers

working in various fields, and the audience indicated

the concept could go a long way to fill a significant gap

in the market.

Crunchyardset for business after pre-incubation

“If you build something and nobody wants it, it

doesn’t help,” explains Renier. “The pre-incubator

process either confirms you are going in the right

direction, or helps you to stop milling about and go the

right way.”

After it was established that he had a viable

business idea, the JCSE allowed him to drive the

development of Crunchyard, while continuing to offer

him its full support. “The Centre put me in touch with

potential users, various experts and the industry. When

I investigated computational chemistry, they told me

who and where the computational chemist on campus

was. Further, when I needed to put business processes

in place, they referred me to Wits Enterprise.”

“It was a question of pulling in various components

and the right people to help me,” he adds.

Renier’s greatest need for advice and support was

not on the technical side of the enterprise, as he had

specialised in computational electromagnetics during

his doctoral studies. However, he did need guidance in

respect to various aspects of business management,

such as setting up the business, putting operational

systems in place and making the right contacts.

Nevertheless, the incubation programme did give

him the opportunity to test his computing cluster in its

infancy: The JCSE linked him and a group of electrical

engineering students who needed to simulate antennas

on the platforms of naval ships and helicopters. They

subjected the Crunchyard system to a stress test as

Renier gave them free rein in using the computing

cluster.

“It turned out to be a mutually beneficial exercise, as

the students achieved results and it showed me what

needed to be added to the user interface,” says Renier.

The students used an astounding 14 000 Central

Processing Unit hours over a period of two weeks,

which adds up to 1.6 (one-and-a-half) years if run on a

single computer.

One of the valuable contacts the JCSE introduced

him to was a professor emeritus in geology at Wits

University who in turn referred him to a geo-physicist

at the Anglo American group. The Anglo executive

needed simulating power for his geo-physical

exploration software, which helped Renier to define

Crunchyard’s initial focus.

“I learnt that geoscientists obtain a large number

of electromagnetic measurements from the ground

and that all that data needs to be processed on huge

computers to obtain a three-dimensional image of

the ore. This led me to focus on the geosciences. I

am currently working with Anglo American to further

develop the system’s capability,” says Renier.

Giving a sense of the scale of data processing

that takes places, he continues, “the average size

of a geoscientist’s simulations will take 10 hours

on 40 computers, but you get much, much bigger

simulations than that; one of the biggest Anglo ran

through Crunchyard took six days on 100 computers.

The size of data is typically only 10 megabytes, but the

calculations to process the data are intensive. Actual

number-crunching takes place – hence the name

Crunchyard.”

Standing outside the Electrical Engineering School,

Renier says he has walked a long road with the JCSE

to realise the business concept. “Knowing what it could

be, I sometimes became frustrated and impatient, but

the JCSE also supported me in this respect. They

talked me through the challenges and encouraged me.”

Light-heartedly, he adds: “I also learnt that it often

takes much longer to reach the set milestones than

planned.”

At this point, the Crunchyard system has completed

test simulations and a full simulation of an actual

exploration area for Anglo American. The enterprise

recently received funding from the company to expand

its simulation capacity. “Now that Anglo is happy with

the system, they want to use it for a lot more,” reveals

Renier happily.

He looks up at the historical Chamber of Mines

building in which the Electrical Engineering School is

located and reflects that without the JCSE, Crunchyard

might never have become a reality.

But now all is set for the budding business to make a

positive impact on the mining and other industries.

The Pre-Incubation programme has enabled Renier Dreyer (36) to start a business that will make a difference in the mining and engineering fields.

15

In 2011 the JCSE’s income was R12,3 million. R260,000 came from its partners. The balance represents income earned from providing training and other services to the ICT sector.

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>contact detailsJoburg Centre for Software EngineeringTel: +27 11 717 6390 | Fax: +27 86 553 7128 | Email: info@jcse.org.za | Website: www.jcse.org.za