Fabian Lajtkep, Bachelor-Student, IISM (Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg),
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pliXos launched a new B2B Marketplace for outsourced software development in end of August (www.plixos.com/market). The fist enhancement will be introduced during the next months.
The enhancement will be a rating system of service providers which can be divided into two parts. The first part is a rating system for a particular provider performed by the customers of the marketplace after the project was finished successfully. The second part is a neutral rating carried out by pliXos.
After an extensive literature review two models have been chosen to build the base for the rating system.
The first model, which was developed for e-services, is named 3Q and is based on the work of Wixom and Todd. It combines three dimensions (Service Quality, System Quality and Information Quality). The second model is based on the idea of IT-SERVQUAL and provides a questionnaire. To measure the service quality this model uses five factors (Tangibles, Responsiveness, Empathy, Service Reliability and Assurance).
Due to the specialization of the rating system of service providers for software development and services, both models have been adapted and extended with additional factors.
As shown by figure 1, the final score consists of three different dimensions (Software, Service and Company Quality).
The dimension Software Quality includes three subcategories. In this context Reliability refers to the number of bugs within the developed software. Whereas Flexibility describes how the software reacts to changing user needs. The last category Accessibility represents the ease of use of the Software as well as simplicity of data import and export.
The second dimension Service Quality consists four subcategories. Tangibles enfold the used equipment or tools and the documentation during the project.
Responsiveness is the willingness of the service provider to react, in time and proactive, to changes and problems. The third subcategory Empathy summarizes the ability of the service provider to build trust, to offer an individual assimilated service and to grant in special cases access to the management. In the topic Reliability the service provider will be judged whether the service is performed in time, in budget and developed in the agreed functionality.
Company Quality can be interpreted as a general dimension and includes five subcategories. Recommendation, Comments and Price/Performance (ratio) are three categories which are self-explanatory. The fourth Resources describes the qualification and the language skills of the employees. Furthermore it includes the cultural understanding and the fluctuation in staff of the service provider. The last category is Innovation which aggregates the innovation type of the developed software and the used process model.
The first part of the rating system (carried out by the customer) should be designed attractively and easy to use. For this purpose the customer gets only a few questions which enable a general assessment of the service provider. It must be noted that the questions are not based on single factors but rather on single dimensions.
The second part (by pliXos) is a more complex system which is based on each single factor. To create a detailed rating of the service provider, the questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part consults reference customers and the second the service provider. To ensure that the reference customers actually exist and answer trustfully, pliXos keeps the right to directly contact selected companies for a cross reference.
The summarized result of the rating system will be visualized and visible for all customers of the marketplace. In order to align the results to specific needs of a customer, it is possible to adapt the weighting of the factors.
Do you have questions or comments? We are pleased to get any constructive criticism and suggestions for improvements - from users, service providers or consultants. Please contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Do you want to learn more about the B2B Marketplace or other products and services from pliXos: www.plixos.com
