STARTS

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STARTS A UK initiative, begun in 1982 and relaunched in 1994, to promote and disseminate best practice in software development. In its later phase, it is a self-financing technology transfer program sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry, managed by the National Computing Centre, and funded by subscribing companies. It addresses the major issues posed by industry's increasing dependence on software, concentrating on the practical rather than the theoretical, and including consideration of how to implement change. It provides information through publications, workshops, and seminars, which in its first phase included widely used advice on method and tool selection and purchasing practice.