Creating Software Process Capability/Maturity Models

A seeming multitude of software process capability/maturity models (SPCMMs) have emerged, and many software engineers have had to worry about compliance with them at one time or another. Although using SPCMMs is a well-established practice, the ways they're used can vary widely. At best, they can pull together vast bodies of knowledge about good software practices-the hard-won expertise of many engineers-into a form that's easier to work with. At worst, they're misused as "processes for process' sake," in which conforming to the model stifles opportunities for innovation and tailoring. If software engineers had better knowledge about how SPCMMs are developed and the basis of their recommendations, they might be able to interpret and use them to optimize their benefits. We therefore studied these issues in a systematic literature review and follow-on questionnaire

Hybriding CMMI and requirement engineering maturity and capability models

Estimation represents one of the most critical processes for any project and it is highly dependent on the quality of requirements elicitation and management. Therefore, the management of requirements should be prioritised in any process improvement program, because the less precise the requirements gathering, analysis and sizing, the greater the error in terms of time and cost estimation. Maturity and Capability Models (MCM) represent a good tool for assessing the status of a set of processes, but an inner limit of any model is its scope and approach for describing a certain issue. Thus, integrating two or more models with a common area of focus can offer more information and value for an organization, keeping the best components from each model. LEGO (Living EnGineering prOcess) is an approach projected for this purpose. This paper proposes a LEGO application hybridizing a ‘horizontal’ model (a MM containing processes going through the complete supply chain, from requirements right through to delivery, e.g. CMMI or ISO 12207/15504) with a few specific ‘vertical’ models (MMs with focus on a single perspective or process category, e.g. TMMi or TPI in the Test Management domain, P3M3 and OPM3 in the Project Management domain) for Requirement Engineering

FIRST: common-sense process scopes for starting a process improvement program

One of the main challenges for ICT organizations is to initiate a well-structured process improvement program. This is particularly the case when adopting a maturity & capability model (MCM) as it brings with it costs associated with internal appraisals, and the realization that in order to achieve a particular maturity level (ML) a number of processes within the Process Reference Model (PRM) will need to be successfully implemented. Some initiatives have been proposed in the last decade, such as the RAPID initiative, but there is still some resistance to adopting MCMs such as CMMI or SPICE (ISO/IEC). This paper will propose the FIRST (Fast Improvement aSsessment sTep) approach, providing a minimum, common-sense set of processes to be appraised during the initial gap analysis which will form the foundation for the design and deployment of an improvement plan, which will be particularly useful for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Very Small Entities (VSEs), that are coherent with ISO Management Systems requirements

The LEGO strategy: guidelines for a profitable deployment

When dealing with improvements, organizations seek to find a break-even point for their applications as early as possible in order to maximize the return from their investment. However, in some cases such a strategy can lead to a long term failure by not realizing the full benefits, when focusing only on a short term. The LEGO (Living EnGineering prOcess) approach – a method for building your own process meta-model based on multiple inputs – is a way to make an organization more efficient and effective, optimizing resources, as well as time and costs through looking at its entire Business Process Model. This paper introduces the elements for designing a strategy for a more valuable deployment of a process improvement initiative, in order to optimize the choice of the models and elements to be considered as an input to the LEGO approach

The LEGO maturity & capability model approach

“Maturity model” (MM) (based on Crosby’s original idea) has been one of the main buzzwords over the past 20 years. A variety of MMs have been created in several application domains, from Software Engineering to Contract Management. Despite several models intending to cover the same domain, their PRMs (Process Reference Models) typically have different scopes, do not always cover the same set of processes, or have different levels of depth, or do not express the same level of granularity when describing concepts. Thus some important questions from the MM users’ viewpoint arise: how to choose the right models for our needs? After selecting those models, how to build a new, tailored MM based on several sources and customized to a specific domain? This paper motivates these important questions and proposes a way to choose, combine and adapt the contents from multiple MMs within a generic-domain approach we call ‘LEGO’ (Living EnGineering prOcess), based upon the well-known kids’ toy that stimulates creativity through combining different bricks. We present three case studies, one of them based upon the development of the Medi SPICE model, illustrating how the proposed approach may be used to develop MCM (Maturity & Capabilty Models) in this context

Proposing a knowledge engineering based approach for process capability / maturity models customization

Software Process Capability/Maturity Models (SPCMMs) are repositories of best practices for software processes suitable for assessing and/or improving processes in software intensive organizations. Yet, although there is a trend to customize such models to specific domains, little research is done on how such SPCMMs should be developed with quality. In this paper, we, therefore, propose a systematic approach to support the customization of SPCMMs for specific domains. The approach is developed based on standard development processes integrating Knowledge Engineering techniques and experiences on how such models are currently developed in practice. First feedback from piloting the approach in the customization of ISO/IEC 15504, CMMI and MPS.BR for the SaaS scenario indicates that the approach can be useful for creation of SPCMMs

Tailoring software process capability/maturity models for telemedicine systems

Developing high-quality asynchronous store-and-forward telemedicine systems (ASFTSs) remains a challenge. However, there is no accepted understanding as to what are the important quality characteristics for this type of software system and/or what defines a mature software process for producing high-quality ASTFSs. Through adopting a multi-step research methodology, we define a quality model for ASFTSs indicating relevant quality characteristics and their priority for this specific type of software system based upon ISO/IEC 25010. We, then, propose an extended software process capability/maturity model based on ISO/IEC 15504 and ISO/IEC 12207 to meet these particular quality requirements. The resulting model can be used to both guide the development and the evaluation of such systems. We expect that the availability of such a customized model will facilitate the development of high-quality ASFTSs, reducing related risks and improving the quality of telemedicine services

Creating software process capability / maturity models

A seeming multitude of software process capability/maturity models (SPCMMs) have emerged, and many software engineers have had to worry about compliance with them at one time or another. Although using SPCMMs is a well-established practice, the ways they're used can vary widely. At best, they can pull together vast bodies of knowledge about good software practices-the hard-won expertise of many engineers-into a form that's easier to work with. At worst, they're misused as "processes for process' sake," in which conforming to the model stifles opportunities for innovation and tailoring. If software engineers had better knowledge about how SPCMMs are developed and the basis of their recommendations, they might be able to interpret and use them to optimize their benefits. We therefore studied these issues in a systematic literature review and follow-on questionnaire

Building a maturity & capability model repository

A complicated and time-consuming phase in the development of Maturity/Capability Models (MCMs) is the identification of existing relevant source models as, currently, information on existing MCMs is provided in very different forms and levels of detail on diverse web sites, publications etc. In this paper, we present our ongoing research on developing a web-based repository to store and provide overview information on MCMs as a continuous knowledge management effort maintained within the Software Process Improvement (SPI) community. Such a centralized repository containing metadata on MCMs is expected to facilitate the identification of relevant models (as well as parts) and provide a systematic basis for the development/evolution or customization of MCMs