Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination

Essentially, ISO/IEC 15504 comprises a guide to performing an assessment for software development projects. It includes a description of this assessment process, a model for performing an assessment, a description of tools that may be used as part of the assessment process and a discussion of factors that contribute to the success of such an assessment.

ISO/IEC make reference to more specific standards but do not set them out. The SPICE standard seeks to describe the preferred order in which activities should occur in a software development project, with particular emphasis on an organization's management and process definition structures. The ultimate goal of ISO/IEC 15504 is to achieve process improvement within a technology organization, based on rigorous definition of objectives and programs to help attain them.

ISO/IEC 15504 is organized around a reference model that is divided into two dimensions: a process dimension and a capability dimension. Processes are divided into 5 categories: customer-supplier, engineering, supporting, management and organization. Processes are also defined as to capability levels numbered from 0 to 5, where 0 describes an incomplete process, 1 a performed process, and so on, with 5 equating to an optimizing process. Process capabilities can also acquire process attributes, numbered c.x, where c is the capability level (1 for performed process, 2 for managed process and so forth), and x is a number associated with a specific related attribute, so that 2.1 represents performance management, while 2.2 represents work product management.

See also SPICE circuitry simulation.

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More resources from around the web: - Carnegie-Mellon's Software Engineering Institute provides a FAQ list for 15504 (SPICE). - Griffith University also offers a free, beta version of an Appraisal Assistant designed to help organizations interested in pursuing adoption of SPICE assessments and techniques. - SearchSoftwareQuality.com offers relevant news, research and tips in their project management resources.

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