Quantitative analysis of compatibility and correlation of the current SPA/SPI models

Abstract

It is a fundamental requirement to quantitatively analyze the compatibility and correlation between the current models for software process assessment (SPA) and improvement (SPI). The compatibility and correlation of SPA/SPI models (e.g., SPICE, CMM, ISO 9000, BOOTSTRAP and SPRM) are formally and quantitatively analyzed and contrasted in this paper. First, formal definitions of the compatibility and correlation between the models are introduced. Then the relational properties are mutually analyzed from every view point of each of the five models to the others. The objective analysis results provided are useful not only for theoretical research in software engineering, but also for practitioners in the software industry.