Software process assessment and improvement in NEC - current status and future direction

Abstract

This paper introduces software process assessment and improvement (SPAI) activities in the NEC and suggests their future direction based on our experience. In the course of applying various kinds of SPA methods, merits and demerits of each method and general issues on SPAI are identified. These findings are reorganized into requirements for SPAI methods, procedures and tools. Reviewing these requirements and looking back to actual assessment situation, we concluded that required features for SPAI are as follow: adaptability: possibility to adapt it to the organizational goals, needs and properties; concreteness: possibility to reach effective and concrete solutions based on the assessment results; validity: possibility to validate effects of SPAI. These features indicate the future direction of SPAI. Information libraries for realizing them are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons Ltd