ISO/IEC PDTR 15504

Information technology - Software processes assessment

This document provides a framework for the assessment of software processes. This framework can be used by organizations involved in planning, managing, monitoring, controlling and improving the acquisition, supply, development, operation, evolution, and support of software.

Information regarding ISO/IEC PDTR 15504 is provided under the following headings:

Audience

The audience for this standard is:

Scope

This document is the result of the SPICE project effort, conducted with a mandate from ISO/IEC, to develop a standard in the area of software process assessment. It is now submitted to ISO/IEC for balloting and it is expected to culminate in a new International Standard in the 1998 timeframe.

The scope of the standard is process assessment, process improvement, and capability determination. Software process domains to be assessed are acquisition, supply development, operation, maintenance, supporting processes and service support.

The overall goals of the standard are to encourage organizations interested in improving product quality to employ proven, consistent and reliable methods for assessing the state of their processes and to use their assessment results as part of coherent improvement programs.

Abstract

The ISO/IEC 15504 consists of the following parts:

  • Part 1 - Concepts and introductory guide (informative)

    It describes how the parts of the suite fit together, and provides guidance for their selection and use. It explains the requirements contained within the Standard and their applicability to the conduct of an assessment, to the construction and selection of supporting tools, and to the construction of extended processes (processes which include base practices additional to those defined in the part 2 of the Standard, or which are entirely new processes, for example to meet industry specific requirements).

  • Part 2 - A reference model for processes and process capability (normative)

    It defines, at a high level, the fundamental activities that are essential to software engineering, structured according to increasing levels of process capability. These baseline practices may be extended, through the generation of application or sector specific practice guides, to take account of specific industry, sector or other requirements.

  • Part 3 - Performing an assessment (normative)

    It defines a framework for conducting an assessment, and sets out the basis for rating, scoring and profiling process capabilities.

  • Part 4 - Guide to performing assessments (informative)

    It provides guidance on to conduct software process assessments. This guidance is generic enough to be applicable across all organizations, and also for performing assessments using a variety of different methods and techniques, and supported by a range of tools.

  • Part 5 - An assessment model and indicator guidance (informative)

    It defines the framework elements required to construct an instrument to assist an assessor in the performance of an assessment. In addition, it provides guidance to acquirers or designers on the selection and usability aspects of various types of assessment instruments.

  • Part 6 - Guide to qualification of assessors (informative)

    It describes the competence, education, training and experience of assessors that are relevant to conducting process assessments. It describes mechanisms that may be used to demonstrate competence and to validate education, training and experience.

  • Part 7 - Guide for use in process improvement (informative)

    It describes how to define the inputs to and use the results of an assessment for the purposes of process improvement. The guide includes examples of the application of process improvement in a variety of situations.

  • Part 8 - Guide for use in determining supplier process capability (informative)

    It describes how to define the inputs to and use the results of an assessment for the purpose of process capability determination. It addresses process capability determination in both straightforward situations and in more complex situations involving constructed or future capability. The guidance on conducting process capability determination is applicable either for use within an organization to determine its own capability, or by a acquirer to determine the capability of a (potential) supplier.

  • Part 9 - Vocabulary (informative)

    It is a consolidated vocabulary of all terms specifically defined for the purposes of this International Standard.

    Relationship to other International Standards

    The ISO/IEC 15504 is complementary to several other International Standards and other models for evaluating the capability and effectiveness of organizations and processes.

    It incorporates the intent of ISO 9000 to provide confidence in a supplier's quality management whilst providing acquirers with a framework for assessing whether potential suppliers have the capability to meet their needs in a comparable and repeatable way. Process assessment provides users with the ability to evaluate process capability on a continuous scale, rather than using the pass/fail characteristic of quality audits based on ISO 9000. In addition, the framework described in this suite provides the opportunity to adjust the scope of assessment to cover specific processes of interest, rather than all of the processes used by an organizational unit.

    The ISO/IEC 15504, and particularly Part 2, is strongly related to ISO/IEC 12207; the reference model for software processes is closely mapped to ISO/IEC 12207 framework.

    More information about SPICE at :http://www-sqi.cit.gu.edu.au/spice