ISO/IEC 15504 processes

23.6.4 ISO/IEC 15504 processes

The ISO/IEC 15504 includes 29 processes that the organization has to per- form successfully to reach capability level 5. The processes are grouped into the following five subject areas:

Subject area

No. of processes

Customer–supplier (CUS)

Engineering (ENG)

Support (SUP) 8 Management (MAN)

Organization (ORG)

The subject areas correspond to the generic process attributes mentioned above, where each process or subprocess corresponds to a certain process attribute. In general, several processes and subprocesses correspond to any

23.6.5 ISO/IEC 15504 trials 497 The SPICE project management planned a large-scale trial of the ISO/IEC

Summ

15504 technical report version to facilitate its transformation into an effec- tive standard. The trials had three goals:

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To validate the model’s conformity with current standards

To verify its usability in determining whether software satisfies user requirements

To gain experience in applying the model. The trial’s findings were expected to contribute to significant improvement

of the SPICE 1995 report and the 1998 version 1.0 of the standard ISO/IEC TR 15504.

The three phases of the trial were carried out during 1995–2000. The required database was built on data collected during full-scale assessments performed in real organizational environments. An assessment team includ-

ed at least one qualified assessor. Each organization, which had volunteered to participate, agreed to carry out at least one full-scale assessment. Special efforts were invested to create a diversified database, including participants from every continent and a variety of software specializations. During these trials, more than 200 full-scale assessments were carried out, with the SPICE report applied in phases 1 and 2 and the 1998 technical report version of 15504 for phase 3. Detailed descriptions of some of the findings can be found in El Emam (1998), Jung (2001) and Jung et al. (2001).

Summary

(1) Explain the benefits of the use of SQA standards.

The ability to make use of the most sophisticated and comprehensive profes- sional methodologies and procedures

■ Better understanding and cooperation between users of the same standards: – Between team members and between project teams – Between software developers and external participants in the project – Between suppliers and customers.

(2) Describe the contributions made by the use of standards.

Provision of superior professional methodologies for use in the development process and for its management

Provision of SQA certification services based on independent professional qual- ity audits

(3) Describe the general principles underlying quality management according to ISO 9000-3.

■ Customer focus – understanding a customer’s current and future needs

Quality

■ Leadership exercised in the creation and maintenance of a positive internal environment in order to achieve the organization’s objectives

■ Involvement of people at all levels to further organizational goals

■ Process approach – activities and related resources perceived and managed as

a a process n

a ■ Systems approach to management – managing processes as a system gement

■ Continual improvement of the organization’s overall performance ■

Factual approach to decision-making – decisions based on the analysis of data and information

st

■ Mutually beneficial supplier relationships – emphasis on coordination and

andard

cooperation.

(4) Describe the ISO 9000-3 certification process.

To acquire ISO 9000-3 certification, organizations must: ■

Plan the organization’s activities for gaining certification ■

Develop the organization’s SQA system, including procedures

Obtain approval of procedures by the certifying organization

■ Implement the organization’s SQA system ■

Undergo certification audits of actual performance of the SQA system.

(5) Describe the principles embodied in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).

■ Application of more highly elaborated software quality management methods increases the organization’s capability to control quality and improve software process productivity

■ Application of the five levels of the CMM enables the organization to evaluate its achievements and determine what additional efforts are needed to reach the next capability level

■ Process areas are generic, with the model defining “what” and leaving the “how” to the implementing organizations, i.e., the choice of life cycle model, design methodology, software development tool, programming language and documentation standard.

(6) Describe the principles that guided the developers of ISO/IEC 15504.

■ Harmonization of independent assessment methodologies by providing a con- ceptual framework based on “what”, not “how.”

■ Universality of applicability to all or almost all categories of software suppliers and customer organizations as well as software categories

■ Professionalism

Selected bibliography 499 Selected bib

1. El Emam, K. (1998) The Internal Consistency of the ISO/IEC 15504 Software Process Capability Scale , International Software Engineering Research Network Technical Report ISEERN-98-06.

2. Felschow, A. (1999) “Understanding the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and the role of SQA in the software development maturity”, in G. G. Schulmeyer and J. I. McManus (eds), Handbook of Software Quality Assurance, 3rd edn,

liogr

Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, pp. 329–350. 3. Gartner Inc. (2001) “Describing the Capability Maturity Model”, Measure,

aphy

Special Edition 2001, Gartner Inc., http//www.gartner.com/measurements. 4. IEEE (1992) “IEEE Std 1045–1992 – IEEE Standard for Software Productivity Metrics”, in IEEE Software Engineering Standards Collection, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York.

5. IEEE (1998a) “IEEE Std 1012–1998 – IEEE Standard for Software Verification and Validation”, in IEEE Software Engineering Standards Collection, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York.

6. IEEE (1998b) “IEEE Std 730–1998 – IEEE Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans”, in IEEE Software Engineering Standards Collection, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York.

7. IEEE/EIA (1996) “IEEE/EIA Std 12207.0-1996 – IEEE/EIA Standard – Industry Implementation of International Standard ISO/IEC 12207:1995”, in IEEE Software Engineering Standards Collection, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York.

8. Ince, D. (1994) ISO 9001 and Software Quality Assurance, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK. 9. ISO (1994) ISO 9001:1994 Quality Systems – Model for Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and Servicing, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 10. ISO (1997) ISO 9000-3:1997(E), Quality Management and Quality Assurance Standards – Part 3: Guidelines for the Application of ISO 9001:1994 to the Development, Supply, Installation and Maintenance of Computer Software, 2nd edn, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 11. ISO (2000a) ISO 9000:2000 Quality Management Systems – Requirements, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 12. ISO (2000b) ISO 9000:2000 Quality Management Systems – Fundamentals and Vocabulary, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 13. ISO (2000c) ISO 9000:2000 Quality Management Systems – Guidelines for Performance Improvements, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 14. ISO/IEC (1998) ISO/IEC TR 15504 Parts 1–9:1998 Information Technology – Software Process Assessment, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva. 15. ISO/IEC (2001) “ISO 9000-3:2001 Software and System Engineering – Guidelines for the Application of ISO 9001:2000 to Software, Final draft”, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, unpublished draft, December 2001.

18. Jung, H.-W. Hunter, R., Goldenson, D. R. and El-Emam, K. (2001) “Findings from Phase 2 of the SPICE trials”, Software Process Improvement and Practice,

23 7(6), 205–242. Quality 19. Kahoe, R. and Jarvis, A. (1995) ISO 9000-3 – A Tool for Software Product and

Process Improvement, Springer, New York. 20. Keeni, G. (2000) “The evolution of quality processes at Tata Consultancy Services”, IEEE Software, 17(4), 79–88.

21. Oskarsson, O. and Glass, R. L. (1996) An ISO 9000 Approach to Building

a Quality Software, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. n