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A Hierarchy of SPI Activities for Software SMEs: Results from ISO/IEC 12207-Based SPI Assessments

  • Conference paper
Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE 2012)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 290))

Abstract

In an assessment of software process improvement (SPI) in 15 software small- and –medium-sized enterprises (software SMEs), we applied the broad spectrum of software specific and system context processes in ISO/IEC 12207 to the task of examining SPI in practice. Using the data collected in the study, we developed a four-tiered pyramidal hierarchy of SPI for software SMEs, with processes in the higher tiers undergoing SPI in more companies than processes on lower level tiers. The development of the hierarchy of SPI activities for software SMEs can facilitate future evolutions of process maturity reference frameworks, such as ISO/IEC 15504, in better supporting software development in software SMEs. Furthermore, the findings extend our body of knowledge concerning the practice of SPI in software SMEs, a large and vital sector of the software development community that has largely avoided the implementation of established process maturity and software quality management standards.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lero Graduate School in Software Engineering, Dublin City University, Ireland

    Paul Clarke & Murat Yilmaz

  2. Dublin City University, Ireland

    Rory V. O’Connor

  3. Lero, The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre, Ireland

    Rory V. O’Connor

Authors
  1. Paul Clarke
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  2. Rory V. O’Connor
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  3. Murat Yilmaz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Cra. de Valldemossa, km 7.5, 07122, Palma de Mallorca (Illes Balears), Spain

    Antonia Mas  & Antoni Mesquida  & 

  2. Software Quality Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Terry Rout

  3. Lero, the Irish Software Engineering, Research Centre, Dublin City University, School of Computing, Dublin, Ireland

    Rory V. O’Connor

  4. InterSPICE Ltd, 23 King Street, CB1 1AH, Cambridge, UK

    Alec Dorling

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Clarke, P., O’Connor, R.V., Yilmaz, M. (2012). A Hierarchy of SPI Activities for Software SMEs: Results from ISO/IEC 12207-Based SPI Assessments. In: Mas, A., Mesquida, A., Rout, T., O’Connor, R.V., Dorling, A. (eds) Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination. SPICE 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 290. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30439-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30439-2_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-30438-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-30439-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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