Software Process Improvement and Control

To make better software more efficiently at a lower cost – that is the goal of Software Process Improvement (SPI). SPI involves the study, improvement and control of how software is produced.

Important areas of the software development methodology that should be reviewed as part of the SPI process include:

• Project management
• Requirements management
• Quality assurance
• Configuration management
• Peer reviews
• Subcontract management
• Product engineering
• Intergroup coordination
• Process definition

Ongoing process improvement should be standard for every software development enterprise. It will give these organizations an advantage over the competition. To help with this important task, MKS recommends the following tools, articles and other resources for the software enterprise on this topic:

Recommended MKS Tool:

The MKS Integrity Suite fully supports software process improvement initiatives and compliance with certifications such as CMM and CMMI. Our Professional Services team can provide ongoing assistance to companies who are moving up and toward CMM or other certifications. MKS Integrity Suite provides:

• Automated Audit Tracking and Control enabling organizations to trace the origins and detail of change to business critical applications, and even the documented software process itself.

• Flexible Process-Centric Architecture that allows businesses to construct repeatable processes and workflows tuned to CMM compliance initiatives.

• Management Reporting that provides senior IT staff with detailed measures of performance on defects, incident reports, and project completion statistics over time.

MKS complements our technology with service expertise including:

• Process assessment & definition workshops
• Implementation planning
• Health Checks
• Training
• KPI Assessment workshops
• CMM level certification

Recommended Articles:

“IDEAL: A User’s Guide for Software Process Improvement”
- Robert McFeeley, Software Engineering Institute

“Identifying and Managing Risks for Software Process Improvement”
- Joyce Statz, Don Oxley, and Patrick O'Toole, TeraQuest Metrics Inc.

“People, Then Process”
- Scott Bureau, Software Development Magazine “Using MKS to Help Achieve The SEI Capability Maturity Model Level Three”
- MKS WhitePaper

Other Recommended Resources:

Software Process Improvement (SPI) eGroup
– Active open forum for exchanging info on Software Process Improvement (SPI) and the Capability Maturity Model for Software.

Software Productivity Centre
– Help for managing software projects and development process through tools, training, and consulting.

Software Productivity Consortium
– Most information at this site is restricted to paying members, but useful SPI information can be found.

Gantthead
– The online community for IT Project Managers, with a content department for process improvement.

Resources on Related Topics:

Software Configuration Management (SCM)

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Software Quality Assurance (SQA)

Software Requirements Management (RM)

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)