SPICE in retrospect: Developing a standard for process assessment

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.01.045 Byline: Terence P. Rout (a), Khaled El Emam (b), Mario Fusani (c), Dennis Goldenson (d), Ho-Won Jung (e) Keywords: Process assessment; Process improvement; Standardisation Abstract: The SPICE Project was established in 1993 to support the development, validation and transition into use of an International Standard for software process assessment. Its efforts have resulted in the publication of a five-part Standard for Process Assessment, ISO/IEC 15504. This paper reviews the evolution of the Standard, and reflects on the parallel achievements of the SPICE Project and the standardisation effort in advancing the state of the art in process assessment and improvement. Author Affiliation: (a) Software Quality Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia (b) University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada (c) ISTI-CNR, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy (d) Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (e) College of Business Administration, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea Article History: Received 1 June 2006; Revised 10 January 2007; Accepted 10 January 2007