Reference Model for Software Process Improvement: A Brazilian Experience

摘要

Recent research efforts about quality in the software area demonstrate that a concentrated effort is necessary to improve software process. Mainly in Brazil, there is an urge to enhance software processes performance aiming to improve the quality of software products and to increase Brazilian organizations competitive advantages both in the national and international markets. This work describes an approach developed to establish the base for Brazilian organizations to improve software processes. The focus of this work is to increase the software development capability of small and medium size companies in a fast pace. The presented approach consists of the development of a Reference Model for software process improvement and an appraisal method for the Brazilian software industry. This model has been deployed in several Brazilian companies thorough the support of Software Development Environments. The pilot experience and empirical validation results of application of the presented approach are also described in this paper.