Application Of Thespi-km Approach To Support The Implementation of The Mps Model In Small- And Medium-sized enterprises In Brazil

摘要

Although small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent most of the of Brazilian software industry, these organizations struggle to implement software process improvement (SPI) initiatives aiming to increase their competitive advantages. One cause of the failure of many SPI initiatives conducted by SMEs is the lack of adequate process implementation approaches aligned to common characteristics of SMEs, such as a lack of financial and human resources. During the last five years, the Brazilian software industry and research universities have been working cooperatively to develop and disseminate a Brazilian software process model, the MPS model, aimed at improving the quality of Brazilian software processes and products. To cope with the difficulties SMEs face during SPI implementation and to facilitate the dissemination of the MPS model, the authors developed an approach called SPI-KM, supported by a process-centered software engineering environment known as the Taba Workstation. The MPS model and the Taba Workstation are presented in this article. The results and lessons learned from the application of the SPI-KM approach in a group of five Brazilian SMEs that implemented the MPS model are also described.