Software Process Improvement Model for a Small Organization: An Experience Report

Up until the 1990's, software quality was determined mostly by its functionality. But market competition and contractual obligations have forced today's software suppliers to enlarge their notion of quality beyond functionality, and to include such factors as user support, product evolution and quality of implementation. There are some up-front costs to adding quality to a software product that, in theory, should be recovered later through reduced development costs and increased product sales to satis ed customers. Unfortunately, these critical quality costs can be prohibitive for small companies who must carefully consider whether to introduce a quality system and to what extent. In this paper, we explore an approach for introducing process improvement into a small project that is e ective, a ordable and scalable. Speci cally, we describe the current baseline practices of the SEAF project, identify improvement opportunities based on the assessment, and develop an initial version of a quality model for small companies.