An empirical evaluation of the ISO/IEC 15504 assessment model
The emerging international standard ISO/IEC 15504 (Software Process Assessment) includes an exemplar assessment model (known as Part 5). Thus far, the majority of users of ISO/IEC 15504 employ the exemplar model as the basis for their assessments. This paper describes an empirical evaluation of the exemplar model. Questionnaire data was collected from the lead assessors of 57 assessments world-wide. Our findings are encouraging for the developers and users of ISO/IEC 15504 in that they indicate that the current model can be used successfully in assessments. However, they also point out some weaknesses in the rating scheme that need to be rectified in future revisions of ISO/IEC 15504.
assessment model standards software process assessment software process process improvement