  This paper presents the components of a newly developed Malaysian SMEs -
Software Process Improvement model (MSME-SPI) that can assess SMEs soft-ware
development industry in managing and improving their software processes
capability. The MSME-SPI is developed in response to practitioner needs that
were highlighted in an empirical study with the Malaysian SME software
development industry. After the model development, there is a need for
independent feedback to show that the model meets its objectives. Consequently,
the validation phase is performed by involving a group of software process
improvement experts in examining the MSME-SPI model components. Besides, the
effectiveness of the MSME-SPI model is validated using an expert panel. Three
criteria were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the model namely:
usefulness, verifiability, and structure. The results show the model effective
to be used by SMEs with minor modifications. The validation phase contributes
towards a better understanding and use of the MSME-SPI model by the
practitioners in the field.
