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Supporting CMMI Level 2 SAM PA with non-technical features catalogues

Abstract:

In the last decades, the use of methods and models for the evaluation and continuous improvement of software processes has become a common practice in software development organisations. This is not only due to the fact that software quality is becoming an increasing concern to both practitioners and researchers but also that the software market is becoming gradually more demanding in terms of development constraints, systems evolution and emerging business models. To cope with this reality, the adoption of Software Process Improvement Models such as capability maturity model integration (CMMI) is perceived by many software development organisations as a basic survival principle. However CMMI is not prescriptive; it provides instead a compendium of best practices which should be adopted by organisations usually after the development of several supporting assets. In this article, we propose the use of a unified catalogue of non-technical features to support some of the activities of CMMI level 2, namely the ones in relation to Supplier Agreement Management (SAM). Non-technical features included in the catalogue have been collected from the literature and also from our research and industrial experiences. We illustrate the approach with a software selection process carried out in a telecommunications company. Copyright ©2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.