Software Process Assessment

Software Process Assessment is a disciplined and organized examination of the software process which is being used by any organization bases the on the process model. The Software Process Assessment includes many fields and parts like identification and characterization of current practices, the ability of current practices to control or avoid significant causes of poor (software) quality, cost, schedule and  identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses of the software.

Types of Software Assessment :

• Self Assessment : This is conducted internally by the people of their own organisation. 
• Second Party assessment: This is conducted by an external team or people of the own organisation are supervised by an external team.
• Third Party assessment:

In an ideal case Software Process Assessment should be performed in a transparent, open and collaborative environment. This is very important for the improvement of the software and the development of the product. The results of the Software Process Assessment are confidential and are only accessible to the company. The assessment team must contain at least one person from the organization that is being assessed. 

Software Process Maturity Assessment:

The scope of Software Process Assessment includes many components like it should cover all the processes in the organisation, a selected subset of the software process or a specific project. The idea of process maturity serves as the foundation for the majority of standard-based process evaluation methodologies.

Though an organisation is the assessment objective, even when the same approach is applied again, the outcomes of a process evaluation may vary. The different results are mainly due to two reasons. The reasons are that the organization that is being investigated must be determined. When the company is very large it is possible for the company to have different definitions due to which the actual scope of appraisal may be different in successive assessments. Even if it is the same organization the sample of projects selected to represent the organization may affect the scope and result. Process maturity is important when the organisation intended to embark on an long term improvement strategy. 

Software Process Cycle:

Generally there are six different steps in the complete cycle:

• Selecting a team: The first step is to select all the team members. Everyone must be software professionals with sound knowledge in software engineering.
• The standard process maturity questionnaire is filled out by the representatives of the site that will be evaluated.
• In accordance with the CMM core process areas, the assessment team analyses the questionnaire results to determine the areas that call for additional investigation.
• The evaluation team visits the location to learn more about the software procedures used there.
• The evaluation team compiles a set of results outlining the organization’s software process’s advantages and disadvantages.
• In order to deliver the findings to the right audience, the assessment team creates a Key Process Area (KPA) profile analysis.

SCAMPI;

SCAMPI stands for Standard CMMI Assessment Method for Process Improvement. To fulfil the demands of the CMMI paradigm, the Standard CMMI Assessment Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) was created (Software Engineering Institute, 2000). Moreover, it is based on the CBA IPI. The CBA IPI and SCAMPI both have three steps.

1. Plan and become ready
2. Carry out the evaluation on-site
3. Report findings

The planning and preparation phase includes the following activities:

• Describe the scope of the evaluation.
• Create the assessment strategy.
• Get the evaluation crew ready and trained.
• Make a quick evaluation of the participants.
• CMMI Appraisal Questionnaire distribution
• Look at the survey results.
• Perform a preliminary document evaluation.

The onsite evaluation phase includes the following activities:

• Display the results.
• Execute the findings.
• Complete / end the assessment.