Gonzalo Cuevas Agustín

Experiences in the Application of Software Process Improvement in SMES

During the last few years, many Software Process Improvement methods (SPI) have been presented to increase the quality of products and services provided by a software organization. Current Software Process Improvement (SPI) methods (i.e. ISO 15504, CBA-IPI,...), are difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) due to the costs (financial, time, and resource) associated with their application. Also, these methods are principally focused on the assessment stage. This paper presents a new SPI method, called MESOPYME, which main focus is to reduce effort and time on the SPI implementation. This method focuses on the improvement implementation stage, which is based on a concept called Action Package, whose components are described (in Section 2.1.). The results obtained in the application of a Requirements Engineering Action Package in three organizations are also presented.During the last few years, many Software Process Improvement methods (SPI) have been presented to increase the quality of products and services provided by a software organization. Current Software Process Improvement (SPI) methods (i.e. ISO 15504, CBA-IPI,...), are difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) due to the costs (financial, time, and resource) associated with their application. Also, these methods are principally focused on the assessment stage. This paper presents a new SPI method, called MESOPYME, which main focus is to reduce effort and time on the SPI implementation. This method focuses on the improvement implementation stage, which is based on a concept called Action Package, whose components are described (in Section 2.1.). The results obtained in the application of a Requirements Engineering Action Package in three organizations are also presented.

State of the art for risk management in software acquisition

This paper presents the state of the art for risk management in software acquisition. To determine it, a systematic review protocol for Software Engineering is used. Furthermore, the systematic re-view focuses on identifying initiatives and reports of risk manage-ment proposals for software acquisition in small settings. Results show increasing research in risk management and the need for more in-depth studies.

CASE STUDY: a practical approach for SPI in large Spanish companies

The purpose of this article is to describe a real case of a Software Process Improvement (SPI) in a large company in Spain. This article also provides a set of experiences and recommendations for performing a software process assessment in large companies with several vertical organizational units. It also presents two tools for coordinating this kind of assessment. Finally, the strategies for defining and deploying improvements in large companies are discussed. Copyright

DEPROVAL: Tool for defining the validation process in small software organizations

In this article, we present a tool for defining the software validation process. The tool is implemented based on metamodel validation software based on the CMMI model. The tool enables small software organizations that have different difficulties such as: applying the models to improve their organization, lack of resources and trained personnel and knowledge test, to establish the validation process of its products through this tool.

A taxonomy for software testing projects

This article establishes taxonomy for software testing projects, allowing the development team or testing personnel to identify the tests to which the project must be subjected for validation. The taxonomy is focused on identifying software projects according to their technology. To establish the taxonomy, a development method comprised of 5 phases was applied. The developed taxonomy is comprised of 9 categories and 27 subcategories and was validated by a group of information technology (IT) managers and professionals in the field of IT through the use of a survey. The results obtained from the survey are subjected to the Mann-Whitney U test, which indicates that the taxonomy is validated. The taxonomy can be implemented in development organizations with or without a testing team that provides a classification for technology projects.