iso iec 15504 isoiec 15504 information technology process assessment also termed software process improvement and capability determination spice is a set of technical standards documents for the computer software development process and related business management functions it is one of the joint international organization for standardization iso and international electrotechnical commission iec standards which was developed by the iso and iec joint subcommittee isoiec jtc 1sc 7 isoiec 15504 was initially derived from process lifecycle standard isoiec 12207 and from maturity models like bootstrap trillium and the capability maturity model cmm isoiec 15504 has been revised by isoiec 330012015 information technology process assessment concepts and terminology as of march 2015 and is no longer available at iso overview isoiec 15504 is the reference model for the maturity models consisting of capability levels which in turn consist of the process attributes and further consist of generic practices against which the assessors can place the evidence that they collect during their assessment so that the assessors can give an overall determination of the organizations capabilities for delivering products software systems and it services history a working group was formed in 1993 to draft the international standard and used the acronym spice spice initially stood for software process improvement and capability evaluation but in consideration of french concerns over the meaning of evaluation spice has now been renamed software process improvement and capability determination spice is still used for the user group of the standard and the title for the annual conference the first spice was held in limerick ireland in 2000 spice 2003 was hosted by esa in the netherlands spice 2004 was hosted in portugal spice 2005 in austria spice 2006 in luxembourg spice 2007 in south korea spice 2008 in nuremberg germany and spice 2009 in helsinki finland the first versions of the standard focused exclusively on software development processes this was expanded to cover all related processes in a software business for example project management configuration management quality assurance and so on the list of processes covered grew to cover six business areas organizational management engineering acquisition supply support and operations in a major revision to the draft standard in 2004 the process reference model was removed and is now related to the isoiec 12207 software lifecycle processes the issued standard now specifies the measurement framework and can use different process reference models there are five general and industry models in use part 5 specifies software process assessment and part 6 specifies system process assessment the latest work in the iso standards working group includes creation of a maturity model which is planned to become isoiec 15504 part 7 the standard this sections factual accuracy may be compromised due to outofdate information please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information october 2011 the technical report tr document for isoiec tr 15504 was divided into 9 parts the initial international standard was recreated in 5 parts this was proposed from japan when the trs were published at 1997 the international standard is version of isoiec 15504 now comprises 6 parts the 7th part is currently in an advanced final draft standard form and work has started on part 8 part 1 of isoiec tr 15504 explains the concepts and gives an overview of the framework reference model isoiec 15504 contains a reference model the reference model defines a process dimension and a capability dimension the process dimension in the reference model is not the subject of part 2 of isoiec 15504 but part 2 refers to external process lifecycle standards including isoiec 12207 and isoiec 15288 processes the process dimension defines processes divided into the five process categories of customersupplier engineering supporting management organization with new parts being published the process categories will expand particularly for it service process categories and enterprise process categories capability levels and process attributes for each process isoiec 15504 defines a capability level on the following scale level name 5 optimizing process 4 predictable process 3 established process 2 managed process 1 performed process 0 incomplete process the capability of processes is measured using process attributes the international standard defines nine process attributes 11 process performance 21 performance management 22 work product management 31 process definition 32 process deployment 41 process measurement 42 process control 51 process innovation 52 process optimization each process attribute consists of one or more generic practices which are further elaborated into practice indicators to aid assessment performance each process attribute is assessed on a fourpoint nplf rating scale not achieved 0 15 partially achieved 15 50 largely achieved 50 85 fully achieved 85 100 the rating is based upon evidence collected against the practice indicators which demonstrate fulfillment of the process attribute assessments isoiec 15504 provides a guide for performing an assessment this includes the assessment process the model for the assessment any tools used in the assessment assessment process performing assessments is the subject of parts 2 and 3 of isoiec 15504 part 2 is the normative part and part 3 gives a guidance to fulfill the requirements in part 2 one of the requirements is to use a conformant assessment method for the assessment process the actual method is not specified in the standard although the standard places requirements on the method method developers and assessors using the method the standard provides general guidance to assessors and this must be supplemented by undergoing formal training and detailed guidance during initial assessments the assessment process can be generalized as the following steps initiate an assessment assessment sponsor select assessor and assessment team plan the assessment including processes and organizational unit to be assessed lead assessor and assessment team preassessment briefing data collection data validation process rating reporting the assessment result an assessor can collect data on a process by various means including interviews with persons performing the process collecting documents and quality records and collecting statistical process data the assessor validates this data to ensure it is accurate and completely covers the assessment scope the assessor assesses this data using his expert judgment against a processs base practices and the capability dimensions generic practices in the process rating step process rating requires some exercising of expert judgment on the part of the assessor and this is the reason that there are requirements on assessor qualifications and competency the process rating is then presented as a preliminary finding to the sponsor and preferably also to the persons assessed to ensure that they agree that the assessment is accurate in a few cases there may be feedback requiring further assessment before a final process rating is made assessment model the process assessment model pam is the detailed model used for an actual assessment this is an elaboration of the process reference model prm provided by the process lifecycle standards the process assessment model pam in part 5 is based on the process reference model prm for software isoiec 12207 the process assessment model in part 6 is based on the process reference model for systems isoiec 15288 the standard allows other models to be used instead if they meet isoiec 15504s criteria which include a defined community of interest and meeting the requirements for content ie process purpose process outcomes and assessment indicators tools used in the assessment there exist several assessment tools the simplest comprise paperbased tools in general they are laid out to incorporate the assessment model indicators including the base practice indicators and generic practice indicators assessors write down the assessment results and notes supporting the assessment judgment there are a limited number of computer based tools that present the indicators and allow users to enter the assessment judgment and notes in formatted screens as well as automate the collated assessment result ie the process attribute ratings and creating reports assessor qualifications and competency for a successful assessment the assessor must have a suitable level of the relevant skills and experience these skills include personal qualities such as communication skills relevant education and training and experience specific skills for particular categories eg management skills for the management category isoiec 15504 related training and experience in process capability assessments the competency of assessors is the subject of part 3 of isoiec 15504 in summary the isoiec 15504 specific training and experience for assessors comprise completion of a 5day lead assessor training course performing at least one assessment successfully under supervision of a competent lead assessor performing at least one assessment successfully as a lead assessor under the supervision of a competent lead assessor the competent lead assessor defines when the assessment is successfully performed there exist schemes for certifying assessors and guiding lead assessors in making this judgement uses isoiec 15504 can be used in two contexts process improvement and capability determination evaluation of suppliers process capability process improvement isoiec 15504 can be used to perform process improvement within a technology organization process improvement is always difficult and initiatives often fail so it is important to understand the initial baseline level process capability level and to assess the situation after an improvement project iso 15504 provides a standard for assessing the organizations capacity to deliver at each of these stages in particular the reference framework of isoiec 15504 provides a structure for defining objectives which facilitates specific programs to achieve these objectives process improvement is the subject of part 4 of isoiec 15504 it specifies requirements for improvement programmes and provides guidance on planning and executing improvements including a description of an eight step improvement programme following this improvement programme is not mandatory and several alternative improvement programmes exist capability determination an organization considering outsourcing software development needs to have a good understanding of the capability of potential suppliers to deliver isoiec 15504 part 4 can also be used to inform supplier selection decisions the isoiec 15504 framework provides a framework for assessing proposed suppliers as assessed either by the organization itself or by an independent assessor the organization can determine a target capability for suppliers based on the organizations needs and then assess suppliers against a set of target process profiles that specify this target capability part 4 of the isoiec 15504 specifies the high level requirements and an initiative has been started to create an extended part of the standard covering target process profiles target process profiles are particularly important in contexts where the organization for example a government department is required to accept the cheapest qualifying vendor this also enables suppliers to identify gaps between their current capability and the level required by a potential customer and to undertake improvement to achieve the contract requirements ie become qualified work on extending the value of capability determination includes a method called practical process profiles which uses risk as the determining factor in setting target process profiles combining risk and processes promotes improvement with active risk reduction hence reducing the likelihood of problems occurring acceptance of isoiec 15504 isoiec 15504 has been successful as isoiec 15504 is available through national standards bodies it has the support of the international community over 4000 assessments have been performed to date major sectors are leading the pace such as automotive space and medical systems with industry relevant variants domainspecific models like automotive spice and spice 4 space can be derived from it there have been many international initiatives to support takeup such as spice for small and very small entities on the other hand isoiec 15504 has not yet been as successful as the cmmi this has been for several reasons isoiec 15504 is not available as free download but must be purchased from the iso automotive spice on the other hand can be freely downloaded from the link supplied below cmm and cmmi are available as free downloads from the sei website the cmmi is actively sponsored by the us department of defense the cmm was created first and reached critical market share before iso 15504 became available the cmm has subsequently been replaced by the cmmi which incorporates many of the ideas of isoiec 15504 but also retains the benefits of the cmm like the cmm isoiec 15504 was created in a development context making it difficult to apply in a service management context but work has started to develop an isoiec 20000based process reference model isoiec 200004 that can serve as a basis for a process assessment model this is planned to become part 8 to the standard isoiec 155048 in addition there are methods available that adapt its use to various contexts isoiec 1550412004 information technology process assessment part 1 concepts and vocabulary isoiec 1550422003 information technology process assessment part 2 performing an assessment isoiec 1550422003cor 12004 isoiec 1550432004 information technology process assessment part 3 guidance on performing an assessment isoiec 1550442004 information technology process assessment part 4 guidance on use for process improvement and process capability determination isoiec 1550452012 information technology process assessment part 5 an exemplar process assessment model isoiec tr 1550462013 information technology process assessment part 6 an exemplar system life cycle process assessment model isoiec tr 1550472008 information technology process assessment part 7 assessment of organizational maturity isoiec pdtr 155048 information technology process assessment part 8 an exemplar process assessment model for it service management isoiec ts 1550492011 information technology process assessment part 9 target process profiles isoiec ts 15504102011 information technology process assessment part 10 safety extension van loon h 2007a process assessment and iso 15504 springer isbn9780387300481 van loon h 2007b process assessment and improvement springer isbn9780387300443 automotive spice medi spice tipa tudor it process assessment test spice enterprise spice s4s spice for space part 1 framework part 2 assessor instrument esa bulletin 107 spice in action experiences in tailoring and extension vtesoftware engineeringfields computer programming requirements engineering software deployment software design software maintenance software testing systems analysis formal methods concepts data modeling enterprise architecture functional specification modeling language orthogonality programming paradigm software software archaeology software architecture software configuration management software development methodology software development process software quality software quality assurance software verification and validation structured analysis orientations agile aspectoriented object orientation ontology service orientation sdlc modelsdevelopmental agile eup executable uml incremental model iterative model prototype model rad up scrum spiral model vmodel waterfall model xp other spice cmmi data model er model function model information model metamodeling object model systems model view model languages idef uml usl sysml softwareengineers victor basili kent beck grady booch fred brooks barry boehm peter chen danese cooper ward cunningham tom demarco edsger w dijkstra delores m etter martin fowler adele goldstine margaret hamilton c a r hoare lois haibt mary jean harrold grace hopper watts humphrey michael a jackson ivar jacobson alan kay nancy leveson stephen j mellor bertrand meyer david parnas trygve reenskaug winston w royce james rumbaugh mary shaw peri tarr elaine weyuker niklaus wirth edward yourdon related fields computer science computer engineering project management risk management systems engineering category commons vteiso standards by standard numberlist of iso standards iso romanizations iec standards19999 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 16 17 31 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 128 216 217 226 228 233 259 269 302 306 361 428 500 518 519 639 1 2 3 5 6 646 657 668 690 704 732 764 838 843 860 898 965 999 1000 1004 1007 10731 1155 1413 1538 1629 1745 1989 2014 2015 2022 2033 2047 2108 2145 2146 2240 2281 2533 2709 2711 2720 2788 2848 2852 3029 3103 3166 1 2 3 3297 3307 3601 3602 3864 3901 3950 3977 4031 4157 4165 4217 4909 5218 5426 5427 5428 5725 5775 5776 5800 5964 6166 6344 6346 6385 6425 6429 6438 6523 6709 6943 7001 7002 7010 7027 7064 7098 7185 7200 7498 1 7637 7736 7810 7811 7812 7813 7816 7942 8000 8093 8178 8217 8373 85011 8571 8583 8601 8613 8632 8651 8652 8691 88058806 8807 88205 8859 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8i 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 8879 90009001 9036 9075 9126 9141 9227 9241 9293 9314 9362 9407 9506 9529 9564 95929593 9594 9660 97971 9897 9899 9945 9984 9985 9995 1000019999 10005 10006 10007 10116 101183 10160 10161 10165 10179 10206 10218 10303 11 21 22 28 238 10383 10487 10585 10589 10646 10664 10746 10861 10957 10962 10967 11073 11170 11179 11404 11544 11783 11784 11785 11801 11898 11940 2 11941 11941 tr 11992 12006 12182 12207 122342 13211 1 2 13216 13250 13399 134062 13450 13485 13490 13567 13568 13584 13616 14000 14031 14224 14289 14396 14443 14496 2 3 6 10 11 12 14 17 20 14644 14649 14651 14698 14750 14764 14882 14971 15022 15189 15288 15291 15292 15398 15408 15444 3 15445 15438 15504 15511 15686 15693 15706 2 15707 15897 15919 15924 15926 15926 wip 15930 16023 16262 166122 16750 16949 ts 17024 17025 17100 17203 17369 17442 17799 18000 18004 18014 18245 18629 18916 19005 19011 19092 1 2 19114 19115 19125 19136 19407 19439 19500 19501 19502 19503 19505 19506 19507 19508 19509 19510 19600 19752 19757 19770 197751 197945 19831 20000 20000 20022 20121 20400 21000 21047 21500 218272002 22000 23270 23271 23360 24517 24613 24617 24707 25178 25964 26000 26300 26324 27000 series 27000 27001 27002 27006 27729 28000 29110 29148 291992 29500 30170 31000 32000 38500 40500 42010 55000 80000 1 2 3 category vtelist of international electrotechnical commission standardsiec standards iec 60027 iec 60034 iec 60038 iec 60062 iec 60063 iec 60068 iec 60112 iec 60228 iec 60269 iec 60297 iec 60309 iec 60320 iec 60364 iec 60446 iec 60559 iec 60601 iec 60870 iec 608705 iec 608706 iec 609061 iec 60908 iec 60929 iec 60958 aes3 spdif iec 61030 iec 61131 iec 611313 iec 61158 iec 61162 iec 61334 iec 61346 iec 61355 iec 61360 iec 61400 iec 61499 iec 61508 iec 61511 iec 61850 iec 61851 iec 61883 iec 61960 iec 61968 iec 61970 iec 620144 iec 62056 iec 62061 iec 62196 iec 62262 iec 62264 iec 62304 iec 62325 iec 62351 iec 62365 iec 62366 iec 62379 iec 62386 iec 62455 iec 62680 iec 62682 iec 62700 isoiec standards isoiec 646 isoiec 2022 isoiec 4909 isoiec 5218 isoiec 6429 isoiec 6523 isoiec 7810 isoiec 7811 isoiec 7812 isoiec 7813 isoiec 7816 isoiec 7942 isoiec 8613 isoiec 8632 isoiec 8652 isoiec 8859 isoiec 9126 isoiec 9293 isoiec 9592 isoiec 9593 isoiec 9899 isoiec 9945 isoiec 9995 isoiec 10021 isoiec 10116 isoiec 10165 isoiec 10179 isoiec 10646 isoiec 10967 isoiec 11172 isoiec 11179 isoiec 11404 isoiec 11544 isoiec 11801 isoiec 12207 isoiec 13250 isoiec 13346 isoiec 135225 isoiec 13568 isoiec 13818 isoiec 14443 isoiec 14496 isoiec 14882 isoiec 15288 isoiec 15291 isoiec 15408 isoiec 15444 isoiec 15445 isoiec 15504 isoiec 15511 isoiec 15693 isoiec 15897 isoiec 15938 isoiec 16262 isoiec 17024 isoiec 17025 isoiec 18000 isoiec 18004 isoiec 18014 isoiec 19752 isoiec 19757 isoiec 19770 isoiec 19788 isoiec 20000 isoiec 21000 isoiec 21827 isoiec 23000 isoiec 23003 isoiec 23008 isoiec 23270 isoiec 23360 isoiec 24707 isoiec 24727 isoiec 24744 isoiec 24752 isoiec 26300 isoiec 27000 isoiec 27000series isoiec 27002 isoiec 27040 isoiec 29119 isoiec 33001 isoiec 38500 isoiec 42010 isoiec 80000 related international electrotechnical commission 