An Integrated Framework to Guide Software Process Improvement in Small Organizations - Software Process Improvement - page 215

The improvement framework describes five components which have been defined
by taking into account: (i) widely recognized frameworks, such as ISO/IEC 15504-4
[18], IDEAL and SCRUM; and (ii) special characteristics of the VSEs, such as that:
they are generally extremely reactive and flexible; they typically have a flat structure
and a free-flowing management style that encourages entrepreneurship and innova-
tion; they have limited economic movement and lightweight processes; and they do
not usually have enough staff to be able to develop specialized functions that would
enable them to perform complex tasks and to develop secondary products [6].
These components describe tailored and integrated improvement practices, strate-
gies and tools aiming to offer the VSEs a framework which is useful and practical for
addressing SPI initiatives. Furthermore, according to [7], the proposals that have been
used to SPI on VSEs are diverse and include: adaptation and use of SPI models, es-
tablishment of software processes to guide the SPI efforts, prioritization of the SPI
efforts and evaluation of a SPI programme. Only the improvement framework ad-
dresses (by means of its components) these improvement proposals in an integrated
and explicit manner.

3 Methodological Framework of COMPETISOFT

COMPETISOFT seeks to provide a strategy for increasing the level of competitive-
ness of Latin-American small software organizations by means of the creation and
dissemination of a common Methodological Framework for the improvement and
certification of the software processes of the small enterprises. An overview of the
components of this Methodological Framework is shown in Fig. 1.

Process Reference Model Process Reference Model

Improvement process - PmCOMPETISOFT Improvement process - PmCOMPETISOFT

Tool to support the improvement process - GENESIS Tool to support the improvement process - GENESIS

Agile process for improvement introduction Agile process for improvement introduction

Strategy for processes selection and prioritization Strategy for processes selection and prioritization

Assessment methodology - METvalCOMPETISOFT Assessment methodology - METvalCOMPETISOFT

Process Evaluation Model Process Evaluation Model

Fig. 1. Methodological Framework of COMPETISOFT

The process reference model is based on MoProSoft. In fact, we can view this
process reference model as an evolution of MoProSoft, coming from the experience
of researchers and practitioners in software process development and improvement. It
is important to highlight that this evolution of MoProSoft has been used as a basis for