ISO/IEC 15504 Part 5 contains an exemplar Process Assessment Model (PAM). The Process Assessment Model comprises a process dimension and a capability dimension. The Process Assessment Model additionally provides a set of indicators of process performance and process capability.
Read the full story to learn about the Process Dimension, the Capability Dimension, Process Attributes and the rating scheme.
The process dimension is formed by software lifecycle processes defined in a Process Reference Model (PRM) that is derived directly from ISO/IEC 12207 AMD1 and AMD 2. The processes are grouped into nine Process Categories.
| Process Category | Description |
| Acquisition | Processes performed by the customer, in order to acquire a product and/or a service. |
| Supply | Processes performed by the supplier in order to propose and deliver a product and/or a service. |
| Engineering | Processes that directly elicit and manage the customer's requirements, specify, implement, and/or maintain the software product and it’s relation to the system. |
| Operation | Processes performed in order to provide for the correct operation and use of the software product and/or service. |
| Supporting | Processes which may be employed, by any other processes at various points in the software life cycle. |
| Management | Processes that contain practices that may be used by anyone who manages any type of project or process within a software life cycle. |
| Process Improvement | Processes performed in order to define, deploy, assess and improve the processes performed in the organizational unit. |
| Resource and Infrastructure | Processes performed in order to provide adequate human resources and necessary infrastructure as required by any other process performed by the organizational unit. |
| Reuse | Processes performed in order to systematically exploit reuse opportunities in organization’s reuse programmers. |
For the capability dimension, the process capability levels and process attributes are identical to those defined in ISO/IEC 15504-2. Process capability is defined on a six point ordinal scale that enables capability to be assessed from the bottom of the scale, Incomplete, through to the top end of the scale, Optimizing.
The scale represents increasing capability of the performed process from performance that is not capable of achieving its process outcomes through to performance that is capable of meeting relevant process and improvement goals that are explicitly derived from the organization’s business goals. The scale defines a well-defined route for improvement for each individual process.
There are six capability levels.
| Level | Level | Description |
| 0 | Incomplete | The process is not implemented, or fails to achieve its process purpose. |
| 1 | Performed | The process is not implemented, or fails to achieve its process purpose. |
| 2 | Managed | The previously described Performed process is now implemented in a managed fashion (planned, monitored and adjusted) and its work products are appropriately established, controlled and maintained. |
| 3 | Established | The previously described Managed process is now implemented using a defined process that is capable of achieving its process outcomes. |
| 4 | Predictable | The previously described Established process now operates within defined limits to achieve its process outcomes. |
| 5 | Optimizing | The previously described Predictable process is continuously improved to meet relevant current and projected business goals. |
There are 9 Process Attributes grouped into 5 of the Capability Levels.
| Level | Process Attribute | Description |
| 1 | 1.1 Process Performance | A measure of the extent to which the process purpose is achieved |
| 2 | 2.1 Performance Management | A measure of the extent to which the performance of the process is managed. |
| 2 | 2.2 Work Product Management | A measure of the extent to which the work products produced by the process are appropriately managed. |
| 3 | 3.1 Process Definition | A measure of the extent to which a standard process is maintained to support the deployment of the defined process. |
| 3 | 3.2 Process Deployment | A measure of the extent to which the standard process is effectively deployed as a defined process to achieve its process outcomes. |
| 4 | 4.1 Process Measurement | A measure of the extent to which measurement results are used to ensure that performance of the process supports the achievement of relevant process performance objectives in support of defined business goals. |
| 4 | 4.2 Process Control | A measure of the extent to which the process is quantitatively managed to produce a process that is stable, capable, and predictable within defined limits. |
| 5 | 5.1 Process Innovation | A measure of the extent to which changes to the process are identified from analysis of common causes of variation in performance, and from investigations of innovative approaches to the definition and deployment of the process. |
| 5 | 5.2 Process Optimization | A measure of the extent to which changes to the definition, management and performance of the process result in effective impact that achieves the relevant process improvement objectives. |
Process Attributes are rated on a percentage scale from zero to one hundred percent that represents the extent of achievement of the attribute. An ordinal scale is used to calibrate the levels of achievement of the defined capability of the process attributes.
| Rating | Percentage | Description |
| N Not achieved | 0% to 15% | There is little or no evidence of achievement of the defined attribute in the assessed process. |
| P Partially achieved | >15% to 50% | There is evidence of a sound systematic approach to and achievement of the defined attribute in the assessed process. |
| L Largely achieved | >50% to 85% | There is evidence of a sound systematic approach to and significant achievement of the defined attribute in the assessed process. |
| F Fully achieved | >85% to 100% | There is evidence of a complete and systematic approach to and full achievement of the defined attribute in the assessed process. |