SPICE is a major international initiative to support the International Standard ISO/IEC 15504 for (Software) Process Assessment.
The SPICE project was set up under the auspices of the International Committee on Software and Systems Engineering Standards through its Working Group on Process Assessment (WG10). The project had three principal goals:
• to develop a working draft for a standard for software process assessment.
• to conduct industry trials of the emerging standard.
• to promote the technology transfer of software process assessment into the software industry world-wide.
The first goal of the project was achieved in June 1995, with the release of the Working Draft standard for software process assessment to WG10 for international ballot among the standards community. The Working Draft was commonly referred to as the SPICE document suite (or SPICE Version 1).
The SPICE Trials has been a focus for the SPICE project during the period 1994 to 1998. The SPICE Trials activity is now formally closed. SPICE promotional activities are ongoing and are addressed through activities of the annual International SPICE Conference and the publication of articles and books. In order to support excellence and consistency in training for assessors, the SPICE project also developed and released a SPICE Assessor Training Syllabus that is currently used by the International Registration Scheme for Assessors (IntRSA).
The SPICE document suite (or SPICE Version 1) is available in the public domain, subject to terms and conditions of release, and provide a useful historical resource for those interested in process assessment and improvement.
Following this ballot, the documents were carried through to the international standardisation process and published as ISO/IEC TR 15504:1998 - Software Process Assessment – Parts 1 to 9. Subsequently an amendment was published to ISO/IEC TR 15504 Part 2 during 2003 to extend the set of acquirer processes that can be used for assessment.
The SPICE Trials were predominantly performed using the ISO/IEC PDTR 15504 version of the standard (commonly – although incorrectly - known as SPICE Version 2). This version of the standard was in fact two versions earlier than the actual publication of ISO/IEC TR 15504.
ISO/IEC TR 15504 has now been re-published during 2003-2006 as the International Standard ISO/IEC 15504 – Process Assessment – Parts 1 to 5. Two further parts - Parts 6 and 7 are also under development for publication during 2007-2008.
The primary impetus for the use of assessment has come from acquirers of large, critical software-intensive systems - notably in the defence and telecommunications sectors. The most widely known method, the Capability Maturity Model, was developed by the Software Engineering Institute as a response to the needs of the US Defense Department for better techniques for the selection of contractors.
At the same time, there has always been recognition that process assessment can be a strong and effective driver for process improvement. The major focus for performing assessments has been on improvement, and most acquirers use assessment approaches as part of a partnership approach with their suppliers, focusing on improvement. Substantial empirical evidence has been accumulated demonstrating the benefits that can be derived from an assessment-based improvement programme.
All industries now depend on software for competitive advantage. Growth will only be achieved if industry meets international standards and world best practice.