Software process improvement in SMEs: A comparative view

The majority of software development organizations all over the world are small and medium enterprises. These organizations have realized that it is crucial for their business to improve their processes and working methods but they are lacking the knowledge and resources to do it. Successful implementation of SPI methodologies in small and medium-sized software enterprises (SMEs) is generally not possible because such organizations are not capable of investing the cost of implementing these programs. Limited resources and strict deadlines to complete the projects make it further difficult to implement SPI programs which can also affect quality issues in software project. There are various SPI methodologies to address these issues which have been also deployed in these organizations. In this paper, recent and significant SPI methodologies (OWPL, ASPE-MSC, iFLAP, PRISMS, SPM, MESOPYME) for SMEs are compared and discussed. This will facilitate the maturity of software process improvement in SMEs, standardization and also contribute in the development of automation tools for SPIs in future.