Enhancing Software Process Assessment with an Ontology-Based Tool: Integrating CMMI, SPICE, and TMMI Models

Abstract

Software process reference models like Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE) have played a crucial role in evaluating processes for several decades. Their adoption by institutions has become essential for consistently delivering software projects to customers on time and with expected quality. However, conducting software process assessments demands considerable time, effort, and skilled personnel. This research introduces an ontology-based tool that facilitates software process assessment for organizations by integrating widely used process reference models, namely CMMI, SPICE, and Test Maturity Model Integration (TMMI). The development of this tool involves multiple stages: creating ontologies for each process reference model, integrating them into the tool, enabling querying capabilities, and visualizing the ontologies. Through a validation study in a selected organization, two sets of processes were assessed using the Ontology-Based Software Process Assessment Tool (OSPAT). The results demonstrated that organizations can benefit from OSPAT in evaluating their software development processes across diverse reference models, thereby enhancing overall process efficiency and quality.