SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination) is a major international standard for Software Process Assessment. The SPICE model may be used as a framework for process improvement, to be used in-house with no formal certification. However many organisations will see market advantage in obtaining formal certification to this standard.
One of the benefits of a SPICE based approach is that it allows a scaled assessment of current practices. This allows organisations to have confidence in the method and select those areas where initial improvement can bring most benefits, before committing to a full implementation of the standard.
The SPICE standard is currently in its field trial stage. SMS has developed materials relating to the current draft standard, ISO TR 15504, which is sufficiently well developed to add value to an organisation's software processes.
