Knowledge-based Tool for Software Process Assessment and Improvement

Although many organizations are aware of the importance of using well-defined and organized software development process, they face the problem of how to define and institutionalize it in practice. In order to solve these problems, several process models, maturity models and quality standards have been developed, but the variety of disciplines, methodologies, and best practices is large. This amount of information leads to an overload and can make the task of defining a software process complicated and expensive. To deal with scenario, this paper proposes an approach with two main goals: (i) to develop a model for organizing the knowledge on software engineering; (ii) to develop a software tool to support the model. Once the knowledge base becomes accessible through a tool, organizations can use it as a guide to a software quality improvement program.