Assessing the Rational Unified Process against ISO/IEC15504-5: Information Technology - Software Process Assessment Part 5: An Assessment Model And Indicator Guidance

ISO/IEC 15504 specifies a framework for the assessment of software processes . It has nine parts of which only two, Parts 2 and 3, are normative. It is expected that many fully realized assessment models will be able to be mapped to the reference model described in Part 2, equally, that many fully realized assessment methods will be compliant with Part 3. Part 5 of the standard is designated informative and contains an example assessment model that is compatible with the reference model in Part 2. Part 5 contains considerable detail that elaborates on the mandatory processes and defines associated base practices, work products, and management practices which are used to determine capability for each assessed process. While compliance to the particular detail of Part 5 is not made mandatory by the standard, it is supposed to be a compliant interpretation of Part 2, so it should be instructive to use it to calibrate the generic Rational Unified Process.