CIP-UQIM: A unified model for quality improvement in software SME's based on CMMI level 2 and 3

ContextSoftware Process Improvement (SPI) is among the most effective ways to improve the quality of software products and services. Despite many research and industrial reports, SPI planning and implementation in Multi-Model Environments (MMEs) still face various issues and difficulties which increase the risk of failure especially for Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs). As a popular approach, harmonization techniques are used to meet the MME's specific issues through recognizing the common or similar areas among the implemented models and developing an integrated solution for quality improvement throughout the organization.ObjectiveThis paper has two main objectives: (1) recognizing the set of most popular models used in worldwide harmonization projects and implemented or requested by Iranian software SMEs. (2) Comparing and integrating these models in Process Activity level to develop a unified quality improvement model.MethodA combination of literature review and questionnaire methods was used to identify the set of the most popular models. Then, based on harmonization techniques the common or similar areas among these models are recognized and then an initial version of the Unified Quality Improvement Model (UQIM) is developed, named CIP-UQIM. Next, this initial model was presented in a two-day workshop for SPI experts and it was refined and finalized by incorporating their feedbacks.ResultsInvestigations showed that the set {CMMI-DEV, ISO 9001, and PMBOK} was the most popular. Thus in CIP-UQIM, for the first time, the last version of these models was unified at the activity level details. Finally, the experience of using CIP-UQIM in an Iranian SME has been reported which demonstrate its applicability and advantages.ConclusionConsidering the high similarity among the three models and CIP-UQIM level of details, it can be concluded that CIP-UQIM can be beneficial to resolve or reduce SPI issues in MME's, especially in case of software SMEs.