A qualitative and quantitative assessment method for software process model

Aimed at the problems of high-cost, non-completeness and ambiguity existed in the traditional assessment methods for Software Process Model (SPM), this paper proposes a qualitative and quantitative assessment method. On the basis of assessment theory and domain experience of SPM, the unclear goals in the project start-up phase are qualitatively described in the form of problem set and expert problem domain is constructed as the assessment criteria on the implementation capability of SPM in the proposed method. With the integration of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis by using a multi-index synthetic assessment algorithm of AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), the weight vector of goals and the reciprocal comparative matrix of problem domain are calculated and then the assessment result in dimensionless index is obtained. In order to reduce the cost of assessment, questionnaires instead of project tracking and audit are adopted to extract project goals in the method. Meanwhile, SPM is comprehensively assessed from four aspects including personnel, method, product and process, and the assessment result can intuitively reflect the capability of different SPM in a numerical form. Finally, an example of how to assess and choose four classical SPMs in the initial stage of a practical project is given out to show the validity of this assessment method.