MPS.BR Program and MPS Model: Main Results, Benefits and Beneficiaries of Software Process Improvement in Brazil

Over the past years Brazil has done big investments in software quality. In 2010 the investment was among the highest in the world. Among them, the long term MPS. BR program focuses on improving the software process quality of Brazilian companies. Therefore, this paper intends to describe its software process improvement reference model (MR-MPS) and the most important results accomplished to date on Government, Industry and University scenarios. The Brazilian Government had endorsed the MPS adoption as a mean to increase the software industry competitiveness both locally and globally. In the University scenario, the MPS model contributes to transfer software engineering knowledge to the Industry and allows the identification of new research challenges. The quantification of benefits in the Industry is based on the iMPS family of surveys which allow both performance results characterization and performance variation analysis considering organizations that adopted the MPS model. Quantitative data have shown the MPS model acceptance by the Industry. Moreover, the obtained results evidence improvements reduction of cost and schedule and increase of productivity and quality in the software projects.