SPQF: Software Process Quality Factor

Assuring a good quality software is vital as many software products are available in the market. For a newly developed, the quality of the product is hard to be determined through product based evaluation. Therefore, a study has been introduced an alternative approach for determining the quality level of software through the Software Process Assessment and Certification (SPAC) model. The model consists of seven main components. One of them is the Software Process Quality Factor (SPQF) which acts as a reference model of the SPAC. The SPAC model was validated through collaboration with three leading organizations in Malaysia. This paper discusses the construction of the SPQF by using Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) method which emphasizes on five main factors. The factors are the quality of process, the quality of people, the use of development technology, the quality of working environment and project constraints and were identified through the state of theory and practice. Based on GQM approach, nine measurement goals and forty seven quality metrics were derived. This reference model was embedded in the SPAC model.