ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
29110-3
First edition
2011-09-01


Software engineering — Lifecycle profiles
for Very Small Entities (VSEs) —
Part 3:
Assessment guide
Ingénierie du logiciel — Profils de cycle de vie pour très petits
organismes (TPO) —
Partie 3: Guide d'évaluation




Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2011

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ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)

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©  ISO/IEC 2011
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ii © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

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ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
1.1 Fields of application . 1
1.2 Target audience . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Conventions and abbreviated terms . 2
4.1 Naming, diagramming and definition conventions . 2
4.2 Abbreviations . 2
5 Assessment framework . 2
6 VSE process assessment . 3
6.1 Performing an assessment . 3
6.2 Use of the assessment results . 5
6.3 Achievement of a VSE Profile . 5
6.4 Application of process assessment models . 5
Bibliography . 6

Table of illustrations
Figure 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 series . vi
Figure 2 — Elements of VSE process assessment. 3
Table of tables
Table 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 target audience . v

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ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when the joint technical committee has collected data of a different kind from
that which is normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example), it may decide to
publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely informative in nature and shall be subject to review
every five years in the same manner as an International Standard.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TR 29110-3 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
ISO/IEC 29110 consists of the following parts, under the general title Software engineering — Lifecycle
profiles for Very Small Entities (VSEs):
 Part 1: Overview [Technical Report]
 Part 2: Framework and taxonomy
 Part 3: Assessment guide [Technical Report]
 Part 4-1: Profile specifications: Generic profile group
 Part 5-1-2: Management and engineering guide: Generic profile group: Basic profile [Technical Report]
Entry profile, intermediate profile and advanced profile will form the subjects of future Parts 5-1-1, 5-1-3 and
5-1-4, respectively.
Parts 4 and 5 can be developed to accommodate new profile specifications and management and engineering
guides as follows:
 Part 4-m: Profile specifications: Profile group aaaaa
 Part 5-m-n: Management and engineering guide: Profile group aaaaa: Profile bbbbb [Technical Report]

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ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)
Introduction
The software industry recognizes the value of Very Small Entities (VSEs) in contributing valuable products
and services. For the purpose of ISO/IEC 29110, a Very Small Entity (VSE) is an entity (enterprise,
organization, department or project) having up to 25 people. VSEs also develop and/or maintain software that
is used in larger systems; therefore, recognition of VSEs as suppliers of high quality software is often required.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) SME and
Entrepreneurship Outlook report (2005) ‘SMEs constitute the dominant form of business organization in all
countries world-wide, accounting for over 95 % and up to 99 % of the business population depending on
country’. The challenge facing OECD governments is to provide a business environment that supports the
competitiveness of this large heterogeneous business population and that promotes a vibrant entrepreneurial
culture.
From studies and surveys conducted, it is clear that the majority of International Standards do not address the
needs of VSEs. Conformance with these standards is difficult, if not impossible. Subsequently VSEs have no,
or very limited, ways to be recognized as entities that produce quality software in their domain. Therefore,
VSEs are often cut off from some economic activities.
It has been found that VSEs find it difficult to relate International Standards to their business needs and to
justify the application of the standards to their business practices. Most VSEs can neither afford the resources,
in terms of number of employees, budget and time, nor do they see a net benefit in establishing software
lifecycle processes. To rectify some of these difficulties, a set of guides has been developed according to a
set of VSE characteristics. The guides are based on subsets of appropriate standards elements, referred to as
VSE Profiles. The purpose of a VSE Profile is to define a subset of International Standards relevant to the
VSE context, for example, processes and outcomes of ISO/IEC 12207 and products of ISO/IEC 15289.
ISO/IEC 29110, targeted by audience, has been developed to improve product and/or service quality, and
process performance. See Table 1. ISO/IEC 29110 is not intended to preclude the use of different lifecycles
such as: waterfall, iterative, incremental, evolutionary or agile.
Table 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 target audience
ISO/IEC 29110 Title Target audience
Part 1 Overview VSEs, assessors, standards producers, tool vendors
and methodology vendors
Part 2 Framework and taxonomy Standards producers, tool vendors and methodology
vendors. Not intended for VSEs.
Part 3 Assessment guide Assessors and VSEs
Part 4 Profile specifications Standards producers, tool vendors and methodology
vendors. Not intended for VSEs.
Part 5 Management and engineering guide VSEs

If a new profile is needed, ISO/IEC 29110-4 and ISO/IEC TR 29110-5 can be developed without impacting
existing documents and they become ISO/IEC 29110-4-m and ISO/IEC 29110-5-m-n, respectively, through
the ISO/IEC process.
ISO/IEC TR 29110-1 defines the business terms common to the ISO/IEC 29110 series. It introduces
processes, lifecycle and standardization concepts, and the ISO/IEC 29110 series. It also introduces the
characteristics and requirements of a VSE, and clarifies the rationale for VSE-specific profiles, documents,
standards and guides.
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ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)
ISO/IEC 29110-2 introduces the concepts for software engineering standardized profiles for VSEs, and
defines the terms common to the ISO/IEC 29110 series. It establishes the logic behind the definition and
application of standardized profiles. It specifies the elements common to all standardized profiles (structure,
conformance, assessment) and introduces the taxonomy (catalogue) of ISO/IEC 29110 profiles.
This part of ISO/IEC 29110 defines the process assessment guidelines and compliance requirements needed
to meet the purpose of the defined VSE Profiles. This part of ISO/IEC 29110 also contains information that
can be useful to developers of assessment methods and assessment tools. This part of ISO/IEC 29110 is
addressed to people who have direct relation with the assessment process, e.g. the assessor and the sponsor
of the assessment, who need guidance on ensuring that the requirements for performing an assessment have
been met.
ISO/IEC 29110-4-m provides the specification for all the profiles in one profile group that are based on
subsets of appropriate standards elements. VSE Profiles apply and are targeted to authors/providers of
guides and authors/providers of tools and other support material.
ISO/IEC TR 29110-5-m-n provides an implementation management and engineering guide for the VSE Profile
described in ISO/IEC 29110-4-m.
Figure 1 describes the ISO/IEC 29110 series and positions the parts within the framework of reference.
Overviews and guides are published as Technical Reports (TR), and profiles are published as International
Standards (IS).
29110 Overview (TR 29110-1)
29110 Profiles (IS)
Framework and Taxonomy (IS 29110-2)
Specifications of VSE Profiles (IS 29110-4)
Specification - VSE Profile Group m
Specification - VSE Profile Group m
(IS 29110-4-m)
(IS 29110-4-m)
29110 Guides (TR)
Assessment Guide (TR 29110-3)
Management and Engineering Guide (TR 29110-5)
Management and
Management and
Engineering Guide
Engineering Guide
VSE Profile m-n
VSE Profile m-n
(TR 29110-5-m-n)
(TR 29110-5-m-n)

Figure 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 series

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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 29110-3:2011(E)

Software engineering — Lifecycle profiles for Very Small
Entities (VSEs) —
Part 3:
Assessment guide
1 Scope
1.1 Fields of application
This part of ISO/IEC 29110 defines the process assessment guidelines and conformance requirements
needed to meet the purpose of defined VSE Profiles. It is applicable to all VSE Profiles and is compatible with
ISO/IEC 15504-2.
The possib
...