The History of the SPICE Trials

The SPICE Trials were designed to validate the developing standard, specifically in terms of its coverage, applicability and useability. In addition, the Trials were aimed at providing initial evidence on the benefits accruing from use of the standard, and in identifying the meaningfulness, repeatability and comparability of assessment results.

To fit in with the differing delivery schedules of the various SPICE products and with the ISO review stages, a phased approach is being adopted for the trials. This also allows attention to be focused on different issues as the project progresses. The three phases have been identified as having different goals, and these are:

Phase 1: Design decision and useability testing of the core products - Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5
Phase 2: Product integration and repeatability testing - covering the full product set.
Phase 3: Validation of overall SPICE goals and standards requirements.

Phase 1

Phase 1 of the Trials was aimed at validating the initial working drafts developed by the SPICE Project. These Trials provided a unique opportunity for testing out the key components of the SPICE document set. In these trials the model for process management, the guidance for conducting assessments, the requirements for the rating processes and the guidance for the construction, selection and use of assessment instruments and tools have been evaluated as set out by the Phase 1 Trials Objectives. 35 trials were conducted across the world. These achieved reasonable coverage of the SPICE model for process management in a good cross-section of application domains.

Phase 2

A second phase of SPICE project user trials commenced in September 1996 and has provided further experience feedback into the development of ISO/IEC TR 15504. Several hundred assessments were conducted during this phase. The specific objectives of this phase were defined as:

To evaluate the useability and consistency of the complete Product Set
To evaluate the model for process management and the supporting indicators as an embodiment of fundamental practices for good software engineering and management
To evaluate the repeatability of assessment results
To evaluate the adequacy of the standard's Conformance requirements
To evaluate the useability of the guidelines for Process Capability Determination
To evaluate the useability of the guidelines for Process Improvement
To evaluate the portability of the assessment framework to different environments

The final results of this phase of the trials were finalised in October 1998.

Phase 3

Following approval by WG10 of publication of ISO/IEC 15504 as a Technical Report Type 2, the SPICE Project decided to initiate a third phase of the Trials. A key goal from this phase will be to provide inputs to the forthcoming revision of the TR2 and its publication as an International Standard. This Web Site now provides detailed information on how to participate in this Phase of the SPICE Trials.