Software Engineering Institute

This report focuses on the results of SEI software process assessments conducted over a four year period beginning in 1987. It characterizes the software processes used by software managers and practitioners at the assessed sites and classifies issues identified during the assessments. The basis for the characterization and classification is a software process maturity model developed by the SEI. This report contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the state of practice of software engineering in the U.S. by characterizing the sites from a software process maturity perspective and profiling site software process weaknesses. The data analyzed is drawn from SEI software process assessments of 59 government and industry software sites. This work is an analysis of existing assessment data rather than a designed study. The participating sites were not randomly selected; accordingly, they do not necessarily constitute a statistically valid sampling of the U.S. software industry.