The Brazilian Path to Software Process
Improvement (SPI)
Contents
 The Brazilian path to SPI: MPS.BR program and
MPS model
 Performance results of organizations that adopted
the MPS model: iMPS surveys
 Conclusion
Kival Weber – Executive Coordinator of the MPS.BR program
Marcos Kalinowski – Coauthor of the iMPS surveys
CeBIT 2012, 06 to 10 March, Hannover
Brazil is the Partner Country at CeBIT 2012
World Quality Report: Brazil is one of the countries
that invest more in software quality assurance
Ref.: Capgemini, Sogeti, and HP study (TI INSIDE online, July 1st 2011)
• In 2010 the most significant increase in software quality assurance
budgets were in China (83%) and Brazil (56%), suggesting that
emergent economies have investments in ‘quality assurance’ as
strategic to their growth and competitiveness advantage
• The study considers Brazil as a market in fast expansion by several
reasons:
– strong foreign direct investments
Copyright SOFTEX 2011
– significant investments in infrastructure projects due to the Soccer
World Cup 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games
– poverty reduction, job creation, and the emerging of a new middle
class that increased the consumers spent
MPS.BR Program
• The MPS.BR program was created in December 2003 by
the Association for Promoting the Brazilian Software
Excellence (SOFTEX) – a private nonprofit organization
aiming at promoting Brazilian software industry
competitiveness. It is based on the ‘triple-helical’ argument
(Industry + Government + Academy)
• The main goal of the MPS.BR program was to establish and
disseminate a software process reference model – the MPS
model – allowing software organizations, both SME (small
and medium-sized enterprises) and large companies, to
achieve the benefits of process improvement aiming at
increasing competitiveness
MPS Model
• The MPS model is constituted of three main components:
• MR-MPS Reference Model (see MPS General Guide)
• MA-MPS Assessment Method (see MPS Assessment Guide)
• MN-MPS Business Model ( see www.softex.br/mpsbr )
• MR-MPS and MA-MPS are:
• conformant with ISO/IEC 12207 – Software Life Cycle Processes
and ISO/IEC 15504 – Process Assessment (SPICE)
• CMMI-DEV fully compatible
• based on software engineering best practices
• in accordance with both SME and large enterprise realities
MR-MPS Reference Model (General Guide:2011)
7 Levels
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
19 Processes
9 Process Attributes
(capabilities)
(no new processes are added)
1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1,
4.2, 5.1, 5.2 (~ CMMI5)
Project Management (evolution)
1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1,
4.2 (~ CMMI4)
Decision Management, Risk Management, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2
Development for Reuse
(~ CMMI3)
Requirements Development, Product Design and 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2
Construction, Product Integration, Verification,
and Validation
Human Resources Management, Process
1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2
Establishment, Process Assessment and
Improvement, Project Management (new
outcomes), and Reuse Management
Measurement, Configuration Management,
Acquisition, Quality Assurance, and Project
Portfolio Management
Requirements Management and Project
Management
1.1, 2.1, 2.2 (~ CMMI2)
1.1, 2.1
343 MPS Assessments in Brazil
published at www.softex.br/mpsbr: 70% SME,
30% large organizations (validity 3 years)
Latin American Software Industry Network
(RELAIS)
MPS.BR Program
Sponsors:
The Brazilian Path to Software Process
Improvement (SPI)
Contents
 The Brazilian path to SPI: MPS.BR program and
MPS model
 Performance results of organizations that adopted
the MPS model: iMPS surveys
 Conclusion
Kival Weber – Executive Coordinator of the MPS.BR program
Marcos Kalinowski – Coauthor of the iMPS surveys
CeBIT 2012, 06 to 10 March, Hanover
Brazil is the Partner Country at CeBIT 2012
iMPS: Performance Results of
Organizations that Adopted the MPS Model
• In 2008, SOFTEX hired COPPE/UFRJ’s Experimental
Software Engineering Group to model the iMPS project –
“Information to Monitor and Provide Evidence Regarding
Performance Variation of Software Organizations that
Adopted the MPS Model”, and to support the conduct of
yearly iMPS trials
• The main iMPS goal was to plan a survey, following the
principles of Experimental Software Engineering, and to
execute it periodically to monitor and provide evidence of
performance results of organizations that adopted the MPS
model
iMPS 2008 Trial
• The iMPS2008 survey results, which included 123
questionnaires from different organizations, indicate that
organizations that adopted the MPS show greater customer
satisfaction, greater productivity and capacity to develop
larger projects, when compared to organizations that were
starting the MPS model implementation.
• Additionally, more than 80% of them reported to be satisfied
with the MPS model
iMPS 2009 Trial
• The iMPS2009 survey results, which included 135
questionnaires from different organizations, showed a
notorious satisfaction of the organizations with the MPS
model, with over 98% of them reporting to be partially or
fully satisfied
• Additionally, organizations reported that the return on
investment (ROI) was obtained and, for those
organizations that have evolved or internalized the MPS in
their processes, it was possible to observe improvement
tendency regarding cost, project duration, productivity, and
quality
iMPS 2010 Trial
• The iMPS2010 survey results, that featured electronic questionnaires
answered by 156 different organizations, showed that the satisfaction of
the organizations was again evident, with over 92% reporting to be
partially or totally satisfied with the MPS model
• The characterization allowed observing that organizations that adopted
the MPS have higher customer satisfaction, handle larger projects, are
more accurate in their schedule estimates, and are more productive,
when compared to organizations that are starting the MPS model
implementation
• The performance variation analysis allowed to identify that organizations
tend to obtain the expected benefits of applying software engineering
principles to their development efforts, regarding cost, schedule, quality
and productivity
iMPS 2011 Trial
• The iMPS2011 survey results which featured electronic questionnaires
answered by 133 different companies, show that in the satisfaction of the
organizations with the model was again evident, with approximately 97%
of them reporting to be totally or partially satisfied with the MPS model
• The characterization has observed positive correlations between the
maturity of organizations in the MPS model and the number of projects
(both, in Brazil and abroad). In fact, higher maturity organizations deal
with larger projects, showed higher estimation accuracy and higher
productivity.
• In the performance variation analysis, it was possible to identify that
organizations that remain persistent in the use of software engineering
practices represented by the MPS maturity levels have more customers,
develop more projects, have a greater number of employees, deal with
larger projects and show higher estimation accuracy, despite a slight
increase caused in the average time spent on their projects.
iMPS: Further Details
• Further details regarding the iMPS survey results are
available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese at
<www.softex.br/mpsbr>
The Brazilian Path to Software Process
Improvement (SPI)
Contents
 The Brazilian path to SPI: MPS.BR program and
MPS model
 Performance results of organizations that adopted
the MPS model: iMPS surveys
 Conclusion
Kival Weber – Executive Coordinator of the MPS.BR program
Marcos Kalinowski – Coauthor of the iMPS surveys
CeBIT 2012, 06 to 10 March, Hannover
Brazil is the Partner Country at CeBIT 2012
Conclusion
Who were the beneficiaries of the MPS.BR program and MPS
model in Brazil and how were the benefits shared among them?
(answers based on the ‘triple-helical’ argument)
1. Industry: The main beneficiaries are software SME which amount 70% of the
MPS assessments, but 30% on the whole are large corporations both private and
government organizations. This suggests that the MPS model is appropriate both
for SME and large enterprises. Of course, the clients that use software which
improved by adopting the MPS model also were benefited
2. Government : Another beneficiary are the public policies aiming at both to
estimulate the adoption of software engineering best practices and to increase
competitiveness and produtive capacity of the Brazilian software industry
3. Academy: The Brazilian Academy also was beneficiary both contributing to the
software engineering knowledge transfer to the industry and benefiting itself with
new challenges and problems to solve in its research and education activities.
Last but not the least, the main MPS service providers in Brazil are academic
institutes (MPS Assessment Institutions and MPS Implementation Institutions)
The Brazilian Path to Software Process
Improvement (SPI)
 Thank you very much
 Questions ?