This book focuses on the design, development, management, governance and application of evolving software processes that are aligned with changing business objectives, such as expansion to new domains or shifting to global production. In the context of an evolving business world, it examines the complete software process lifecycle, from the initial definition of a product to its systematic improvement. In doing so, it addresses difficult problems, such as how to implement processes in highly regulated domains or where to find a suitable notation system for documenting processes, and provides essential insights and tips to help readers manage process evolutions. And last but not least, it provides a wealth of examples and cases on how to deal with software evolution in practice. Reflecting these topics, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on software business transformation and addresses the questions of which process(es) to use and adapt, and how to organize process improvement programs. Subsequently, Part 2 mainly addresses process modeling. Lastly, Part 3 collects concrete approaches, experiences, and recommendations that can help to improve software processes, with a particular focus on specific lifecycle phases. This book is aimed at anyone interested in understanding and optimizing software development tasks at their organization. While the experiences and ideas presented will be useful for both those readers who are unfamiliar with software process improvement and want to get an overview of the different aspects of the topic, and for those who are experts with many years of experience, it particularly targets the needs of researchers and Ph.D. students in the area of software and systems engineering or information systems who study advanced topics concerning the organization and management of (software development) projects and process improvements projects.

This book constitutes the refereed proceeding of the 13th European Software Process Improvement Conference, EuroSPI 2006, held in Joensuu, Finland in October 2006. The 18 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions.

This volume is intended for SPI (software process improvement) managers and researchers, quality managers, and experienced project and research managers. The papers constitute the research proceedings of the 12th EuroSPI (European Software Process Improvement, www.eurospi.net) conference held in Budapest, 9-11 November 2005, Hungary. Conferences have been held in 1994 in Dublin, 1995 in Vienna (Austria), 1997 in Budapest (Hungary), 1998 in Gothenburg (Sweden), 1999 in Pori(Finland), 2000 in Copenhagen(Denmark), 2001 in L- erick (Ireland), 2002 in Nuremberg (Germany), 2003 in Graz (Austria), and 2004 in Trondheim (Norway). EuroSPI established an experience library (- brary.eurospi.net) which will be continuously extended over the next years and will be made available to all attendees. EuroSPI also created an umbrella init- tive for establishing a European Quali?cation Network in which di?erent SPINs and national initiatives join mutually bene?cial collaborations. From 2005, through EuroSPI partners and networks, in collaboration with the European Union (supported by the EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme), a certi?cation body will be created for the IT and services sector so as to o?er SPI knowledge and certi? cates to industry, establishing close knowledge transfer links between research and industry. The biggest value of EuroSPI lies in its function as a European knowledgeand experience exchangemechanism between SPI research institutions and industry.

This book focuses on the design, development, management, governance and application of evolving software processes that are aligned with changing business objectives, such as expansion to new domains or shifting to global production. In the context of an evolving business world, it examines the complete software process lifecycle, from the initial definition of a product to its systematic improvement. In doing so, it addresses difficult problems, such as how to implement processes in highly regulated domains or where to find a suitable notation system for documenting processes, and provides essential insights and tips to help readers manage process evolutions. And last but not least, it provides a wealth of examples and cases on how to deal with software evolution in practice. Reflecting these topics, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on software business transformation and addresses the questions of which process(es) to use and adapt, and how to organize process improvement programs. Subsequently, Part 2 mainly addresses process modeling. Lastly, Part 3 collects concrete approaches, experiences, and recommendations that can help to improve software processes, with a particular focus on specific lifecycle phases. This book is aimed at anyone interested in understanding and optimizing software development tasks at their organization. While the experiences and ideas presented will be useful for both those readers who are unfamiliar with software process improvement and want to get an overview of the different aspects of the topic, and for those who are experts with many years of experience, it particularly targets the needs of researchers and Ph.D. students in the area of software and systems engineering or information systems who study advanced topics concerning the organization and management of (software development) projects and process improvements projects.