A viability analysis of the ISO/IEC 29110 project management process: a case study in an automotive ecuadorian company

Abstract

Software process standards such as the ISO/IEC 29110 have been implemented by Very Small Entities (VSE) in order to develop quality software and achieve improvements in terms of time, budget, documentation, and other subjects. The generic profile group established in such a standard includes a set of profiles with situational factors of occurrence applicable to some VSEs. However, documented case studies of the ISO/IEC 29110 implementation in Latin America companies are limited, causing uncertainty about the viability of such a standard in VSEs established in the region. Different conditions of each environment—company type, size, country, etc.—can influence the implementation of a software project. Such a fact can affect the possibility of quality improvement by using the standard. In this paper we aim to implement the project management process included in the basic profile of the ISO/IEC 29110 in an automotive Ecuadorian company. We intend to provide VSEs a preliminary judgment in terms of time and cost overruns when developing a first-time implementation of the project management process. Besides, we summarize a set of lessons learned acquired during such an implementation. Finally, the findings of this study will allow VSEs to decide whether is convenient to implement this standard in such an environment.