An industrial experience in assessing the capability of non‐software processes using ISO/IEC 15504

The Standard ISO/IEC 15504, has been developed for the purpose of performing assessments of software and systems processes. The result is a capability‐level rating for each assessed process on a rating scale from 0 to 5. The capability levels defined in the ISO/IEC 15504 measurement framework have been designed to be applicable universally to all types of processes. Aside from level 1 (the performed level) where the observable indicators differ from process to process, all the attributes from level 2 to 5 should be common and observable for all types of processes. A practical application of this feature is the possibility to perform assessments on processes from other industrial sectors (e.g. manufacturing processes), using the same measurement framework as long as we have the process defined according to specific rules. An industrial experiment in this area was carried out by DNV on some critical processes deployed by a large company in charge of managing the Italian national gas distribution network (SNAM Rete Gas). Specific process definitions were developed with the purpose and outcome as required by the Standard for a Process Reference Model. In order to build the Process Assessment Model, performance indicators were also identified while capability indicators from levels 2 to 5 were taken straight from the Standard (part 5). The assessment was successfully performed on two different processes providing the organization with valuable insights on their process. This article will illustrate step by step, how this industrial experiment was carried out and what were its results.