QW2002 Paper 8A1

Dr. Fabrizio Fabbrini & Mr. Mario Fusani
(IEI-CNR)

Using Sw Process Assessment to Manage Quality of Suppliers: an Experience in Automotive

Key Points

Presentation Abstract

The presentation concerns an activity carried out by Fiat Auto in cooperation with the Center for Software Certification (CCS - an independent organism of the Italian National Research Council that performs evaluation and certification activity in Information Technology) to set up a methodology supporting the management of software projects and suppliers. The goals that Fiat Auto has set for this activity are:
- To improve its own process to select suppliers, by taking into account criteria to evaluate confidence in the capability of suppliers.  To improve the software development process of suppliers, helping them to detect possible weaknesses and risks in specific processes, to define improvement paths and to provide tools for verifying the results of improvement actions.
- To achieve a better control on the software development project and on the quality of the resulting product. To fulfill the above objectives it was established to adopt the ISO 15504 (SPICE) approach to evaluate a set of software suppliers, selected on the basis of possible participation to Fiat projects for new vehicles. During the presentation, the details of every phase of the activities will be given and the results of the performed assessments will be discussed and analyzed more deeply.

About the Author

Fabrizio Fabbrini obtained his degree in Computer Science from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 1974. Since 1975 he has served as a scientific researcher at the Institute for Information Processing (IEI) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), where now he is Senior Researcher and coordinates the Software Laboratory of the Center for Software Certification. Fabrizio Fabbrini’s present activity is focused on Software Quality, and more precisely on the development of methodologies and standards for the assessment and the evaluation of software products and processes, with particular attention to Software Engineering Standards and Software Certification. Software Process Assessment & Improvement, Software Verification & Validation, Computer Security & Data Privacy represent the main fields of application of such research activities.

Mario Fusani obtained his degree in Electrical engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 1971. Since 1973 he has served as a scientific researcher at the Institute for Information Processing (IEI) of the National Research Council (CNR), where now he is Senior Research. His present activity is focused on Software Quality, including the development of methodologies and standards for the assessment and the evaluation of software products and processes. Since 1999 he has been the Scientific Coordinator of the Center for Software Certification of the Italian National Research Council.