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A review of methods for evaluation of maturity models for process improvement

Li Helgesson, Yeni LU ; Höst, Martin LU and Weyns, Kim LU (2012) In Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice 24. p.436-454
Abstract
Maturity models are widely used in process improvement. The users of a maturity model should be confident that the weak points of the assessed processes can be found, and that the most valuable changes are introduced. Therefore, the evaluation of maturity models is an important activity. In this paper, a mapping study of the literature on the evaluation of maturity models is presented. Two databases are searched resulting in a set of relevant papers. The identified papers can be classified according to six categories, namely the maturity model under evaluation, type of evaluation, relation of the evaluators/authors to the maturity model, level of objectivity, main purpose of the paper, and size of study. Further, a framework of different... (More)
Maturity models are widely used in process improvement. The users of a maturity model should be confident that the weak points of the assessed processes can be found, and that the most valuable changes are introduced. Therefore, the evaluation of maturity models is an important activity. In this paper, a mapping study of the literature on the evaluation of maturity models is presented. Two databases are searched resulting in a set of relevant papers. The identified papers can be classified according to six categories, namely the maturity model under evaluation, type of evaluation, relation of the evaluators/authors to the maturity model, level of objectivity, main purpose of the paper, and size of study. Further, a framework of different evaluations of maturity models is developed, and the relevant papers are mapped to the framework. Finally, the relevant research on the evaluation of the maturity models in the Capability Maturity Model family is discussed in more detail. The result of this mapping study is a clear overview of how the evaluation of maturity models has been done, and some discussions are provided for further research on the evaluation of commonly used or newly developed maturity models. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
software process improvement, maturity models, evaluation, mapping study
in
Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice
volume
24
pages
436 - 454
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000305580700004
  • scopus:84863311850
ISSN
1532-060X
DOI
10.1002/smr.560
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e3e54a10-0d48-4ca1-a2e2-d9b9f66462a7 (old id 2116916)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:17:18
date last changed
2022-05-16 21:13:30
@article{e3e54a10-0d48-4ca1-a2e2-d9b9f66462a7,
  abstract     = {{Maturity models are widely used in process improvement. The users of a maturity model should be confident that the weak points of the assessed processes can be found, and that the most valuable changes are introduced. Therefore, the evaluation of maturity models is an important activity. In this paper, a mapping study of the literature on the evaluation of maturity models is presented. Two databases are searched resulting in a set of relevant papers. The identified papers can be classified according to six categories, namely the maturity model under evaluation, type of evaluation, relation of the evaluators/authors to the maturity model, level of objectivity, main purpose of the paper, and size of study. Further, a framework of different evaluations of maturity models is developed, and the relevant papers are mapped to the framework. Finally, the relevant research on the evaluation of the maturity models in the Capability Maturity Model family is discussed in more detail. The result of this mapping study is a clear overview of how the evaluation of maturity models has been done, and some discussions are provided for further research on the evaluation of commonly used or newly developed maturity models.}},
  author       = {{Li Helgesson, Yeni and Höst, Martin and Weyns, Kim}},
  issn         = {{1532-060X}},
  keywords     = {{software process improvement; maturity models; evaluation; mapping study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{436--454}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice}},
  title        = {{A review of methods for evaluation of maturity models for process improvement}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smr.560}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/smr.560}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}