The creation of quality software on time and within budget has been a major problem facing the software industry for several decades. Consideration of software development and maintenance as an engineering discipline to control the developmental process can help alleviate these obstacles. This new book focuses on the best practices for software process improvement (SPI) and related international standards providing a valuable guide and reference. The text is a collection of original and republished papers providing a significant survey on the use of SPI and software process assessment (SPA) as practiced by companies such as Lockheed Martin, Siemens, and Hewlett Packard. Among the important features of the book are chapters on software process evaluation, how to best perform SPI, ISO 9000 and TickIT-an alternative approach to SPA, as well as the latest information on the CMM integration project. The text also provides vivid descriptions on the most important international and national standards for SPI, in particular ISO 9001, ISO 9000-3, ISO/IEC 9126. ISO/IEC 15504, ISO/IEC 12207. Software Process Improvement benefits software managers who want to learn about the requirements and effects of SPI, software process staff who need to understand the mechanisms of SPA and SPI, software developers who are affected by SPI and need to know how to apply it, and college students who want to understand the various methods of SPA and SPI.