As part of a programme for software process improvement sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), an ISO 15504 (1998) conformant method for software process assessment has been developed. [Work supported under ESTEC Contract Number 10 662/93/NL/NB CCN5.] Called SPICE for SPACE, or S4S (Völcker and Cass 2002, Cass et al. 2000), the method includes an assessment model based on the ISO/IEC TR 15504 exemplar model with space software practices incorporated.To promote SPICE for SPACE, ESA has sponsored a series of trial assessments using the S4S method. Since February 2000, eight space software suppliers have been assessed in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Sweden.The first part of this paper describes the trial assessment programme to date, summarising the assessments that have taken place, the assessment results, the improvement efforts initiated in the host organisations, and the feedback gathered to improve the S4S method.The second part of this paper presents a new approach for software process improvement based on a risk analysis of assessment results. Developed within the same initiative, this method sets the basis for integrating process‐oriented risk analysis into the S4S method, where, along with the process and capability dimensions, risk can be considered as a new third dimension. The outcomes of the risk analysis lead to the selection and prioritisation of pre‐defined generic improvement actions. Alternatively, the risk analysis presented here can be applied in the context of supplier evaluation or risk estimation for investors in software organisations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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