Introduction

Very Small Entities (VSEs) around the world are creating valuable products and services. For the purpose of ISO/IEC 29110, a Very Small Entity (VSE) is an enterprise, an organization, a department or a project having up to 25 people. Since many VSEs develop and/or maintain system elements and software components used in systems, or sold to be used by others, a recognition of VSEs as suppliers of high quality products is required.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook report (2005) ‘Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), i.e. Enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons, constitute the dominant form of business organization in all countries world-wide, accounting for over 95 % and up to 99 % of the business population depending on country’. The challenge facing OECD governments is to provide a business environment that supports the competitiveness of this large heterogeneous business population and that promotes a vibrant entrepreneurial culture.

From studies and surveys conducted, it is clear that the majority of International Standards do not address the needs of VSEs. Implementation of and conformance with these standards is difficult, if not impossible. Subsequently VSEs have no, or very limited, ways to be recognized as entities that produce quality systems/system elements including software in their domain. Therefore, VSEs are often cut off from some economic activities.

It has been found that VSEs find it difficult to relate International Standards to their business needs and to justify the application of standards to their business practices. Most VSEs can neither afford the resources, in terms of number of employees, expertise, budget and time, nor do they see a net benefit in establishing systems or software lifecycle processes. To rectify some of these difficulties, a set of guidelines has been developed according to a set of VSE characteristics. The guidelines are based on subsets of appropriate standards processes, activities, tasks, and outcomes, referred to as Profiles. The purpose of a profile is to define a subset of International Standards relevant to the VSEs' context; for example, processes, activities, tasks, and outcomes of ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 for software; and processes, activities, tasks, and outcomes of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 for systems; and information products (documentation) of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15289 for software and systems.

VSEs can achieve recognition through implementing a profile and by being audited against ISO/IEC 29110 specifications.

ISO/IEC 29110 series of standards and technical reports can be applied at any phase of system or software development within a lifecycle. This series of standards and technical reports is intended to be used by VSEs that do not have experience or expertise in adapting/tailoring ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 or ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 to the needs of a specific project. VSEs that have expertise in adapting/tailoring ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 or ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 are encouraged to use those standards instead of ISO/IEC 29110.

ISO/IEC 29110 is intended to be used with any lifecycles such as: waterfall, iterative, incremental, evolutionary or agile.

Systems, in the context of ISO/IEC 29110, are typically composed of hardware and software components.

The ISO/IEC 29110 series, targeted by audience, has been developed to improve system or software and/or service quality, and process performance. See Table 1.

Table 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 target audience

ISO/IEC 29110	Title	Target audience
ISO/IEC 29110‑1	Overview	VSEs and their customers, assessors, standards producers, tool vendors and methodology vendors.
ISO/IEC 29110‑2	Framework for profile preparation	Profile producers, tool vendors and methodology vendors. Not intended for VSEs.
ISO/IEC 29110‑3	Certification and assessment guidance	VSEs and their customers, assessors, accreditation bodies.
ISO/IEC 29110‑4	Profile specifications	VSEs, customers, standards producers, tool vendors and methodology vendors.
ISO/IEC 29110‑5	Management, engineering and service delivery guidelines	VSEs and their customers.

If a new profile is needed, ISO/IEC 29110‑4 and ISO/IEC/TR 29110‑5 can be developed without impacting existing documents.

ISO/IEC TR 29110‑1 ^[ ⁵ ^] defines the terms common to the ISO/IEC 29110 series. It introduces processes, lifecycle and standardization concepts, the taxonomy (catalogue) of ISO/IEC 29110 profiles and the ISO/IEC 29110 series. It also introduces the characteristics and needs of a VSE and clarifies the rationale for specific profiles, documents, standards and guidelines.

ISO/IEC 29110‑2 introduces the concepts for systems and software engineering profiles for VSEs. It establishes the logic behind the definition and application of profiles. For standardized profiles, it specifies the elements common to all profiles (structure, requirements, conformance, and assessment). For domain-specific profiles (profiles that are not standardized and developed outside of the ISO process), it provides general guidance adapted from the definition of standardized profiles.

ISO/IEC 29110‑3 defines certification schemes, assessment guidelines and compliance requirements for process capability assessment, conformity assessments, and self-assessments for process improvements. ISO/IEC 29110‑3 also contains information that can be useful to developers of certification and assessment methods and developers of certification and assessment tools. ISO/IEC 29110‑3 is addressed to people who have direct involvement with the assessment process, e.g. the auditor, certification and accreditation bodies and the sponsor of the audit, who need guidance on ensuring that the requirements for performing an audit have been met.

ISO/IEC 29110 ‑4-m provides the specification for all profiles in one profile group (a profile group may contain a single profile or multiple profiles). A profile is specified in terms of requirements imported from appropriate base standards.

ISO/IEC TR 29110 ‑5-m provides management, engineering and service delivery guidelines for the profiles in a profile group.

This document defines the process certification scheme, assessment guidelines and compliance requirements needed to meet the purpose of the defined Profiles.

Figure 1 describes the ISO/IEC 29110 International Standards (IS) and Technical Reports (TR) and positions the parts within the framework of reference. Overview, assessment guidelines, management and engineering guidelines are available from ISO as freely available Technical Reports (TR). The Framework document, profile specifications and certification schemes are published as International Standards (IS).

Figure 1 — ISO/IEC 29110 series

BS ISO/IEC 29110-3-2:2018

Systems and software engineering. Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities (VSEs) - Conformity certification scheme

Current, Under Review

Published:

30 Apr 2018