The Development and Experimentation of an International Standard for Very Small Entities Involved in Software Development - Agenda Overview

Sep 12, 2026

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Software engineering standards are discussed for Very Small Entities (VSEs), defined as enterprises, projects, or departments with up to 25 people. The material outlines ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 Working Group 24 establishment and the multi-phase approach: recognition of needs, research, standard development, commercialization, diffusion/adoption mechanisms, and consequences. A Japan example illustrates economic risk from defects in small-supplier ecosystems. The talk also covers workshops, participating countries, and initiatives supporting SMEs and VSEs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages49

Reading Time17 min

AccessFree to download

Agenda

Needs for Standards for Very Small Entities (VSEs)

Establishment of ISO Working Group 24

Approach Used to Develop Standards for VSEs

Accomplishments to Date

Development of Diffusion/Adoption Mechanisms

Next Steps

Department of Software and IT Engineering The Development and Experimentation of an International Standard for Very Small Entities Involved in Software Development Claude Y Laporte, Eng., Ph.D. Project Editor, SC7 Working Group 24 Rory V. O’Connor, Ph.D. Dublin City University, Ireland Computing Professionals 2010 April 21-23, 2010 Montréal, Canada Agenda • Needs for Standards for Very Small Entities (VSEs) • Establishment of ISO Working Group 24 • Approach used to Develop Standards for VSEs • Accomplishments to Date • Development of Diffusion/Adoption Mechanisms • Next Steps VSEs = Very Small Entities are enterprises, projects or departments having up to 25 people. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 = International Organization for Standardization/ International Electrotechnical Commission Joint Technical Committee 1/Sub Committee 7. 23/04/2010 2 The Importance of VSEs An Example from Japan Manufacturer Prime (60) Suppliers (600) Producers (~6,000) A software defect from one of the producers went into a product and resulted in a loss of over $200 million by the manufacturer. Adapted from: Shintani, Small Settings Workshop, Software Engineering Institute, 2005 23/04/2010 3 Size of Enterprises • Greater Montréal Area-Software Enterprises | Number of employees | Number of Software Enterprises | Percentage | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 to 25 | 540 | 78 % | | 25 to 100 | 127 | 18 % | | Over 100 | 26 | 4 % | (Gauthier 2004) 23/04/2010 4 Development of International Standards for VSEs • Phase 1-Recognition of Needs and Problems. – Began in Australia at an ISO Plenary meeting (2004) • Phase 2-Basic and Applied Research – Survey of Process Improvement Initiatives (2005) – Survey of VSEs worldwide (2006) • Phase 3-Development – The Development of International Standards for VSEs (2006-2010) • Phase 4 – Commercialization (2010) • Phase 5-Diffusion and Adoption – Development of the Means to Accelerate the Adoption and Utilization of International Standards by VSEs (2006- ) • Phase 6-Consequences (2010- ) (Rogers 2003) 23/04/2010 5 1. Needs and Problems SC7 Plenary Meeting-Australia – 2004 • Canada raised the fact that small enterprises require standards adapted to their size and maturity, • A meeting of interested parties was held with 8 delegates from national bodies (Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, South Africa, and Thailand) – Consensus reached: • Make the current software engineering standards more accessible to VSEs; • Provide turn key material that require minimal tailoring and adaptation effort; – Approach selected: • Establish a Special Interest Group (SIG) to develop: – Statement of requirements; – The outline of key deliverables, and the associated process to create them » e.g. how to create profiles; – Terms of Reference for the working group; – Prepare a Proposal for the next Plenary meeting in Finland (2005) Hypothesis of the Special Interest Group • Reasons for not using Standards • Not written for or difficult to use by VSEs, • Current SE standards do not specifically address VSEs’ needs,• Current SE standards requires critical mass (staff, budget, time) to implement, • Compliance with existing standards difficult to achieve, • Net benefits not obvious, • Most VSEs do not have the expertise to implement standards. Standards are often developed by large organisations for large organisations ! 23/04/2010 SE = Software Engineering 7 Establishment of Working Group 24 • Two Workshops in Thailand – March/September 2005 – Sponsored by the Thai Industrial Standard Institute and the Thai Software Industry Promotion Agency, – Representatives of 10 countries • Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, South Africa, South Korea, USA and Thailand. • SC7 Plenary Meeting in Finland – May 2005 – Proposal to establish a new Working Group (WG) was tabled, – Twelve countries offered their support t

FAQs

What is the definition of VSEs used in the document?

VSEs are enterprises, projects, or departments with up to 25 people.

How did ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 Working Group 24 develop the standards for VSEs?

Through phased work: recognition of needs and problems, research, development of international standards (2006–2010), commercialization (2010), diffusion/adoption mechanisms, and later consequences.

Why were existing software engineering standards not sufficient for VSEs?

They were often difficult to use or not tailored to VSE needs and maturity, required critical mass (staff/budget/time), made compliance hard, benefits were not obvious, and VSEs typically lacked implementation expertise.

Sep 12, 2026

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