CERTICS Assessment Methodology for Software Technological Development and Innovation

Technological development and innovation are key drives for software development organizations. Furthermore they are strategic for the growth of a region or a Country. Therefore, the Brazilian government established a public policy instrument to identify and stimulate software resulting from technological development and innovation in the Country. Hence a software assessment methodology, named as CERTICS, has been created and established in Brazil. Its construction has been based on the reality of software development organizations and guided by methodological references including the ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) Standard. CERTICS includes a reference model, an assessment method and an arrangement for its application, monitoring and continuous improvement. A software organization can also benefit from CERTICS as good practices reference model on technology development and innovation. This article presents an overview of the rationality, design, major components and early practical results of CERTICS Methodology version 1.1.