Quality assurance certification: adoption by Australian software developers and its association with capability maturity

Many Australian developers have committed resources to achieve certification in response to government purchasing policies favouring standards-certified-suppliers, but cynics suggest the 'piece of paper' does little to improve the processes and subsequent product. This study details a research project undertaken to assess the adoption of QA certification by Australian software developers. Primary data for the study were gathered from a survey of 1,000 Australian software developers, and secondary data from the JAS-ANZ register of certified organisations. The survey design was used to determine the extent of adoption of QA certification by Australian developers, their organisational characteristics, capability maturity and perceptions regarding the value of QA certification. The SEI CMM questionnaire was used as the basis of the capability maturity measurement instrument, enabling an international comparison of CMM levels of developers in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.