Supporting the Software Process Improvement in Very Small Entities through E-learning: The HEPALE! Project

Recurring problems in the application of a new software process improvement model have to do with the lack of knowledge about how it works, its dissemination and the tools available, making it difficult to acquire the model and then understand it. Nowadays, e-learning systems could help Very Small Software Entities (VSEs), to get to know and understand software models and their peculiarities. To address this issue, this paper focuses on the development of a tool based on e-learning standards; it is called the HEPALE! Project.This project is composed of three steps. First, the creation of a deployment package set, in line with ISO/IEC PDTR 29110-5-1 Software Engineering-Lifecycle Profiles for VSEs, for implementing software process improvement models, as well for making them easier to use. Secondly, the creation of a repository that supports changes in the deployment packages, based on e-learning standards and tools, to create, represent, interact with and manipulate learning objects and e-learning. Finally, the last part aims to spread the software development models COMPETISOFT and ISO/IEC 29110-5-1, the application of technologies that make use of e-learning. All this is done to aid VSEs in bringing best practices into their software production.