Proposal for a framework for quality measurement to the SPB – Brazilian Public Software

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the development of a conceptual framework to drive and assess the quality of software production in the digital ecosystem domain. Design/methodology/approach – This research used action research paradigm, the soft methodology SSM and the framework PRO2PI-MFMOD. The methodologies were applied at Brazilian Public Software Ecosystem. Findings – The results of this research shows: the dimension of the capacity, as suggested by ISO/IEC 15504, is insufficient for quality treatment in certain domains; SSM methodology is suitable for scope and domain clarification in digital ecosystems; and PRO2PI-MFMOD framework is suitable to create a reference model process for digital ecosystems software production. Research limitations/implications – A complete SSM cycle was conducted, but with only one research cycle. In that sense, the results obtained in this research can be interpreted as boundaries to reflections regarding the learning occurred in the system. Practical implications – The research offers an empirical contribution, mapping and defining maturity framework elements that can be used by the software production digital ecosystems, aiming the description and understanding of the phenomenon through the theoretical views of complexity theory, systemic thinking, digital ecosystems and maturity models. Social implications – The contributions can be summarized in the following aspects: the maturity models evolution, shifting from command and control basis to cooperation and connection basis; the maturity models scope, drifting from organizational units to collaborative networks of software production; the assimilation and broadcast of digital ecosystems concept by MCTI; and the maturity levels introduced in the research can be used as a particular case of capacity dimension of the further ISO/IEC 33000 standards. Originality/value – Through the results obtained with systematic revision of the literature, one can notice the absence of publications that approach all the four axes that ground this research simultaneously. The proposed subject is original and relevant to the software community in the matter of software process improvement and to the current and further public digital ecosystems of software development.