Processes for software development within the Public Administration

The availability of open standards and tools have made often convenient for Public Administrations to internalize software development activities. In order to establish a software factory, it is critical to define processes. While many process standards have been devised over time, in our opinion there exist fewer effective guidelines on how to tailor them to an organization's actual needs. This paper describes the experience we acquired and the lessons we learned through the years on process definition by managing a number of software development projects within CNR1 Central Administration. In particular, a software development process is described that we consider adequate for small-to-medium-sized software factories (frequent case for non-ICT organizations). “Inclusion criteria” are also suggested for the artefacts of each phase, in order to allow further process tailoring. Our process is then discussed against a set of case studies which represent the empirical basis of our tailoring work. We believe our experience can be of use for other similar contexts, particularly within the Public Administration.