Open source software assessment methodologies

Several methods have been created to define an assessment process for Free/Open Source software. Some focus on some aspects like the maturity, the durability and the strategy of the organisation around the Open Source project itself. Other methodologies add functional aspects to the assessment process.

Existing methodologies

• Open Source Maturity Model (OSMM) from Capgemini
• Open Source Maturity Model (OSMM) from Navica
• Methodology of Qualification and Selection of Open Source software (QSOS)
• Open Business Readiness Rating (OpenBRR)
• Open Business Quality Rating (OpenBQR)^[1]
• QualiPSo OpenSource Maturity Model (OMM)
• QualiPSo Model for Open Source Software Tustworthiness (MOSST)^[2]
• QualOSS - Quality of Open Source

Comparison

Comparison criteria

• Seniority : the methodology birth date.
• Original authors/sponsors : original methodology authors and sponsoring entity (if any)
• License : Distribution and usage license for the methodology and the resulting assessments
• Assessment model :
  • Detail levels : several levels of details or assessment granularity
  • Predefined criteria : the methodology provides some predefined criteria
  • Technical/functional criteria : the methodology permits the use of domain specific criteria based on technical information or features
• Scoring model :
  • Scoring scale by criterion
  • Iterative process : the assessment can be performed and refined using several steps improving the level of details
  • Criteria weighting : it is possible to apply weighting on the assessed criteria as part of the methodology scoring model
• Comparison : the comparison process is defined by the methodology

Comparison chart

Criteria	OSMM Capgemini	OSMM Navica	QSOS	OpenBRR	OMM
Seniority	2003	2004	2004	2005	2008
Original authors/sponsors	Capgemini	Navicasoft	Atos Origin	Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, SpikeSource, O'Reilly, Intel	QualiPSo project, EU commission
License	Non-free license, but authorised distribution	Assessment models licensed under the Academic Free License	Methodology and assessments results licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License	Assessments results licensed under a Creative Commons license	Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Assessment model	Practical	Practical	Practical	Scientific	Scientific
Detail levels	2 axes on 2 levels	3 levels	3 levels or more (functional grids)	2 levels	3 levels
Predefined criteria	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Technical/functional criteria	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Scoring model	Flexible	Flexible	Flexible	Strict	Flexible
Scoring scale by criterion	1 to 5	1 to 10	0 to 2	1 to 5	1 to 4
Iterative process	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Criteria weighting	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Comparison	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

See also

Free software portal

• Open Source Maturity Model
• Open source software assessment methodologies
  • OpenBRR
  • QSOS
• The QualiPSo OpenSource Maturity Model (OMM)
• Free Software
• Open Source

References

1. ^ Davide Taibi, Luigi Lavazza, Sandro Morasca. "OpenBQR: a framework for the assessment of OSS" published in OSS 2007 proceedings.
2. ^ http://www.qualipso.org/mosst-champion

External links

• OSMM from Capgemini
• OSMM from Navica
• QSOS
• OpenBRR
• Master thesis on open source selection (In danish)
• Enterprise Maturity Assessment Model (freeware)
• Enterprise Architecture Maturity Assesment Model Software - freeware
• Official QualiPSo OMM webpages