INTECO

ICT Quality

The National Institute of Communication Technologies (INTECO), through its Software Quality Line, promotes strategies related to the quality of the Spanish software industry, as well as the development and establishment of business projects in Spain.

Plan Avanza, approved by the Spanish Cabinet in November 2005, supports actions aimed at improving software quality. Indeed, the objective of Plan Avanza is to ensure a 7% increase of the Spanish GDP, by 2010, in the economic activity related to information technologies. In the Section related to “Software quality improvement”, complementary actions, whose aim is to promote and disseminate software quality contrasted models among companies - especially among SMEs -, are established. These actions follow the aim, established in the National Programme of Computer Technologies, of significantly and measurably improving the software quality in Spain, innovating in the development processes of companies.

Therefore, the main objectives of INTECO are:

  • The study and diagnosis of the initial situation and the impact that software quality has on the competition of the ICT sector. 
  • The establishment of a National Laboratory of Software Quality. 
  • The promotion of the process of the creation of ICT companies in regions with little or no technological tradition.

The figure shows three levels of quality management, as well as the areas and tasks that each of them covers. The lower level, product management, includes tasks, such as requirements management, functional tests, performance tests and security tests. The intermediate level, project management, includes nine areas of management, such as time management, cost management, etc. The higher level, process management, includes CMMI and SPICE.