Injecting quality into software development with industry-specific guidance on ISO 9001

ISO/IEC/IEEE 90003, Software engineering – Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001:2015 to computer software, is designed as a checklist for the development, supply and maintenance of computer software. The recently updated version combines the proven benefits of ISO 9001 with some of the world’s most important support documents in software engineering, allowing an organization to benefit from international best practice in improving quality at every step of the life cycle. This includes everything from the supply, acquisition, operation and maintenance, to the circular process of continuous improvement.

Developed in conjunction with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the standard was recently revised to align with the most recent version of ISO 9001 (published in 2015), with new concepts relevant to current software development added.

Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chair of the joint ISO and IEC subcommittee that developed the standard, said ISO/IEC/IEEE 90003 is important for the industry as it provides a much needed interpretation of ISO 9001 in a language appropriate to software development.

“As it has been written by software experts from many different countries, it adds great value to the wealth of knowledge already accumulated in the software world,” he said.

“It also provides links to other software engineering standards that may be of use to software developers, such as software life-cycle processes, information security and testing.”

ISO/IEC/IEEE 90003 was developed by joint technical committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, subcommittee SC 7 Software and systems engineering, whose secretariat is BIS, ISO’s member for India. It can be purchased from your national ISO member or through the ISO store.