In the Software Engineering (SE) research field, several efforts are underway aimed at developing appropriate meta-models for SE methodologies. Meta-models are meant to check and verify both the software development process and the completeness and expressiveness of methodologies. In this context, in order to provide a uniform way to represent, compare and reuse methodologies, Software Process Engineering Meta-model (SPEM) — an OMG object-oriented standard — is a natural candidate. 

In order to put the SPEM meta-modelling power to test, and emphasise its benefits and limitations, in this paper we apply SPEM to a more articulated context than the object-oriented one where it was initially conceived — that is, Agent- Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodologies. In particular, we take the SODA methodology as a significant case study in order to assess strengths and limitations of SPEM, given the peculiar SODA focus on the modelling and engineering of (i) social issues and (ii) application environment — essential aspects in the engineering of complex software systems.