Other Process Improvement Standards CS4320

Other Process Improvement StandardsCS4320

Fall 2005

Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPICE) (ISO 15504)

Process

ProcessAssessment

CapabilityDetermination

ProcessImprovement

leadsto

Identifieschanges to

leadsto

Isexamined

by

motivates

Identifies

and risks ofcapability

Table 1 – Description of process categories

Process category

Brief description

Customer-Supplier

Processes that directly impact the customer

Engineering Processes that specify, implement, or maintain a system and software product

Project Processes that establish the project, and co-ordinate and manage its resources

Support Processes that enable and support the performance of the other processes on the project

Organization Processes that establish the business goals of the organization and develop process, product, and resource assets which will help the organization achieve its business goals

Process Areas

Customer-Supplier CUS.1Acquire software product and/or service CUS.2Establish contract CUS.3Identify customer needs CUS.4Perform joint audits and reviews CUS.5Package, deliver, and install the software CUS.6Support operation of software CUS.7Provide customer service CUS.8Assess customer satisfaction

Engineering Processes

ENG.1 Develop system requirements and design

ENG.2 Develop software requirements ENG.3 Develop software design ENG.4 Implement software design ENG.5 Integrate and test software ENG.6 Integrate and test system ENG.7 Maintain system and software

Project Process

PRO.1 Plan project life cycle PRO.2 Establish project plan PRO.3 Build project teams PRO.4 Manage requirements PRO.5 Manage quality PRO.6 Manage risks PRO.7 Manage resources and schedule PRO.8 Manage subcontractors

Supporting Process

SUP.1 Develop documentation SUP.2 Perform configuration

management SUP.3 Perform quality assurance SUP.4 Perform problem resolution SUP.5 Perform peer reviews

Organizational Process

ORG.1 Engineer the business ORG.2 Define the process ORG.3 Improve the process ORG.4 Perform training ORG.5 Enable reuse ORG.6 Provide software engineering

environment ORG.7 Provide work facilities

SPICE Assessment Types

Self-Assessment Assisted Self-Assessment Self-Assessment with External Verification Independent Assessment

Context of process assessment

Process Assessment

Process model

Process purposePractices

Assessment output

Generic practice adequacy ratings

Process capability level ratings

Assessment input

Assessment purposeAssessment scopeAssessment constraintsAssessment responsibilities

From process improvementor process cabapility determination

To process improvementor process capability determination

Extended process definitions

Assessment instrument Process indicators

Assessment record

(Part 2 of this International Standard)

Additional information to be collected

Process management indicators

Ratings Each Process instance is rated Base Practice adequacy scale

N, Not Adequate The base practice is either not implemented or does not to any degree contribute to satisfying the process purpose

P, Partially Adequate The implemented base practice does little to

contribute to satisfying the process purpose L, Largely Adequate The implemented base practice largely

contributes to satisfying the process purpose F, Fully Adequate The implemented base practice fully

contributes to satisfying the process purpose Base Practice existence scale (N, Y) Generic Practice adequacy scale (N, P, L, F)

Assessment Ratings

Aggregate by % Ratings:

Performed InformallyPlanned and TrackedWell-DefinedQuantitatively ControlledContinuously Improving

Process Improvement Roadmap

Capability Levels taken from ISO SPICE model v1.0

Capability levels provide logical and structured methodology for improving how work is performed

Legend:

Level Title

• Characterized by

• Achieved when

• Primary Concept

• N/A

• Organizational starting point

Not Performed

• SE process area not being done

• Essential elements performed

• Doing systems engineering

Performed Informally

• Individual heroics

• Projects using defined process

• Controlling local chaos

Planned & Tracked

• Work is planned & managed

• Projects use org. std. process

• Sharing organizational learning

Well Defined

• Development of org. std. process

• Process metrics captured

• Managing processes by data

Quantitatively Controlled

• Definition of quantitative goals

• Processes improved

• Improvement based on data

Continuously Improving

• Quantitative strategic goals

0

I

II

III

IV

V

11SA-

Practice: 2.1.4

Provide tools Provide appropriate tools to support performance of the process.

Associated Processes/Practices: ORG.6 Provide Software Engineering Environment.ORG.7 Provide Work Facilities

Potential Sources for Existence Evidence –Development environment (104)(see the associated process indicators)

Process Management Indicators –Tools are used support the process activities defined in the organizational unit.

–Practitioners verify that the tools in use meet their needs.

–Tools defined are available to those who perform the task(s).

–Adequate number of tools are available to support the activities defined

–Tools used add value to the required tasks

–Personnel who use the tools receive adequate training in the operation of the tool

–Documentation and/or instructions is available for the tool

–Support for the tool is available

1) Software Development Methodology – Identification of the approach / method used to develop software– Identification of the life cycle model (waterfall, spiral, serial build, etc.) used to develop software– Provides a high level description of the process, activities, and controls

2) Software Development Life Cycle Model

– High level description of activities performed at each life cycle phase– Sequencing of the life cycle phases– Identification of critical life cycle phase dependencies– Identification of required inputs, outputs to each life cycle phase– Identification of the key decision points (milestones) model– Identification of the quality control points in the model

3) Process Description – A detailed description of the process which includes:– purpose of the process– task and activities to be performed and ordering of tasks– critical dependencies between task activities– expected time required to execute task– input/ outputs work products– Identifies process entry and exit criteria– Identifies internal and external interfaces to the process– Identifies process measures– Identifies quality expectations– Identifies functional roles and responsibilities

Sample Work Practices

Model - Part 2

Assessment ReportGeneric practice adequacy ratings

Assessment record


Assessment InputPurposeScopeConstraintsResponsibilitiesExtended process definitions

Part 5 Process indicators

PROCESS

PROCESS

CAPABILITY

Specified requirements Capability Report

ASSESSMENT

DETERMINATION




Model - Part 2

Assessment ReportGeneric practice adequacy ratings

Assessment record


Assessment InputPurposeScopeConstraintsResponsibilitiesExtended process definitions

Part 5 Process indicators

PROCESS

PROCESS

IMPROVEMENT

Improvement requestValidated and institutionalized improvements

ASSESSMENT




Organization's needs and business goals

Implement improvements

Initiate process improvement

Prepare and conduct process

assessment Analyse results

and derive action plan

Identified scope and priorities

Industrial benchmarks

Assessment request

Approved action plan

Monitor performance

Assessment results

Confirm the improvement

Sustain improvement

gains

Examine organisation's

needs

Implemented improvements

Validated improvement results

Institutionalised improvements

Improvement initiation

Organisation's needs

current assessed

capability

Re-assessment request

Preliminary process improvement programme plan

Analysed re-assessment results

Practice descriptions from process model Target capability

profiles from capability determination

Process improvement programme plan for capability determination

Software process improvement request

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

(Parts 3 and 4)

(Part 2)

(Part 8)

Organization'sneeds

Software process goals

Software process metrics

Software process current

measurement

Software process target value

Software process improvement

actions

Software process results

are analysed to yield

determine the selection of

are used to measure are used to validate

are used to express

is compared with is reference point for

are designed to achieve

start with produce

Measurement

A methodology and a service to improve quality of software processes.

Goals of BOOTSTRAP Valuation of the capability level on SPU Software Producing Unit)

and project level for process categories each process

Comparison of capability levels between the projects and the SPU Benchmarking the capability level against European mean value

overall in the defined business segment

Identifying the main strength and weaknesses of the company Support to define adequate business goals Define and implement an improvement plan

Process

ProcessAssessment

CapabilityDetermination

ProcessImprovement

leadsto

Identifieschanges to

leadsto

Isexamined

by

motivates

Identifies

and risks ofcapability

ISO 9000 Series Actually a series of specifications that allow

companies to be “certified” Doesn’t focus on improvement—just current state Addresses minimum criteria for a quality system Strongly paper-trail oriented Checklist assessment Generic—not software specific Principle: Every important process should be

documented

ISO 9000 Definitions

The standardized definition of quality refers to all those features of a product (or service) which are required by the customer.

"Quality management" means what the organization does to ensure that its products or services satisfy the customer's quality requirements and comply with any regulations applicable to those products or services.

The 9000 Series

ISO 9001 sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes range all the way from design and development, to production, installation and servicing;

ISO 9002 is the appropriate standard for organizations that do not design and develop products, since it does not include the design control requirements of ISO 9001. Its requirements are identical aside from that distinction.

ISO 9003 is the appropriate standard for an organization whose business processes do not include design control, process control, purchasing or servicing. It focuses on inspection and testing to ensure that final products and services meet specified requirements.

Example from ISO 9001:2000 4 Systemic Requirements

4.1 Establish your quality system Develop your quality management system

Identify the processes that make up your quality system.

Describe your quality management processes. Implement your quality management system

Use quality system processes. Manage process performance.

Improve your quality management system Monitor process performance. Improve process performance

An ISO 9001 compliant organization should be at or near CMM 2 with significant progress towards level 3.

CMM has no delivery and product handling process.

Six Sigma

The goal of Six Sigma is to increase profits by eliminating variability, defects and waste that undermine customer loyalty. Metrics: 3.4 defects/million units Methodology: DMAIC / DFSS

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (existing) Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify (new)

Philosophy: reduce variation, customer-focused decisions

Heavy use of Metrics and Statistical Data Analysis (Control charts, pareto, ishikawa, etc.)

Six Sigma Quality

Two Types of Quality Type 1: Customer Quality - The features that customers want. Type 2: Engineered Quality - The problems customers do not want.

No Intuition – Only cold hard facts VOC – Voice of the customer

Needs analysis, eSurvey, Focus Groups, Surveys

Conclusions

CMM-I seems to have pretty much won the wars, although the other methods are more productized.

Spice has become ISO Standard, and method of relating other assessments to each other.

ISO 9000 is a separate issue in certification rather than assessment.

Six Sigma is an SPC methodology that is used in conjunction with assessment models.

Documents

Other Process Improvement Standards CS4320