• Organization's process needs and objectives
  • Revisions to the organization's process and business objectives/goals (e.g., revised business objectives, evidence of reviews, etc.).

• Organizational process performance objectives (e.g., time to market, product quality, productivity)
• Process and product policies, standards and guidelines (notation, level of detail, etc.)
• Characterization of current organization processes (processes currently in use, process and product standards enforced at either the enterprise of company level, or imposed by the customers of the organization.

• Strengths, weaknesses, and improvement opportunities may be determined relative to a process standard or model such as a CMMI model or International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard
  • Integrated processes that emphasize parallel rather than serial development are a cornerstone of IPPD implementation. Such integrated processes need to accommodate the information provided by stakeholders representing all phases of the product life cycle from both business and technical functions.
  • The organization's processes operate in a business context that must be understood. The organization's business objectives, needs, and constraints determine the needs and objectives for the organization’s processes. Typically, issues related to financial, technological, quality, human resource, and marketing are important process considerations.
  • The organization's annual report or strategic plan may be a source for obtaining the organization business goals.

• Plans for the organization's process appraisals
• Appraisal findings that address strengths and weaknesses of the organization's processes - presentations, appraisal reports, improvement recommendations.

• Improvement recommendations for the organization's processes
  • Appraisal records or reports (plan, scope, participants, interview schedules, list of artifacts examined, etc.)
  • Action plans to address appraisal findings
  • Process improvement progress records (e.g., metrics, trends, analyses)
  • Appraisal briefings describing the method to be used, purpose, etc

• Appraisals are typically conducted by either internal members of the organization or by external vendors and use either formal or informal methods.

• Prioritized list of planned process improvements

• Measurements and analysis of processes
• Reports of process performance
• Reviews of lessons learned
• Meeting minutes from process improvement related reviews and planning sessions
• Documented criteria for prioritization of improvement opportunities

• Improvements may be captured in a variety of mechanisms; e.g. action plans, change requests, process improvement proposals, process assessment reports.
• Look for a list of candidate process improvement ideas, and also the set that were selected for action. These lists should be maintained over time.

• Review and revision of the organization's approved process action plans (e.g., revised objectives, reviews, etc.)

• Strategies and methods for the implementation of improvements
• Processes for identifying, defining, piloting and implementing process improvements (ie., a process for process improvement).
• Documented infrastructure for process improvement with clearly defined roles and responsibilities (e.g., management, process owners, process group, action teams, practitioners)
• Review and approval of the action plans by senior management and the management steering committee.
• Results of stakeholder reviews of process action plans.

• Establishing and maintaining process action plans typically involves^N:
  • Management steering committees to set strategies and oversee process-improvement activities
  • Process group staff to facilitate and manage the process improvement activities
  • Process action teams to define and implement the improvement
  • Process owners to manage the deployment
  • Practitioners to perform the process
• Process action plans are detailed implementation plans. These plans differ from the organization’s process-improvement plan in that they are plans targeting specific improvements that have been defined to address weaknesses usually uncovered by appraisals.
• Process action plans are detailed implementation plans. These plans differ from a process-improvement plan in that they are plans targeting specific improvements that have been defined to address weaknesses usually uncovered by appraisals.

• Status and results of implementing process action plans

• Negotiated commitments and revisions to process action plans
• Process improvement status reviews and briefings (management reviews, technical reviews)
• Records of effort and expenditure associated with implementation (e.g., metrics, analyses, progress reports)
• Issues identified from implementation of process action plans
• Records indicating identification, tracking, and resolution of issues related to implementation of process action plans
• Results of pilot verification, validation and analysis to ensure results of implementing improvements have satisfied the organization's business objectives.

• Plans for deploying the organizational process assets and changes to organizational process assets
• Documentation of changes to the organizational process assets

• Training materials for deploying the organizational process assets and changes to organizational process assets
• Support materials for deploying the organizational process assets and changes to organizational process assets:
  • Process asset repository
  • Records of effort and expenditure associated with deployment
  • Deployment issue identification and resolution records
  • Records of training or orientation provided on the new process assets and population and use of Process asset repository (if applicable)

• Deployment of organizational process assets or of changes to organizational process assets should be performed in an orderly manner.
• Some organizational process assets or changes to organizational process assets may not be appropriate for implementation in some parts of the organization (because of customer requirements or the current lifecycle phase being implemented, for example). It is therefore important that those that are or will be executing the process, as well as other organization functions (such as training and quality assurance) be involved in the deployment as necessary.
• Reference the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about how the deployment of organizational process assets is supported and enabled by the organization’s process asset repository
• The deployment plan typically includes such items as assets to be deployed, schedules, resources, scope of the deployment, training, support tools, etc.

• Process-improvement proposals
• Process lessons learned
• Measurements on the organizational process assets
• Records of process-improvement activities

• Improvement recommendations for the organizational process assets
• Information on the organizational process assets and improvements to them
  • Analysis of process performance measures and process assets
  • Reviews including process evaluations, process proposals, tracking of improvement efforts, etc.
  • Lessons learned repository
  • Collection of best practices.

• Lessons learned could originate from deployment or use of process assets.
• Refer to the Process Definition Practice Area for information regarding an organizational measurement repository, including common measures.

• Revisions to the set of standard processes (e.g., revised processes, reviews, etc.)

• Process architectures describing relationships among process elements:
• Process element attributes (e.g., inputs, outputs, entry/exit criteria, roles, interfaces).
• Templates and descriptions for process assets
• Process and product standards
• Process for development, review, and revision of organizational standard processes and assets
• Results of peer reviews of the set of standard processes

• Standard processes may be defined at multiple levels in an enterprise and they may be related in a hierarchical manner^N.
• The set of standard processes may be tailored for each of the business areas or product lines. Thus “the organization's set of standard processes” can refer to the standard processes established at the organization level and standard processes that may be established at lower levels, although some organizations may only have a single level of standard processes.
• Multiple standard processes may be needed to address the needs of different application domains, life-cycle models, methodologies, and tools.
• Each process element covers a bounded and closely related set of activities. These elements are described in sufficient detail such that the process, when fully defined, can be consistently performed by appropriately trained and skilled people.
• The set of standard processes may include multiple process architectures and standard processes.
• The set of standard processes typically includes technical, management, administrative, support, and organizational processes.

• Revisions to the set of life-cycle process models (e.g., revised models, reviews, etc.)

• Guidance and criteria on selection of life-cycle models based on the needs and characteristics of the project and the organizations needs.

• There is usually synergy between the life cycle models used across disciplines being assessed (e.g. product life cycle, project life cycle, software vs. systems life cycles).
• the applicability of the life cycle models should be assessed and the way the projects are executing the project^N

• Revisions to the tailoring criteria and guidelines (e.g., revised guidelines, reviews, etc.)

• Project Defined Processes
• Selection criteria and procedures for tailoring the set of standard processes (i.e. criteria for selecting life cycle models and process element)
• Guidelines, and standards for documenting the defined processes
• Documented results of tailoring guideline peer reviews
• Process compliance review checklists
• Waiver processes, forms, and criteria.

• Tailoring criteria and guidelines describe:
  • How the set of standard processes and organizational process assets are used to create the defined processes
  • Mandatory requirements that must be satisfied by the defined processes
  • Options that can be exercised and criteria for selecting among the options
  • Procedures that must be followed in performing and documenting process tailoring.
• Flexibility in tailoring and defining processes is balanced with ensuring appropriate consistency in the processes across the organization.
  • Flexibility is needed to address contextual variables such as the domain; nature of the customer; cost, schedule, and quality tradeoffs; technical difficulty of the work; and experience of the people implementing the process.
  • Consistency across the organization is needed so that organizational standards, objectives, and strategies are appropriately addressed, and process data and lessons learned can be shared.

• Definition of the common set of product and process measures for the organization's set of standard processes
• The measurement repository structure and support environment
• Measurement data including revisions (e.g., revised measures, collected measures, reviews, etc.)

• Expressed needs for storing, retrieving and analyzing measurements
• Analyses / rationale supporting definition of measures related to products and organization standard process (elements)
• Procedures for collection, storage, analysis of organizational measures
• Logs or records indication population and use of measurement repository
• Records of communication describing the measurement repository, its use and population.

• Reference the Measurement and Analysis Practice Area for information regarding definition, collection, and analysis of measures.
• The measurement repository should contain both product and process measures.
• The processes and mechanism should ensure consistency of collected measures for comparison.

• Revisions to the library of process-related assets (e.g., revised library and assets, reviews, etc.).

• Design of the process asset repository
• Selected items to be included in the process asset repository (eg., Collection of best practices)
• Catalogue of items in the process asset repository including criteria and procedures for adding items to library and reviews of process asset library contents.

Click here for schematic of suggested layout.

• Review and revision history of the strategic training needs of the organization.

• Organization's strategic business plan or process improvement plan.
• Identification of roles and skills needed
• List of required training courses needed

• The typical work products "Training needs" and "Assessment analysis" are at the organizational level, not project level.
• Rationales of strategic organizational training objectives shouuld be documented

• A list of the training to be provided by the organization

• Documented lists of special training needs required by projects or support groups.
• Rationale for acceptance or rejection of training proposals.

• It may be difficult to find explicit artifacts that identify organizational decisions on training that is deferred to projects; i.e., evidence may exist on what training they are going to provide, but not necessarily on what they decided not to train at the organizational level. This might have to be obtained from interviews, or substantiated by written organizational training process descriptions.
• There may be constraints or tradeoffs that practically limit the training needs that can be immediately satisfied. Some training may reasonably need to be deferred based on the extent of needs, resources, and priorities, but this tradeoff should be part of the defined process.
• Reference Project Planning Practice Area for more information about project and support group plans for training.

• Adjustments or revision history of the organizational training tactical plan.

• Lists of training courses, prerequisites, skills, schedules, funding, roles, and responsibilities
• Reviews or status reports tracking implementation progress (e.g., schedule and remaining budget) of the organizational training tactical plan.

• Analysis and revisions of training materials and resources

• Organization's training curriculum and course descriptions
• Analysis of whether to acquire training or provide in-house
• Criteria for instructor qualifications
• Periodic reviews of training capability and resources.

• Reference the Decision Analysis and Resolution process area for how to apply decision-making criteria when selecting training approaches and developing training materials.

• Training records (schedule, instructor, attendance)

• Training delivery reports or metrics (e.g., planned vs. actual)
• Organization's training plan
• Training curriculum, based on assigned role
• Prioritized list of pending training attendees

• Check criteria for training waivers
• Timeliness of delivered training
• Training should be delivered in accordance with the plan developed in Practice 1.3.

• Attendance records and approved waivers

• Skills matrix
• Training repository, metrics or reports, waiver procedures and criteria.

• This practice is geared towards organizational level training records. Project and support group training records are in the Project Monitoring and Control Practice Area. They are often combined at the organizational level.

• Reviews, analyses, or reports of organizational training effectiveness and alignment with organization objectives

• Training effectiveness surveys
• Instructor evaluation forms
• Training examinations
  • Student evaluation feedback forms (of how well training met their needs)
  • Metrics or analysis summarizing consolidated training results
  • Revised course materials, methods, or curriculum as a result of training feedback.

• This is organizational training, not project or support group level training.

• List of processes or process elements identified for process performance analyses

• business objectives for quality and process performance

• The set of standard processes consists may be composed of other processes or multiple process elements.
• It will not be possible, useful, or economically justifiable to apply statistical management techniques to all processes or process elements of the set of standard processes. Selection of the processes and/or process elements is based upon the needs and objectives of both the organization and projects.
• The Goal Question Metric paradigm is an approach that can be used to select measures that provide insight into the organization’s business objectives.
• Reference the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about the structure of the organizational process assets.
• Reference the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about selecting measures.

• Definitions for the selected measures of process performance

• Business objectives related to quality and process performance
• standard measurements.

• The Goal Question Metric paradigm is an approach that can be used to select measures that provide insight into the organization’s business objectives.
• Criteria used to select measures include:
  • Relationship of the measures to the organization’s business objectives
  • Coverage that the measures provide over the entire life of the product
  • Visibility that the measures provide into the process performance
  • Availability of the measures
  • Extent to which the measures are objective
  • Frequency at which the observations of the measure can be collected
  • Extent to which the measures are controllable by changes to the process
  • Extent to which the measures represent the users’ view of effective process performance
• Reference the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about selecting measures
• Reference the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about establishing organizational process assets.

• Quality and process-performance objectives

• Business and Quantitative objectives related to quality and process performance
• priorities of the organization's objectives for quality and process performance
• stakeholder priorities for quality and process-performance objectives.

• Quality and process-performance objectives should have the following attributes:
  • Based on business objectives
  • Based on the past performance of projects
  • Defined to gauge process performance in areas such as product quality, productivity, or cycle time
  • Constrained by the inherent variability or natural bounds of the process.

• Baseline data on the organization’s process performance.

• Measurements from the organization’s projects
• stakeholders agreement with respect to process performance baselines
• Availability of process performance information across the organization

• Process performance baselines are a measurement of performance for the set of standard processes at various levels of detail, as appropriate. The processes include the following:
  • Individual process elements (e.g., test-case inspection element)
  • Sequence of connected processes
  • Processes that cover the entire life of the project
  • Processes for developing individual work products.
• Allowable tailoring of the organization’s set of standard processes may significantly affect the comparability of the data for inclusion in process performance baselines. The effects of tailoring should be considered in establishing baselines.
• Process performance baselines are derived by analyzing the collected measures to establish a distribution and range of results that characterize the expected performance for selected processes when used on any individual project in the organization. The measurements from stable processes from projects should be used
• Reference the Quantitative Project Management process area for more information about the use of process performance baselines
• Reference the Measurement and Analysis process area for information about collecting and analyzing data and for establishing objectives for measurement and analysis, specifying the measures and analyses to be performed, obtaining and analyzing measures, and reporting results
• Reference the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about establishing the organization’s measurement repository.

• Process performance models

• Support for process performance models
• Process performance model calibrations and revisions

• Process performance models are used to estimate or predict the value of a process performance measure from the values of other process and product measurements. These process performance models typically use process and product measurements collected throughout the life of the project to estimate progress toward achieving objectives that cannot be measured until later in the project’s life.
• The process performance models are used for...
  • estimating, analyzing, and predicting the process performance associated with the processes in the set of standard processes.
  • Assessing the (potential) return on investment for process-improvement activities
  • Projects to estimate, analyze, and predict the process performance for their defined processes and for selecting processes for use.
  • Reference the Quantitative Project Management process area for more information about the use of process performance models.

• Analyzed process- and technology-improvement proposals^N

• costs and benefits of process- and technology improvement proposals
• process- and technology-improvement proposals that are innovative are identified
• Potential barriers and risks to deploying process- and technology-improvement proposal are identified, documented and cost estimated
• Pilot implementations may be carried out

• Managers and staff in the organization, as well as customers, end users, and suppliers can submit process- and technology-improvement proposals. Process and technology improvements may be implemented at the local level before being proposed for the organization.
• Criteria for evaluating costs and benefits include:
  • Contribution toward meeting the organization’s quality and process-performance objectives
  • Effect on mitigating identified project and organizational risks
  • Ability to respond quickly to changes in project requirements, market situations, and the business environment
  • Effect on related processes and associated assets
  • Cost of defining and collecting data that supports the measurement and analysis of the process- and technology-improvement proposal
  • Expected life span of the proposal
• Process performance models provide insight into the effect of process changes on process capability and performance
• Innovative improvements are typically identified by reviewing process- and technology-improvement proposals or by actively investigating and monitoring innovations that are in use in other organizations or are documented in research literature.
• Innovation may be inspired by internal improvement objectives or by the external business environment.
• Innovative improvements are typically major changes to the process that represent a break from the old way of doing things (e.g., changing the life-cycle model)
• Reference the Organizational Process Focus process area for more information about process- and technology-improvement proposals and about process performance models.

• Innovative improvement suggestions
• Analysis of proposed innovative improvements.

• Investigation and analysis of innovative proposals^N
• process- and technology-improvement proposals and documentation (including cost/benefit analysis)
• proposals to pilot process- and technology-improvements

• Investigating innovative improvements involves^N:
  • Systematically maintaining awareness of leading relevant technical work and technology trends
  • Periodically searching for commercially available innovative improvements
  • Collecting proposals for innovative improvements from the projects and the organization
  • Systematically reviewing processes and technologies used externally and comparing them to those used within the organization
  • Identifying areas where innovative improvements have been used successfully, and reviewing data and documentation of experience using these improvements
• Reference the Organizational Process Performance process area for more information about process performance models.

• Pilot evaluation reports
• Documented lessons learned from pilots.

• relevant stakeholder agreement on the plans for the pilots
• Greater buy-in for any implementation is generated by consulting appropriate participants and stakeholders
• Documented evaluation of pilot

• Pilots are performed to assess new and unproven major changes before they are broadly deployed, as appropriate
• The implementation of this specific practice may overlap with the implementation of the Implement the Action Proposals specific practice
• It is critical to define criteria to be used for evaluating pilot results in the Causal Analysis and Resolution process area (e.g., when causal analysis and resolution is implemented organizationally or across multiple projects).
• Reviewing and documenting the results of pilots usually involves:
  • Deciding whether to terminate the pilot, re-plan and continue the pilot, or proceed with deploying the process and technology improvement
  • Updating the disposition of process- and technology-improvement proposals associated with the pilot
  • Identifying and documenting new process- and technology-improvement proposals as appropriate
  • Identifying and documenting lessons learned and problems encountered during the pilot

• Process- and technology-improvement proposals selected for deployment

• Prioritized list of candidate process and technology improvements projects for deployment^N
• Process deployment plans
• Documented lessons learned about the deployment

• Selection of process- and technology-improvement proposals for deployment across the organization is based on quantifiable criteria derived from the organization’s quality and process-performance objectives.
• Reference the Organizational Process Performance process area for more information about quality and process-performance objectives.

• Deployment plan for selected process and technology improvements

• Information on adjustment for organization-wide deployment
• Strategies identified to address potential barriers
• Measures and objectives for determining the value of each process and technology improvement with respect to the organization’s quality and process-performance objectives.
• stakeholder agreement on deployment plans

• Examples of changes needed to deploy a process and technology improvement include:
  • Process descriptions, standards, and procedures
  • Development environments
  • Education and training
  • Skills
  • Existing commitments
  • Existing activities
  • Continuing support to end users
  • Organizational culture and characteristics
• Examples of measures for determining the value of a process and technology improvement include:
  • Return on investment
  • Time to recover the cost of the process or technology improvement
  • Measured improvement in the project’s or organization's process performance
  • Number and types of project and organizational risks mitigated by the process or technology improvement
  • Ability to respond quickly to changes in project requirements, market situations, and the business environment.
• Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about establishing objectives for measurement and analysis, specifying the measures and analyses to be performed, obtaining and analyzing measures, and reporting results.

• Updated training materials (to reflect deployed process and technology improvements)
• Documented results of process- and technology-improvement deployment activities
• Revised process- and technology-improvement measures, objectives, priorities, and deployment plans.

• Quicker, more controlled deployment with fewer issues attributable to process factors
• Process assets incorporating the process and technology improvements
• updated training materials to reflect the improvements to the organizational process assets
• Confirmation that the deployment of all process and technology improvements is completed
• Determination whether the ability of the defined process to meet quality and process-performance objectives is adversely affected by the process and technology improvement; corrective action when necessary
• Lessons learned from deployment.

• The implementation of this specific practice may overlap with the implementation of the Implement the Action Proposals specific practice in the Causal Analysis and Resolution process area^N. The primary difference is that in the Causal Analysis and Resolution process area, planning is done to manage the removal of the root causes of defects or problems from the project’s defined processes. In this area, planning is done to manage the deployment of improvements to the organization’s processes and technologies that can be quantified against the organization’s business objectives.
• Examples of methods for quickly deploying process and technology improvements include:
  • Using red-lines, process change notices, or other controlled process documentation as interim process descriptions
  • Deploying process and technology improvements incrementally, rather than as a single deployment
  • Providing comprehensive consulting to early adopters of the process and technology improvement in lieu of revised formal training
• Reference the Organizational Process Definition process area and the Organizational Process Focus process area for more information about organizational process assets
• Reference the Organizational Training process area for more information about training materials.
• Reference the Quantitative Project Management process area for more information about quantitatively managing the project’s defined process to achieve the project’s established quality and process-performance objectives.

• Documented measures of the effects resulting from the deployed process and technology improvements

• Actual cost, effort, schedule and value data for deploying each process and technology improvement
• Measurement of the progress toward achieving the organization's quality and process-performance objectives stored in measurement repository.

• The implementation of this specific practice may overlap with the implementation of the Evaluate the Effect of Changes specific practice in the Causal Analysis and Resolution process area (e.g., when causal analysis and resolution is implemented organizationally or across multiple projects).
• Reference the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about establishing objectives for measurement and analysis, specifying the measures and analyses to be performed, obtaining and analyzing measures, and reporting results
• Reference the Organizational Process Performance process area for more information about process performance analyses.