Scenarios

Training Programs

Training programs need to include defining required training, planning the training, and executing the training plans. Different improvement models have placed different levels of importance on training. Some disciplines will have separate training programs, with some of them being more formal than others. With multiple training programs, it is not unusual to have several related courses. To exploit some of the resulting differences, we offer the following questions and suggested approaches.

Questions you should ask regarding your training programs include:

• Does your current training cover your selected CMMI scope?

• Do you need more detailed training in some disciplines?

• Do you have overlap in your training?

• What training should be merged?

• What training should remain separate?

Here are some suggested approaches to get to the answers.

Identify which training programs are in scope

You need to know what training programs exist within the CMMI scope that you have selected. These training programs may exist at the enterprise level, the organizational level, and within the disciplines (systems, software, and purchasing). For example, the enterprises through corporate human resources may train individuals in project management as they take their first management assignments; the organization may have orientation and training covering the specific domain of their major customers; and purchasing may have training in contract law and negotiations.

Identify all sources of training

Understanding the sources of the training courses helps ensure that you do not leave anything out. The sources of training are likely to include in-house training conducted within specific disciplines, enterprise-or organizational-level training (often within human resources), and training provided by specialist consultants (i.e., if you have been using a process improvement consultant, they are likely to be doing your model training).

Identify and collect all training plans and schedule

Some training plans will be easy to identify, as they will have the title Training Plan. Some training plans will only have a schedule. A schedule is not enough. Any training program should be managed as a project with a plan identifying what training is required, who needs the training, what resources (budget, participant hours, facilities, etc.) are required to perform the training, how training will be provided, and a schedule.

Identify all training courses

Create a course log summarizing the information identified above. You may need to survey the groups you have identified. At a minimum, this log should contain:

• Course description and syllabus

• What form it is in (video, PowerPoint slides, or interactive computer training module)

• Group or individual responsible for course content

• Group or individual responsible for course materials

• Method used to deliver the training

• How often it is taught, to whom, and how it is recorded

• How the course is evaluated

Our experience shows that if you go through all the steps above, and you document your results and review your findings, you will be able to identify two major opportunities for alignment:

1. Merging training programs. For example, you might merge a systems engineering training program and a software engineering training program for the same reason you merge process improvement groups to eliminate overlap, simplify the efforts, increase communication, and focus your resources

2. Merging courses with similar content, roles, and level of detail. For example, you might merge data management and configuration management courses to eliminate redundancy, improve consistency, and increase knowledge across two similar groups. Caution: some courses, for example a QA orientation and a QA techniques course, are similar but with a different level of detail for different audiences. Those would not be merged.

The other outcome of this effort is identifying courses that need to be developed to address the expanded scope of the CMMI. For example, if you have a software project manager course but do not have a systems or purchasing project manager course, you will either want to expand the scope of the software course or create new courses for systems and purchasing.