Specific Practices by Goal

SG 1 Analyze and Select Sources of Products

Potential sources of products that best fit the needs of the project are identified, analyzed, and selected.

The specific practices associated with this specific goal enhance the approach to selecting suppliers described in the Supplier Agreement Management process area by proactively identifying potential sources of products that satisfy the project's requirements and by using this information when selecting suppliers.

The specific practices associated with this specific goal augment those that help achieve the Establish Supplier Agreements specific goal of the Supplier Agreement Management process area and contribute to making the supplier selection decisions described in that process area.

SP 1.1-1 Analyze Potential Sources of Products

Identify and analyze potential sources of products that may be used to satisfy the project's requirements.

Identifying sources of products that might be used to satisfy the project's requirements involves monitoring the market to identify potential sources of such products. The products available in the market continually change, as does the information about the capabilities of products and their suppliers. Thus, new information that may be essential to deciding which potential sources are most effective continually becomes available. Monitoring the market to identify potential sources involves proactively searching for such information and incorporating it into ongoing and future decisions.

Typical Work Products

1. List of potential sources of products that might be acquired

2. Market studies

3. Trade studies

4. Information about potential sources such as past performance, post-delivery support, corporate viability, and risks

Subpractices

1. Conduct market research to identify potential sources of candidate products to be acquired, including candidates from suppliers of custom-made products and vendors of COTS products.

   Refer to the Organizational Innovation and Deployment process area for examples of sources of process and technology improvements and how to pilot and evaluate such improvements.

2. Evaluate potential sources against established criteria by performing trade studies, as appropriate.

   The purpose of evaluating sources is to achieve a better understanding of the relative merits of alternative sources in terms of their potential to satisfy project requirements.

3. Identify risks associated with the potential sources.

SP 1.2-1 Evaluate and Determine Sources of Products

Use a formal evaluation process to determine which sources of custom-made and off-the-shelf products to use.

Factors that may affect the evaluation include the following:

• Core competencies

• Functions the products will provide and how these functions relate to customer needs

• Availability of on-site support such as responses to queries and problem reports

• Availability of maintenance support after delivery

• Availability of project resources and skills

• Ability to commit to critical delivery and integration dates

• Skills and capabilities

• Licenses, warranties, responsibilities, and limitations associated with the products

• Results of cost-to-benefit ratio analyses, as appropriate

Refer to the Decision Analysis and Resolution process area for more information about formal evaluation approaches that can be used to select suppliers.

Typical Work Products

1. Analysis and evaluation reports

2. Revised list of product sources

Subpractices

1. Determine the feasibility of acquiring custom-made or off-the-shelf products.

2. Determine product life-cycle costs of custom-made or off-the-shelf products.

3. Use the results of these analyses to select a supplier.

   Refer to the Select Suppliers specific practice of the Supplier Agreement Management process area for more information about selecting suppliers.

SG 2 Coordinate Work with Suppliers

Work is coordinated with suppliers to ensure the supplier agreement is executed appropriately.

The relationship that exists among the project, supplier, customer, and end user requires special emphasis.

Achieving project success increasingly demands closely aligned, if not integrated, processes across organizational boundaries. The specific practices associated with this specific goal augment those that help achieve the Satisfy Supplier Agreements specific goal of the Supplier Agreement Management process area.

SP 2.1-1 Monitor Selected Supplier Processes

Monitor and analyze selected processes used by the supplier.

In situations where there must be tight alignment between some of the processes implemented by the supplier and those of the project, monitoring these processes will help prevent interface problems.

The processes selected for monitoring should include engineering, project management (including contracting), and support processes critical to successful project performance.

Monitoring, if not performed with adequate care, can at one extreme be invasive and burdensome, or at the other extreme be uninformative and ineffective. There should be sufficient monitoring to detect issues, as early as possible, that may affect the supplier's ability to satisfy the requirements of the supplier agreement.

Analyzing selected processes involves taking the data obtained from monitoring selected supplier processes and analyzing it to determine whether there are serious issues.

Typical Work Products

1. List of processes selected for monitoring

2. Activity reports

3. Performance reports

4. Performance curves

5. Discrepancy reports

Subpractices

1. Identify the supplier processes that are critical to the success of the project.

2. Monitor the selected supplier's processes for compliance with requirements of the agreement.

3. Analyze the results of monitoring the selected processes to detect issues as early as possible that may affect the supplier's ability to satisfy the requirements of the agreement.

   Trend analysis can rely on internal and external data.

   Refer to the Verification process area for more information about recording the results of verification and analyses.

   Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about taking corrective action.

SP 2.2-1 Evaluate Selected Supplier Work Products

For custom-made products, evaluate selected supplier work products.

The scope of this specific practice is limited to suppliers providing the project with custom-made products. The intent of this specific practice is to evaluate selected work products produced by the supplier to help detect issues as early as possible that may affect the supplier's ability to satisfy the requirements of the agreement. The work products selected for evaluation should include critical products, product components, and work products that provide insight into quality issues as early as possible.

Typical Work Products

1. List of work products selected for monitoring

2. Activity reports

3. Discrepancy reports

Subpractices

1. Identify those work products that are critical to the success of the project and that should be evaluated to help detect issues as early as possible that may affect the supplier's ability to satisfy the requirements of the agreement.

   Examples of work products that may be critical to the success of the project include:

   • Requirements

   • Architecture

   • Documentation

2. Evaluate the selected work products.

   Work products are evaluated to ensure the following:

   • Derived requirements are traceable to higher level requirements.

   • The architecture is feasible and will satisfy future product growth and reuse needs.

   • Documentation that will be used to operate and to support the product is adequate.

   • Work products are consistent with one another.

   • Products and product components (e.g., custom-made, off-the-shelf, and customer-supplied products) can be integrated.

3. Determine and document actions needed to address deficiencies identified in the evaluations.

   Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about taking corrective action.

SP 2.3-1 Revise the Supplier Agreement or Relationship

Revise the supplier agreement or relationship, as appropriate, to reflect changes in conditions.

There are a number of conditions that occur throughout the life of the supplier agreement that warrant changing this agreement or changing the project's relationship with the supplier. These conditions include changes in the business environment of the project or supplier; availability of new products in the market that can better satisfy the needs of the project; and deficiencies in supplier performance, project performance, or work product performance.

When the level of risk associated with satisfying the supplier agreement increases significantly, the project may make changes to the supplier agreement or to the relationship with the supplier. When the supplier's level of risk is low, the project should be careful not to impede the execution of the supplier's processes. This situation may also warrant making changes to the supplier agreement to minimize intervention.

Refer to the Establish Supplier Agreements specific practice of the Supplier Agreement Management process area for more information about establishing and maintaining formal agreements with the supplier.

Typical Work Products

1. Revisions to the supplier agreement

2. Revisions to the project's and supplier's processes and work products

Subpractices

1. Review the supplier agreement to ensure it accurately reflects the project's relationship with the supplier and current market conditions.

2. Revise the project's defined process or work products as necessary to reflect changes in the project-supplier relationship.

   Refer to the Integrated Project Management process area for more information about establishing and maintaining the project's defined process.

3. Ensure that the supplier's processes or work products are revised as necessary to reflect changes in the project-supplier relationship.

4. Coordinate changes to the supplier agreement with the supplier to ensure that changes in the project-supplier relationship are understood by both the project and the supplier.

   Make any adjustments that affect requirements in the supplier agreement through official channels.

5. Adapt the supplier agreement or relationship to better match the supplier's performance based on the results of risk evaluations.

6. Communicate to project members and other relevant stakeholders all changes to the supplier agreement and to the project-supplier relationship.