Measuring Process Compliance

Organizations that are using the CMM or CMMI to guide their process improvement activities have typically established a Software Quality Assurance (SQA) group . SQA is responsible for verifying that project activities and work products conform to the project's designated processes, procedures, standards, and requirements. SQA conducts audits and reviews on various aspects of the project work and reports the results.

SQA groups generally establish checklists of items to be verified . The checklist for verifying that a peer review was conducted properly may include items such as:

• Was a qualified peer review moderator designated for the review?
• Did the review team have the appropriate skills to review the work product adequately?
• Was the work product to be reviewed published at least three days in advance of the review meeting?
• Did the moderator verify that at least 80% of the invited reviewers participated in the review?
• Did the scribe note the preparation time on the peer review data sheet?
• Did the moderator verify that the reviewers were adequately prepared for the review?
• Did the scribe note the defects, their location in the work product, and the responsible person on the peer review data sheet?
• Was the peer review data entered into the peer review database?
• Were the defects resolved?
• Did the moderator (or designee) verify the resolution of the defects?

Verifying and measuring compliance can identify:

• Areas where compliance to the process is degrading
• Process steps in which additional training or coaching is necessary
• Process elements that may warrant additional tailoring guidelines (or replacement)
• Elements of the process that are deemed administratively burdensome
• Areas where tool support may be beneficial

Project personnel are rarely noncompliant just to be belligerent. Unless this is a relatively new and therefore unproved process element, noncompliance usually indicates a change in the work pattern from that which was in place when the process element was introduced. Monitoring process compliance trends can detect shifts in project behavior and can result in initiation of corrective action in a timely manner.

If the SEPG established a process capability baseline, process results at each step should be verified against these desired outcomes . This will help keep management informed and engaged based upon expectations that were established when the project was first begun. It will also serve as a means to maintain commitment and focus to the project.