Process Institutionalization

"Institutionalization" is an important concept in process improvement. When mentioned in the generic goal and generic practice descriptions, institutionalization implies that the process is ingrained in the way the work is performed and there is commitment and consistency to performing the process.

An institutionalized process is more likely to be retained during times of stress. When the requirements and objectives for the process change, however, the implementation of the process may also need to change to ensure that it remains effective. The generic practices describe activities that address these aspects of institutionalization.

The degree of institutionalization is captured in the generic goals and expressed in the names of the processes associated with each goal as indicated in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1. Generic Goals and Process Names

Generic Goal

Progression of Processes

GG 1

Performed process

GG 2

Managed process

GG 3

Defined process

GG 4

Quantitatively managed process

GG 5

Optimizing process

The progression of process institutionalization is described in the following descriptions of each process.

Performed Process

A performed process is a process that accomplishes the work necessary to produce work products. The specific goals of the process area are satisfied.

Managed Process

A managed process is a performed process that is planned and executed in accordance with policy; employs skilled people who have adequate resources to produce controlled outputs; involves relevant stakeholders; is monitored, controlled, and reviewed; and is evaluated for adherence to its process description. The process may be instantiated by a project, group, or organizational function. Management of the process is concerned with the institutionalization of the process area and the achievement of other specific objectives established for the process, such as cost, schedule, and quality objectives. The control provided by a managed process helps ensure that the established process is retained during times of stress.

The requirements and objectives for the process are established. The status of the work products and delivery of the services are visible to management at defined points (e.g., at major milestones and completion of major tasks). Commitments are established among those performing the work and the relevant stakeholders and are revised as necessary. Work products are reviewed with relevant stakeholders and are controlled. The work products and services satisfy their specified requirements.

A critical distinction between a performed process and a managed process is the extent to which the process is managed. A managed process is planned (the plan may be part of a more encompassing plan) and the performance of the process is managed against the plan. Corrective actions are taken when the actual results and performance deviate significantly from the plan. A managed process achieves the objectives of the plan and is institutionalized for consistent performance.

Defined Process

A defined process is a managed process that is tailored from the organization's set of standard processes according to the organization's tailoring guidelines; has a maintained process description; and contributes work products, measures, and other process improvement information to the organizational process assets.

The organizational process assets are artifacts that relate to describing, implementing, and improving processes. These artifacts are assets because they are developed or acquired to meet the business objectives of the organization, and they represent investments by the organization that are expected to provide current and future business value.

The organization's set of standard processes, which are the basis of the defined process, are established and improved over time. Standard processes describe the fundamental process elements that are expected in the defined processes. Standard processes also describe the relationships (e.g., the ordering and the interfaces) among these process elements. The organization-level infrastructure to support current and future use of the organization's set of standard processes is established and improved over time. (See the definition of "standard process" in the glossary.)

A project's defined process provides a basis for planning, performing, and improving the project's tasks and activities. A project may have more than one defined process (e.g., one for developing the product and another for testing the product).

A defined process clearly states the following:

  • Purpose

  • Inputs

  • Entry criteria

  • Activities

  • Roles

  • Measures

  • Verification steps

  • Outputs

  • Exit criteria

A critical distinction between a managed process and a defined process is the scope of application of the process descriptions, standards, and procedures. For a managed process, the process descriptions, standards, and procedures are applicable to a particular project, group, or organizational function. As a result, the managed processes of two projects in one organization may be different.

Another critical distinction is that a defined process is described in more detail and performed more rigorously than a managed process. This means that improvement information is easier to understand, analyze, and use. Finally, management of the defined process is based on the additional insight provided by an understanding of the interrelationships of the process activities and detailed measures of the process, its work products, and its services.

Quantitatively Managed Process

A quantitatively managed process is a defined process that is controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques. The product quality, service quality, and process performance attributes are measurable and controlled throughout the project.

Quantitative objectives are established based on the capability of the organization's set of standard processes; the organization's business objectives; and the needs of the customer, end users, organization, and process implementers, subject to available resources. The people performing the process are directly involved in quantitatively managing the process.

Quantitative management is performed on the overall set of processes that produces a product or provides a service. The subprocesses that are significant contributors to overall process performance are statistically managed. For these selected subprocesses, detailed measures of process performance are collected and statistically analyzed. Special causes of process variation are identified and, where appropriate, the source of the special cause is addressed to prevent its recurrence.

The quality and process performance measures are incorporated into the organization's measurement repository to support future fact-based decision making.

Activities for quantitatively managing the performance of a process include the following:

  • Identifying the subprocesses that are to be brought under statistical management

  • Identifying and measuring product and process attributes that are important contributors to quality and process performance

  • Identifying and addressing special causes of subprocess variations (based on the selected product and process attributes and subprocesses selected for statistical management)

  • Managing each of the selected subprocesses, with the objective of bringing their performance within natural bounds (i.e., making the subprocess performance statistically stable and predictable based on the selected product and process attributes)

  • Predicting the ability of the process to satisfy established quantitative quality and process-performance objectives

  • Taking appropriate corrective actions when it is determined that the established quantitative quality and process-performance objectives will not be satisfied

These corrective actions include changing the objectives or ensuring that relevant stakeholders have a quantitative understanding of, and have agreed to, the performance shortfall.

A critical distinction between a defined process and a quantitatively managed process is the predictability of the process performance. The term "quantitatively managed" implies using appropriate statistical and other quantitative techniques to manage the performance of one or more critical subprocesses so that the performance of the process can be predicted. A defined process provides only qualitative predictability.

Optimizing Process

An optimizing process is a quantitatively managed process that is changed and adapted to meet relevant current and projected business objectives. An optimizing process focuses on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements. Process improvements that address common causes of process variation, root causes of defects and other problems, and those that would measurably improve the organization's processes are identified, evaluated, and deployed as appropriate. These improvements are selected based on a quantitative understanding of their expected contribution to achieving the organization's process-improvement objectives versus the cost and impact to the organization. The process performance of the organization's processes is continually improved.

Selected incremental and innovative technological process improvements are systematically managed and deployed into the organization. The effects of the deployed process improvements are measured and evaluated against the quantitative process-improvement objectives.

In a process that is optimized, common causes of process variation are addressed by changing the process in a way that will shift the mean or decrease variation when the process is restabilized. These changes are intended to improve process performance and achieve the organization's established process-improvement objectives.

A critical distinction between a quantitatively managed process and an optimizing process is that the optimizing process is continuously improved by addressing common causes of process variation. A quantitatively managed process is concerned with addressing special causes of process variation and providing statistical predictability of the results. Although the process may produce predictable results, the results may be insufficient to achieve the organization's process-improvement objectives.

Relationships among Processes

The generic goals evolve so that each goal provides a foundation for the next. Therefore the following conclusions can be made:

  • A managed process is a performed process.

  • A defined process is a managed process.

  • A quantitatively managed process is a defined process.

  • An optimizing process is a quantitatively managed process.

Thus, applied sequentially and in order, the generic goals describe a process that is increasingly institutionalized, from a performed process to an optimizing process.

Achieving GG 1 for a process area is equivalent to saying you achieve the specific goals of the process area.

Achieving GG 2 for a process area is equivalent to saying you manage the performance of processes associated with the process area. There is a policy that indicates you will perform it. There is a plan for performing it. There are resources provided, responsibilities assigned, training on how to perform it, selected work products from performing the process are controlled, and so on. In other words, the process is planned and monitored just like any project or support activity.

Achieving GG 3 for a process area assumes that an organizational standard process exists that can be tailored to result in the process you will use. Tailoring might result in making no changes to the standard process. In other words, the process used and the standard process may be identical. Using the standard process "as is" is tailoring because the choice is made that no further modification is required.

Each process area describes multiple activities, some of which are repeatedly performed. You may need to tailor the way one of these activities is performed to account for new capabilities or circumstances. For example, you may have a standard for developing or obtaining organizational training that does not consider Web-based training. When preparing to develop or obtain a Web-based course, you may need to tailor that standard process to account for the particular challenges and benefits of Web-based training.

Achieving GG 4 or GG 5 for a process area is conceptually feasible but may not be economical except, perhaps, in situations where the product domain has become stable for an extended period of time or in situations in which the process area or domain is a critical business driver.



CMMI (c) Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement
CMMI (c) Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 378

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net