6 Part 6: V-Modell Reference Activities
6.3 Activities
6.3.13 Process Improvement
6.3.13.1 Performing a Process Model Assessment
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Purpose
There will be several approaches for performing the »Assessment of a Process Model. The preferred methods should be those that lead to concrete improvement proposals and thus provide explicit cues for a goal-oriented process improvement. In the following it will be described how a specific process model shall be evaluated (see Figure 26).
At first, the assessment method (e.g. »V-Modell®XT Konformität, »V-Modell®XT Assessment, »CMMI® , or »SPICE Model) must be selected. For process evaluation purposes, participants shall be determined and projects selected as required in the planning and preparation phase. If »V-Modell®XT Konformität was selected as assessment method, the assessment is purely theoretical. It is not necessary to select and analyze projects. Instead, the processes to be assessed are analyzed by using a questionnaire defined for the »V-Modell®XT Konformität. This selection - and afterwards also the results - shall be communicated to all participants, but preferably to all members of the organization.
Subsequently inquiries and interviews shall be conducted with the stakeholders and with management. Direct questioning may also be supplemented or replaced by a questionnaire that will be filled out by the stakeholders themselves or by evaluating only documents. Then the results of the inquiry shall be analyzed with regard to strengths and weaknesses and interpreted and supplemented with improvement proposals.
At the end of the evaluation of the process the results shall be documented in a report that will include the following:
- objective and management support,
- a strength-weakness profile of the evaluated processes and
- an activity plan.
Since the result of the process evaluation includes sensitive project data of an organization, the »Assessors will be expected to have qualities such as trustworthiness, impartiality and integrity.
Activity Flow
Figure 26: Activity Diagram "Performing a Process Model Assessment"
6.3.13.1.1 Preparing and Organizing Assessment
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Assessment of a Process Model: Objectives and Management Support |
For the preparation of the evaluation the following steps will be required:
- Planning the evaluation,
- Organizing kick-off meeting,
- Organizing the involvement of the management.
The evaluation, which will be already planned in the project plan of the improvement project, now will have to be planned in detail by determining participants and selecting projects and communicating them within the organization.
During the kickoff meeting the stakeholders in the improvement project, the management and the project members shall be told the most important things about the execution of the evaluation and the confidentiality of the data.
The involvement of the management into the evaluation approach shall be discussed. In this process questions concerning the strategy and the future of the business area should be discussed.
When the evaluation will have been performed, additional process areas or new participants in the interview may emerge, which then also will have to be included in the planning.
6.3.13.1.2 Collecting and Analyzing Assessment Data
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Assessment of a Process Model: Strengths and Weaknesses Profile |
Within the scope of this subactivity, all relevant data of the processes that will be available in the organization shall be collected. This w ill include:
- Process descriptions,
- »Templates and
- Documents.
Also interviews with all stakeholders, the persons with specific functions and the management about the planned process areas shall be conducted and documented. The interviews may be based on a questionnaire for a process model (for example CMMI©). The interviews may also be replaced or supplemented by an answer to the written questionnaire.
Subsequently the process evaluation data shall be evaluated by analyzing the interview protocols and the questionnaires. In this process it also shall be checked whether the scope of the evaluation and the evaluation model were covered.
6.3.13.1.3 Assessing Processes and Specifying Improvement Measures
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Assessment of a Process Model: Improvement Measures |
The processes shall be evaluated against a model (e.g. »V-Modell®XT Konformität, »V-Modell®XT Assessment, »CMMI® , »SPICE), against the specifications within the organization or against standards. This may include for example grading the degree of maturity of a process. Also concrete suggestions for the subsequent improvement activities shall be determined. Then it will be discussed with the management which improvements according to the action plan may be used to improve the degree of process maturity of the organization.
6.3.13.1.4 Preparing Final Report and Presentation
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The results of the evaluation shall be documented in a final evaluation report (»Assessment of a Process Model ) and presented in a final presentation to all stakeholders and to the management.