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Step 4 includes three activities:
• Preparation
• Execution
• Reporting
Preparation Activity
4-1
• Collect and analyse process and performance documentation
• Recognize and describe current software process
• Plan and schedule assessment
Preparation for software process assessment is begun with the collection of documentation on the company procedures, software processes, quality system, projects, and measurement results. This material is carefully analysed, and the analysis forms the basis for outlining the current processes and planning of the assessment execution.
The collection and analysis of process and performance documen-tation is used to acquaint the PROFES team with the organization and the application domain in advance. It is based on a study of all the relevant documentation that is collected in this step. The documents include for example:
• Quality manuals
• Process descriptions
• Possible previous assessment reports
• Possible results of previous measurement programmes
• Project documentation
• Product documentation
In Recognize and describe current software process, explicit process descriptions are analysed and implicit processes are identified and outlined using appropriate process modelling techniques. In these descriptions, the following items should be recognized:
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• Artifacts consumed and produced
• Activities carried out
• Agents (with roles) involved
• Tools used
• Technologies, techniques, and methods used
• Relationships between activities and artifacts, i.e. flow of artifacts
• Assignment of roles to activities
• Application of technologies/techniques/methods in activities
• Relationships between products, i.e. product hierarchies
• Relationships between roles, i.e. communication network.
In Plan and schedule assessment, the PROFES team carries out negotiations with the organizations about their needs and priorities. An activity schedule is defined together with the sponsoring organization. It includes a plan containing an overall time schedule of the assessment activities.
Identification of the interviewees should be included in the plan, and interview invitations including the topics of the interview sent to the relevant persons.
Execution Activity
4-2
• Hold opening briefing
• Collect findings through interviews
• Assess process capabilities
• Provide feedback
In this activity, information on the organization’s processes are collected by performing interviews of key personnel and evaluating available documents, as planned in the Preparation activity. The information is collected at organizational level as well as at project level. Qualified assessors conduct interviews, and interviewees are always requested to support their statements with evidence. A preliminary presentation of
assessment results completes the Execution activity. This is a review session aimed at correcting any misunderstanding that may have arisen when collecting information.
Hold opening briefing includes presentation of the PROFES team, what will happen in the assessment, as well as the expected results and benefits of process assessment. The opening briefing has two main goals:
• To inform the organization about process activities
• To strengthen the commitment of all relevant parties.
The purpose, content, and time schedule of the activities are presented, as well as who will be interviewed and when, and how the results of the assessment will be communicated, bearing confidentiality in mind.
An opening briefing lasts from 60 to 90 minutes, but can be reduced to a half-hour session in a re-assessment situation, for example. The audience should include all the affected participants from the SPU and the development projects.
Collect findings through interviews includes SPU and project level interviews. For each interviews there should be time allocated for defining the focus of the interview, i.e. what kind of information is specifically required from the interviewee. The focus is based on the studied material and earlier interviews. A single interview should not take more than two hours. Note that roles may also be combined, requiring fewer persons than mentioned here. However, there should be at least two persons in the PROFES team.
The elementary data extracted during the documentation analysis and interviews is recorded and scored according to the assessment method-ology. Ideally, the assessors carry out the scoring immediately after each interview or documentation analysis meeting.
The result can be reviewed at SPU level before the project level interviews commence. The main purpose is to present the results to SPU inter-viewees, collect feedback, verify findings, and make corrections, if and when required.
For each project level interview, there should be time allocated for defining the focus of the interview, i.e. what kind of information is specifically required from the interviewee. The focus is based on the studied material and previous interviews.
The scoring sessions are performed after each interview as in SPU-level assessment. During the sessions, assessors analyse the information
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collected in documentation analysis and interviews, write down the findings, and score practices and processes based on the findings.
In Assess process capabilities, the assessment results are rated, documented and verified, and assessment profiles are made. The results are reviewed jointly by the interviewees and interviewers in order to collect feedback, verify findings, and make corrections if necessary.
The results can also be used as a basis for defining assessment-related metrics for continuous assessment. Particularly useful are the assessment findings related to individual practices that can be traced to detailed indicators and tools, as these could be used during project implementation for a quick but effective assessment of progress. See Chapter 4 for more information on continuous assessment.
Reporting Activity
4-3
• Analyse results and derive improvement recommendations
• Prepare assessment report
• Deliver final results
In this activity, the verified assessment results are analysed to identify suggested process improvement areas and priorities. The consolidated assessment results and improvement recommendations are documented and presented to the assessed organization to be used in subsequent PROFES steps.
In Analyse results and derive improvement recommendations, the verified assessment results are analysed. An analysis of strengths and weaknesses is performed based on the assess ment results, which may also be compared to the possible benchmarking information obtained from the assessment methodology or measure ment database of the target company. The detailed assessment findings are also analysed. As the result of the analysis, specific improvement actions are recognized and prioritized according to the business goals and improvement needs of the company.
In Prepare assessment report, all assessment results, strengths and weaknesses, and action plan recommendations are integrated into the assessment report, which is the final output of the assessment. The assessment report template defined in the assessment methodology can be used as a basis for this document. There are two different types of
assessment reports: SPU reports and project reports. The SPU report presents the findings of assessed SPU and summary results of the
projects assessed. The project report is focused on the results of a single project, and is quite often only distributed to the project members. The pre-paration of the assessment report is performed as a two-step activity. A draft version of the report is first prepared and distributed for company-level review. The feedback is analysed and the final version of the report is then prepared.
Deliver final results includes delivery of the final on-site meeting results, the final version of the assessment report. The purpose of the final on-site meeting is to present the assessment findings to the whole site, based on the provisional final versions of the assessment report. It should be noted that presentations must respect confiden tiality agreements signed during the PROFES process. The main topic of the event is to present SPU-wide strengths and weaknesses and improvement recommendations. The audience at the presentation should at least include management representative(s) and both SPU and project level personnel. Discussions and questions presented at the meeting will be taken into account when finalizing the assessment report to be delivered.