Specify Measures

Measurement objectives are refined into precise, quantifiable measures.

Measures may be either “base” or “derived.” Data for base measures are obtained by direct measurement. Data for derived measures come from other data, typically by combining two or more base measures.

Examples of commonly used base measures include the following: Estimates and actual measures of work product size (e.g., number of pages, number of line of code, number of test case); Estimates and actual measures of effort and cost (e.g., number of person hours); Quality measures (e.g., number of defects by severity, number of defects by development phase, number of bugs by testing phase).

Examples of commonly used derived measures include the following: Earned Value (hour); Schedule Performance Index (numerical); Defect density (%); Peer review coverage (%); Test or verification coverage (%); Reliability measures (numerical); Quality measures (numerical).

Derived measures typically are expressed as ratios, composite indices, or other aggregate summary measures. They are often more quantitatively reliable and meaningfully interpretable than the base measures used to generate them.

Typical Work Product in this specific practices is Specifications of base and derived measures.

To implement this specific practices, simply follow practices below:

1. Identify candidate measures (name and unit) based on documented measurement objectives.

2. Identify existing measures that already address the measurement objectives.

3. Specify operational definitions for the measures.

• Communication: What has been measured, how was it measured, what are the units of measure, and what has been included or excluded?
• Repeatability: Can the measurement be repeated, given the same definition, to get the same results?

4. Prioritize, review, and update measures.

• Proposed specifications of the measures are reviewed for their appropriateness with potential end users and other relevant stakeholders. Priorities are set or changed, and specifications of the measures are updated as necessary.

Establish Measurement Objectives

Measurement objectives document the purposes for which measurement and analysis are done, and specify the kinds of actions that may be taken based on the results of data analyses.

The sources for measurement objectives may be management, technical, project, product, or process implementation needs.

Sources of information needs and objectives may include the following:

• Project plans (PJ schedule, WBS)
• Monitoring of project performance (to know project is delayed or not)
• Interviews with managers and others who have information needs (to know whether issue raised in project)
• Established management objectives (project metrics which set in planning phase)
• Strategic plans (implementation is in the right strategy or not)
• Formal requirements or contractual obligations
• Recurring or other troublesome management or technical problems
• Experiences of other projects or organizational entities
• External industry benchmarks
• Process improvement plans

The measurement objectives may be constrained by existing processes, available resources, or other measurement considerations. Judgements may need to be made about whether the value of the results will be commensurate with the resources devoted to doing the work.

Example measurement objectives include the following: Reduce time to delivery; Reduce total life-cycle cost; Deliver specified functionality completely; Improve prior levels of quality etc.

Typical Work Product in this specific practice is Measurement objectives.

To implement this specific practices, simply follow practices below:

1. Document information needs and objectives (which will be measure).
2. Prioritize information needs and objectives (which has higher priority in measurement).
3. Document, review, and update measurement objectives.
4. Provide feedback for refining and clarifying information needs and objectives as necessary.
5. Maintain traceability of the measurement objectives to the identified information needs and objectives.

There must always be a good answer to the question, “Why are we measuring this?”.
Of course, the measurement objectives may also change to reflect evolving information needs and objectives.

Measurement and Analysis (MA)

Measurement and Analysis (MA) process is a Support Process Area at Maturity Level 2. The purpose of Measurement and Analysis (MA) is to develop and sustain a measurement capability that is used to support management information needs.

This process area involves the following:

• Specifying the objectives (such as schedule variances, effort variances, cost variances, or productivity, defect density, etc) of measurement and analysis such that they are aligned with identified information needs and objectives
• Specifying the measures, analysis techniques (how), and mechanism for data collection (when, who), data storage (where), reporting (form, template), and feedback (to whom)
• Implementing the collection, storage, analysis, and reporting of the data
• Providing objective results that can be used in making informed decisions (improvement opportunities), and taking appropriate corrective actions

The integration of measurement and analysis activities into the processes of the project supports the following:

• Objective planning and estimating
• Tracking actual performance against established plans and objectives
• Identifying and resolving process-related issues, support taking corrective action in time
• Providing a basis for incorporating measurement into additional processes in the future, point out improvement opportunities to organizational process assets

To understand more clearly about this process area, please refer to other process areas in CMMI model:

• Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about estimating project attributes and other planning information needs.
• Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about monitoring project performance information needs.
• Refer to the Configuration Management process area for more information about managing measurement work products.
• Refer to the Requirements Development process area for more information about meeting customer requirements and related information needs.
• Refer to the Requirements Management process area for more information about maintaining requirements traceability and related information needs.
• Refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about establishing the organization’s measurement repository.
• Refer to the Quantitative Project Management process area for more information about understanding variation and the appropriate use of statistical analysis techniques.

Specific Goal and Practice Summary:

SG 1 Align Measurement and Analysis Activities

• SP 1.1 Establish Measurement Objectives
• SP 1.2 Specify Measures
• SP 1.3 Specify Data Collection and Storage Procedures
• SP 1.4 Specify Analysis Procedures

SG 2 Provide Measurement Results

• SP 2.1 Collect Measurement Data
• SP 2.2 Analyze Measurement Data
• SP 2.3 Store Data and Results
• SP 2.4 Communicate Results