Establish the Organization’s Measurement Repository

If you want to get more information about use of the organization’s measurement repository in planning project activities, please refer to the Use Organizational Process Assets for Planning Project Activities specific practice of the Integrated Project Management process area.

The repository contains both product and process measures that are related to the organization’s set of standard processes. It also contains or refers to the information needed to understand and interpret the measures and assess them for reasonableness and applicability. For example, the definitions of the measures are used to compare similar measures from different processes.

Typical Work Products in this process area are:

1. Definition of the common set of product and process measures for the organization’s set of standard processes
2. Design of the organization’s measurement repository
3. Organization's measurement repository (that is, the repository structure and support environment)
4. Organization’s measurement data

To implement this specific goal, simply follow subpractices below:

1. Determine the organization's needs for storing, retrieving, and analyzing measurements.
2. Define a common set of process and product measures for the organization's set of standard processes. Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about defining measures.
3. Design and implement the measurement repository.
4. Specify the procedures for storing, updating, and retrieving measures.
5. Conduct peer reviews on the definitions of the common set of measures and the procedures for storing and retrieving measures. Refer to the Verification process area for more information about conducting peer reviews.
6. Enter the specified measures into the repository. Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about collecting and analyzing data.
7. Make the contents of the measurement repository available for use by the organization and projects as appropriate.
8. Revise the measurement repository, common set of measures, and procedures as the organization’s needs change.

If you want to get more information about use of the organization’s measurement repository in planning project activities, please refer to the Use Organizational Process Assets for Planning Project Activities specific practice of the Integrated Project Management process area.

Establish Tailoring Criteria and Guidelines

This article talk about how to establish and maintain the tailoring criteria and guidelines for the organization's set of standard processes.

For IPPD Addition, in creating the tailoring criteria and guidelines, include considerations for concurrent development and operating with integrated teams. For example, how one tailors the manufacturing process will be different depending on whether it is developed serially after the product has been developed or in parallel with the development of the product, as in IPPD. Processes, such as resource allocation, will also be tailored differently if the project is operating with integrated teams.

The tailoring criteria and guidelines describe the following:

• How the organization’s set of standard processes and organizational process assets are used to create the defined processes
• Mandatory requirements that must be satisfied by the defined processes (e.g., the subset of the organizational process assets that are essential for any defined process)
• Options that can be exercised and criteria for selecting among the options
• Procedures that must be followed in performing and documenting process tailoring

Flexibility in tailoring and defining processes is balanced with ensuring appropriate consistency in the processes across the organization. Flexibility is needed to address contextual variables such as the domain; nature of the customer; cost, schedule, and quality tradeoffs; technical difficulty of the work; and experience of the people implementing the process. Consistency across the organization is needed so that organizational standards, objectives, and strategies are appropriately addressed, and process data and lessons learned can be shared.

Tailoring criteria and guidelines may allow for using a standard process “as is,” with no tailoring.

Typical Work Products in this specific practice is Tailoring guidelines for the organization's set of standard processes.

To implement this specific practice, simply follow sub-practices below:

1. Specify the selection criteria and procedures for tailoring the organization's set of standard processes.
Examples of criteria and procedures include the following:

• Criteria for selecting lifecycle models from those approved by the organization
• Criteria for selecting process elements from the organization’s set of standard processes
• Procedures for tailoring the selected lifecycle models and process elements to accommodate specific process characteristics and needs

Examples of tailoring actions include the following:

• Modifying a lifecycle model
• Combining elements of different lifecycle models
• Modifying process elements
• Replacing process elements
• Reordering process elements

2. Specify the standards for documenting the defined processes.

3. Specify the procedures for submitting and obtaining approval of waivers from the requirements of the organization’s set of standard processes.

4. Document the tailoring guidelines for the organization's set of standard processes.

5. Conduct peer reviews on the tailoring guidelines.

6. Revise the tailoring guidelines as necessary.

Establish Life-cycle Model Descriptions

To establish an organization's set of standard process, you need to establish and maintain descriptions of the life-cycle models approved for use in the organization.

Life-cycle models may be developed for a variety of customers or in a variety of situations, since one life-cycle model may not be appropriate for all situations. Life-cycle models are often used to define the phases of the project. Also, the organization may define different life-cycle models for each type of product and service it delivers.

Typical Work Products in this specific practice is descriptions of life-cycle models.

To implement this specific practices, simply follow sub-practices below:

1. Select lifecycle models based on the needs of projects and the organization. For example, project lifecycle models include the following:

• Waterfall
• Spiral
• Evolutionary
• Incremental
• Iterative

2. Document the descriptions of the lifecycle models. The lifecycle models may be documented as part of the organization’s standard process descriptions or they may be documented separately.

3. Conduct peer reviews on the lifecycle models.

4. Revise the descriptions of the lifecycle models as necessary.

Establish Standard Processes

Standard processes may be defined at multiple levels in an enterprise and they may be related in a hierarchical manner. For example, an enterprise may have a set of standard processes that is tailored by individual organizations (e.g., a division or site) in the enterprise to establish their set of standard processes. The set of standard processes may also be tailored for each of the organization’s business areas or product lines. Thus “the organization’s set of standard processes” can refer to the standard processes established at the organization level and standard processes that may be established at lower levels, although some organizations may only have a single level of standard processes.

Multiple standard processes may be needed to address the needs of different application domains, life-cycle models, methodologies, and tools. The organization’s set of standard processes contains process elements (e.g., a work product size-estimating element) that may be interconnected according to one or more process architectures that describe the relationships among these process elements.

The organization’s set of standard processes typically includes technical, management, administrative, support, and organizational processes. In an IPPD environment, the organization's set of standard processes includes a process that projects use to establish a shared vision.

The organization’s set of standard processes should collectively cover all processes needed by the organization and projects, including those processes addressed by the process areas at Maturity Level 2.

Typical Work Products in this specific practices is Organization's set of standard processes.

To implement this specific practices, simple refer to sub-practices below:

1. Decompose each standard process into constituent process elements to the detail needed to understand and describe the process. Examples of process elements include the following:

• Template for generating work product size estimates
• Description of work product design methodology
• Tailorable peer review methodology
• Template for conduct of management reviews

2. Specify the critical attributes of each process element. Examples of critical attributes include the following:

• Process roles
• Applicable standards
• Applicable procedures, methods, tools, and resources
• Process-performance objectives
• Entry criteria
• Inputs
• Product and process measures to be collected and used
• Verification points (e.g., peer reviews)
• Outputs
• Interfaces
• Exit criteria

3. Specify the relationships of the process elements. Examples of relationships include the following:

• Ordering of the process elements
• Interfaces among the process elements
• Interfaces with external processes
• Interdependencies among the process elements

4. Ensure that the organization's set of standard processes adheres to applicable policies, standards, and models.

5. Ensure that the organization’s set of standard processes satisfies the process needs and objectives of the organization.

6. Ensure that there is appropriate integration among the processes that are included in the organization’s set of standard processes.

7. Document the organization's set of standard processes.

8. Conduct peer reviews on the organization's set of standard processes.

9. Revise the organization's set of standard processes as necessary.

Organizational Process Definition (OPD)

Organizational Process Definition (OPD) is a Process Management Process Area at Maturity Level 3.

The purpose of Organizational Process Definition (OPD) is to establish and maintain a usable set of organizational process assets and work environment standards. For IPPD addition, this process area also covers the establishment of organizational rules and guidelines that enable conducting work using integrated teams.

The organization’s process asset library is a collection of items maintained by the organization for use by the people and projects of the organization. This collection of items includes descriptions of processes and process elements, descriptions of lifecycle models, process tailoring guidelines, process-related documentation, and data. The organization’s process asset library supports organizational learning and process improvement by allowing the sharing of best practices and lessons learned across the organization.

The organization’s set of standard processes is tailored by projects to create their defined processes. The other organizational process assets are used to support tailoring as well as the implementation of the defined processes. The work environment standards are used to guide creation of project work environments.

The organizational process assets may be organized in many ways, depending on the implementation of the Organizational Process Definition process area. Examples include the following:

• Descriptions of lifecycle models may be documented as part of the organization’s set of standard processes, or they may be documented separately.
• The organization’s set of standard processes may be stored in the organization’s process asset library, or they may be stored separately.
• A single repository may contain both the measurements and the process-related documentation, or they may be stored separately.

To find more information about this process area, please refer to the Organizational Process Focus process area for more information about organizational process-related matters.

Specific Goal and Practice Summary:

SG 1 Establish Organizational Process Assets

• SP 1.1 Establish Standard Processes
• SP 1.2 Establish Lifecycle Model Descriptions
• SP 1.3 Establish Tailoring Criteria and Guidelines
• SP 1.4 Establish the Organization’s Measurement Repository
• SP 1.5 Establish the Organization’s Process Asset Library
• SP 1.6 Establish Work Environment Standards

IPPD Addition

SG 2 Enable IPPD Management

• SP 2.1 Establish Empowerment Mechanisms
• SP 2.2 Establish Rules and Guidelines for Integrated Teams
• SP 2.3 Balance Team and Home Organization Responsibilities