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

Organizational Process Focus (OPF)

Organizational Process Focus (OPF) is a Process Management Process Area at Maturity Level 3.

The purpose of Organizational Process Focus is to plan, implement, and deploy organizational process improvements based on a thorough understanding of the current strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s processes and process assets.

The organization's processes include all the processes used by the organization and its projects. Candidate improvements to the organization's processes and process assets are obtained from various sources, including measurement of the processes, lessons learned in implementing the processes, results of process appraisals, results of product evaluation activities, results of benchmarking against other organizations’ processes, and recommendations from other improvement initiatives in the organization.

Process improvement occurs within the context of the organization’s needs and is used to address the organization’s objectives. The organization encourages participation in process improvement activities by those who will perform the process. The responsibility for facilitating and managing the organization’s process improvement activities, including coordinating the participation of others, is typically assigned to a process group. The organization provides the long-term commitment and resources required to sponsor this group and to ensure the effective and timely deployment of the improvements.

Organizational process assets are used to describe, implement, and improve the organization's processes. Please refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about the organizational process assets.

Specific Goal and Practice Summary for this process area:

SG 1 Determine Process Improvement Opportunities

• SP 1.1 Establish Organizational Process Needs
• SP 1.2 Appraise the Organization’s Processes
• SP 1.3 Identify the Organization's Process Improvements

SG 2 Plan and Implement Process Improvements

• SP 2.1 Establish Process Action Plans
• SP 2.2 Implement Process Action Plans

SG 3 Deploy Organizational Process Assets and Incorporate Lessons Learned

• SP 3.1 Deploy Organizational Process Assets
• SP 3.2 Deploy Standard Processes
• SP 3.3 Monitor Implementation
• SP 3.4 Incorporate Process-Related Experiences into the Organizational Process Assets