Project Specific Findings

While reading the SCAMPI A Method Definition Document (MDD), I discovered that providing project specific findings is an option that can be requested by the project sponsor. I always believed that the Findings Presentation could only include findings at organizational unit level. So if the sponsor requests project specific findigs as part of the appraisal output, how are they communicated? Included in the final findings? If this is the case, what about the non-attribution of findings? Or via a separate document?

The SCAMPI Method does indeed allow for project specific findings if the Appraisal Sponsor requests them. If requested, then project specific findings could be communicated in the Final Findings Presentation along with the other information, or they could be communicated separately. Reporting will be negotiated and documented in the Appraisal Plan. Keep in mind that even if the Appraisal Sponsor doesn’t request project specific findings, the PIIDs will contain project specific observations, so if someone were interested in finding out about project specific information, all they would have to do would be to read the PIIDs. The organization is required to retain the PIIDs used for the appraisal for three years, the same length of time that the appraisal results are valid.

The non-attribution issue concerns identifying any individual, project, or group as the SOURCE of the information. So by reporting project specific findings, the Lead Appraiser and Appraisal Team are not violating the non-attribution rules unless they reveal the source of the finding(s). When I conduct an appraisal, the final Appraisal Team activity is to scrub the PIIDs of all attribution information (names, interview sessions, etc.) and deleting all previous versions so the organization only retains the scrubbed PIIDs.

Appraisal Team Size Redux

For a continuous appraisal of lets say 1 to 2 PAs, does the minimum 4 ATM for SCAMPI A still apply? Seems unreasonable to me. The MDD does not appear to address any tailoring option on this for continuous appraisals.

The SCAMPI Method Description Document (MDD) is clear that the minimum appraisal team size is 4 people. You raise an interesting point. Forgetting the team size for the moment, why would an organization go through the expense of a SCAMPI A just for one or two Process Areas? To me that just doesn’t appear to be a good use of the organization’s money. Seems to me that the organization would be better served by a Continuous SCAMPI A evaluating 4 or more PAs that would provide a better indication to the organization. Now you may want to perform a Class C or Class B on one or two PAs. That makes sense and there are no team size limitations on Bs and Cs. In fact, the Lead Appraiser could be the only person on the team then.

What is Meant by a Line of Business?

In a CMMI 1.2 Appraisal there is a requirement that practices in projects and functions within the Organisational Unit must be understood and identified ( e.g. Lines of Business, Disciplines, Effort Types, Project Types etc). What do lines of Business and Effort Types mean?

It might be easier to understand the concept of a LIne of Business through an illustrative example.

A small organization would normally produce one type of product, say a voice recognition software package. This package may be installed on a variety of platforms, but it is the same package. In this situation the company or organization has one Line of Business.

In a large company or corporation, there usually is a number of different types of products produced for different purposes, customer types, etc. For example, an automotive company may have several divisions: car, truck, van, commercial vehicle, etc. Each division represents a different Line of Business. Or a financial company may have several divisions: banking, insurance, investments, etc. Again, each division is a different Line of Business. Typically each Line of Business has different goals and objectives, customers, processes, etc. Another example of a Line of Business is the application domain. It is important to note the different Lines of Business because it is extremely challenging, if not impossible, to conduct a single SCAMPI A appraisal across multiple Lines of Business, especially for Maturity Level 3 and up.

If you read the Method Description Document section 1.1.3 Implementation Guidance, it defines the terms you are asking about:

• application domains (or lines of business)
• geographical breadth
• disciplines (e.g., systems engineering, software engineering, or hardware engineering)
• effort types (e.g., development, maintenance, or services)
• project types (e.g., legacy or new development)
• customer types (e.g., commercial or government agency)
• lifecycle models in use within the organization (e.g., spiral, evolutionary, waterfall, or incremental)

So effort type refers to the type of work: new development, sustaining engineering or maintenance, or services.

Criteria for selection of Focus and Non Focus projects for CMMI 1.2 Assessment

What are the criteria used to determine project selection for CMMI 1.2 Appraisals? I understand they are normally termed as Focus and Non Focus projects.

1. Based on size of organization ( count of projects + resources ) how many projects need to be selected? Can someone specify this as a number of projects or percentage of projects required?
2. We have categorised projects as Development + Maintenance + Testing - so ideally how many projects count or percentage wise under each Project Type would need to be selected?
3. What is the criteria for selecting a project as a focus project? I have read and heard that one of the factors could be presence of all Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) phases in that project, contribution of data points, it should be an on-going project at time of assessment etc.

Here is the criteria for project selection extracted from section 1.1.3 of the Method Description Document (MDD) v1.2:

Sample projects and support groups selected to form the organizational scope (i.e., the combination of focus and non-focus projects and support functions) must represent all critical factors identified for the organizational unit to which the results will be attributed. The coverage of the organizational critical factors provided by these sample projects and support groups in the organizational scope in relation to the organizational unit must be documented, in quantitative terms, in the appraisal input and ADS.

Each sample project or support group in the planned organizational scope of the appraisal must be one of the three types listed below:

• Focus projects must provide objective evidence for every PA within the model scope of the appraisal which addresses model practices applicable to those projects.
• Non-focus projects must provide objective evidence for one or more PAs within the model scope of the appraisal which address practices performed on projects.
• Support functions must provide objective evidence for practices within the model scope of the appraisal that address organizational infrastructure or functions.

In appraisals where the reference model scope includes any project-related PA, the organizational scope must include at least one focus project. If the organizational unit includes more than 3 projects, then the organizational scope must include sufficient focus projects and non-focus projects to generate at least 3 instances of each practice in each project-related PA in the model scope of the appraisal.

Projects, categories, or groups/functions that are specifically excluded from the appraisal must be identified in the appraisal input and in the ADS as well as the justification for their exclusion. This identification includes legacy projects not using current organizational processes and projects waived from using current organizational processes. As needed, the appraisal team may seek clarification or data from other projects or support functions within the organizational unit. These projects or support functions must also be identified in the ADS.

What this means is that you must have at least one focus project. A focus project is a project that has evidence for every practice and Process Area (PA) in the appraisal scope. In order for that to be the case, that means the project is either already completed or very close to completion. A non-focus project is a project that does NOT have evidence for every practice and PA in the appraisal scope. Meaning a non-focus project is either a project that has recently started or a project that began before the processes were deployed and only has evidence for a subset of the practices.

Keep in mind that some PAs are organization level PAs while others are project-related. For the Organization PAs (e.g., OPF, OPD, OT, etc.) you only have to provide one instance of evidence. So the issue of number of projects only applies to the project-related PAs (e.g., PP, PMC, IPM, REQM, RD, etc.). Therefore, according to the MDD, if the organization has more than three projects, you have provide three instances of evidence for each practice. You could choose to supply three focus projects, two focus projects and multiple non-focus projects, or one focus project and multiple non-focus projects.

Another aspect of evidence that you must comply with is that you have to provide Direct Evidence for every practice and PA in the scope of the appraisal. But you don’t not have to supply Indirect Evidence for every practice and PA. Your Lead Appraiser can explain to you the one row, one column and 50% rules. As a risk mitigation, most of my clients choose to provide 100% coverage for both Direct and Indirect Evidence.