Process Improvement

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 1

 Objectives

To explain the principles of software process
improvement

To explain how software process factors
influence software quality and productivity

To explain how to develop simple models of
software processes

To explain the notion of process capability
and the CMMI process improvement model

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 2

 Topics covered

Process and product quality

Process classification

Process measurement

Process analysis and modelling

Process change

The CMMI process improvement framework

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 3

 Process improvement

Understanding existing processes and
introducing process changes to improve
product quality, reduce costs or accelerate
schedules.

Most process improvement work so far has
focused on defect reduction. This reflects the
increasing attention paid by industry to
quality.

However, other process attributes can also
be the focus of improvement

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 4

 Process attributes

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 5

The process improvement cycle

Measure

Change Analyse

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 6

 Process improvement stages

Process measurement
• Attributes of the current process are
measured. These are a baseline for
assessing improvements.

Process analysis
• The current process is assessed and
bottlenecks and weaknesses are identified.

Process change
• Changes to the process that have been
identified during the analysis are introduced.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 7

 Process and product quality

Process quality and product quality are closely
related and process improvement benefits arise
because the quality of the product depends on its
development process.

A good process is usually required to produce a
good product.

For manufactured goods, process is the
principal quality determinant.

For design-based activity, other factors are also
involved especially the capabilities of the designers.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 8

 Principal product quality factors

Development
technology

Process Product People

quality quality quality

Cost, time and

schedule

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 9

 Quality factors

For large projects with ‘average’ capabilities,
the development process determines
product quality.

For small projects, the capabilities of the
developers is the main determinant.

The development technology is particularly
significant for small projects.

In all cases, if an unrealistic schedule is
imposed then product quality will suffer.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 10

 Process classification

Informal
• No detailed process model. Development team chose
their own way of working.

Managed
• Defined process model which drives the development
process.

Methodical
• Processes supported by some development method such

as the RUP.

Supported
• Processes supported by automated CASE tools.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 11

 Process applicability
Prototypes
Short-lifetime systems
Informal
4GL business systems
process
Small/medium-sized
systems

Managed Large systems

process Long-lifetime pr
oducts

Well-understood
Methodical
application domains
process
Re-engineered systems

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 12

 Process choice

Process used should depend on type of
product which is being developed
• For large systems, management is usually the principal
problem so you need a strictly managed process;
• For smaller systems, more informality is possible.

There is no uniformly applicable process which
should be standardised within an organisation
• High costs may be incurred if you force an inappropriate
process on a development team;
• Inappropriate methods can also increase costs and lead
to reduced quality.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 13

 Process tool support

Informal Managed Methodical Improving

process process process process

Configur
ation Project Analy sis and
Generic Specialised
management management design
tools tools
tools tools workbenches

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 14

 Process measurement

Wherever possible, quantitative process data
should be collected
• However, where organisations do not have clearly
defined process standards this is very difficult as you
don’t know what to measure. A process may have to be
defined before any measurement is possible.

Process measurements should be used to
assess process improvements
• But this does not mean that measurements should drive
the improvements. The improvement driver should be the
organizational objectives.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 15

 Classes of process measurement

Time taken for process activities to be
completed
• E.g. Calendar time or effort to complete an
activity or process.

Resources required for processes or
activities
• E.g. Total effort in person-days.

Number of occurrences of a particular event
• E.g. Number of defects discovered.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 16

 Goal-Question-Metric Paradigm

Goals
• What is the organisation trying to achieve? The
objective of process improvement is to satisfy
these goals.

Questions
• Questions about areas of uncertainty related to
the goals. You need process knowledge to
derive these.

Metrics
• Measurements to be collected to answer the
questions.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 17

 Process analysis and modelling

Process analysis
• The study of existing processes to understand
the relationships between parts of the process
and to compare them with other processes.

Process modelling
• The documentation of a process which records
the tasks, the roles and the entities used;
• Process models may be presented from
different perspectives.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 18

 Process analysis and modelling

Study an existing process to understand its
activities.

Produce an abstract model of the process.
You should normally represent this
graphically. Several different views (e.g.
activities, deliverables, etc.) may be required.

Analyse the model to discover process
problems. This involves discussing process
activities with stakeholders and discovering
problems and possible process changes.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 19

 Process analysis techniques

Published process models and process
standards
• It is always best to start process analysis with an existing
model. People then may extend and change this.

Questionnaires and interviews
• Must be carefully designed. Participants may tell you
what they think you want to hear.

Ethnographic analysis
• Involves assimilating process knowledge by observation.
Best for in-depth analysis of process fragments rather
than for whole-process understanding.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 20

 Process model elements 1
Activity An activity has a clearly defined objective, entry and exit
(shown as a round-edged conditions. Examples of activities are preparing a set of test data to
rectangle with no drop test a module, coding a fu nction or a module, proof-reading a
shadow) document, etc. Generally, an activity is atomic i.e. it is the
responsibility of one person or group. It is not decomposed into sub-
activities.
Process A p rocess is a set of activities which have some coherence and
(shown as a round-edged whose objective is generally agreed within an organisation.
rectangle with drop Examples of processes are requirements analysis, architectural
shadow) design, test planning, etc.
Deliverable A deliverable is a tangible output of an activity that is predicted in a
(shown as a rectangle with project plan.
drop shadow)
Condition A condition is either a pre-condition that must hold before a process
(shown as a parallelogram ) or activity can start or a post-condition that holds after a process or
activity has finished.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 21

 Process model elements 2

Role A role is a bounded area of responsibility. Examples of roles might

(shown as a circle with be configuration manager, test engineer, software designer, etc. One
drop shadow) person may have several different roles and a s ingle role may be
associated with several different people.
Exception An exception is a description of how to modify the process if some
(not shown in examples anticipated or unanticipated event occurs. Exceptions are often
here but may be undefined and it is left to the ingenuity of the project managers and
represented as a double engineers to handle the exception.
edged box)
Communication An interchange of information between people or between people
(shown as an arrow) and supporting computer systems. Communications may be
informal or formal. Formal communications might be the approval
of a deliverable by a p roject manager; informal communications
might be the interchange of electronic mail to resolve ambiguities in
a document.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 22

 The module testing activity
Role
Post-condition

Pre-condition Test All defined tests

engineer run on module
Module compiles
without syntax
errors Responsible
for Outputs
Test Signed-off test
module record
Input
Process
Module Module test
specification data

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 23

 Activities in module testing
TEST DATA PREPARATION

Prepare test data

Read module Submit test da
ta
according to Review test da
ta
specification for review
specification

MODULE TEST HARNESS PREPARATION

Checkout module
Read and understand Prepare test harness Compile test
from configur
ation
module inter
face for module harness
management system

TEST EXECUTION

Incorporate module Run approved tests Record test esults

r
with test harness on module for regression tests

TEST REPORTING

Write report on module

Submit eport
r Submit test
testing including details
for approval results to CM
of discovered problems

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 24

 Process exceptions

Software processes are complex and process models
cannot effectively represent how to handle
exceptions:
• Several key people becoming ill just before a critical
review;
• A breach of security that means all external
communications are out of action for several days;
• Organisational reorganisation;
• A need to respond to an unanticipated request for new
proposals.

Under these circumstances, the model is suspended
and managers use their initiative to deal with the
exception.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 25

 Process change

Involves making modifications to existing
processes.

This may involve:
• Introducing new practices, methods or
processes;
• Changing the ordering of process activities;
• Introducing or removing deliverables;
• Introducing new roles or responsibilities.

Change should be driven by measurable
goals.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 26

 The process change process

Introduce
process change
Identify Prioritise Tune
improvements improvements process changes
Train
engineers

Process Process change Training Feedback on Revised pr

ocess
model plan plan improvements model

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 27

 Process change stages

Improvement identification.

Improvement prioritisation.

Process change introduction.

Process change training.

Change tuning.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 28

 The CMMI framework

The CMMI framework is the current stage of work on
process assessment and improvement that started
at the Software Engineering Institute in the 1980s.

The SEI’s mission is to promote software technology
transfer particularly to US defence contractors.

It has had a profound influence on process
improvement
• Capability Maturity Model introduced in the early 1990s.
• Revised maturity framework (CMMI) introduced in 2001.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 29

 Process capability assessment

Intended as a means to assess the extent to
which an organisation’s processes follow
best practice.

My providing a means for assessment, it is
possible to identify areas of weakness for
process improvement.

There have been various process
assessment and improvement models but
the SEI work has been most influential.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 30

 The SEI capability maturity model

Initial
• Essentially uncontrolled

Repeatable
• Product management procedures defined and used

Defined
• Process management procedures and strategies defined
and used

Managed
• Quality management strategies defined and used

Optimising
• Process improvement strategies defined and used

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 31

 Problems with the CMM

Practices associated with model levels
• Companies could be using practices from different levels
at the same time but if all practices from a lower level
were not used, it was not possible to move beyond that
level

Discrete rather than continuous
• Did not recognise distinctions between the top and the
bottom of levels

Practice-oriented
• Concerned with how things were done (the practices)
rather than the goals to be achieved.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 32

 The CMMI model

An integrated capability model that includes
software and systems engineering capability
assessment.

The model has two instantiations
• Staged where the model is expressed in terms
of capability levels;
• Continuous where a capability rating is
computed.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 33

 CMMI model components

Process areas
• 24 process areas that are relevant to process capability
and improvement are identified. These are organised into
4 groups.

Goals
• Goals are descriptions of desirable organisational states.
Each process area has associated goals.

Practices
• Practices are ways of achieving a goal - however, they
are advisory and other approaches to achieve the goal
may be used.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 34

 CMMI process areas 1

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 35

 CMMI process areas 2

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 36

 CMMI goals

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 37

 CMMI practices
Practice Associated goal
Analyse derived requirements to ensure that they are The requirements are analysed and
necessary and sufficient validated and a definition of the
required functionality is developed.
Validate requirements to ensure that the resulting
product will perform as intended in the userÕs
environment using multiple techniques as
appropriate.
Select the defects and other problems for analysis. Root causes of defects and other
problems are systematically determined.
Perform causal analysis of selected defects and other
problems and propose actions to address them.
Establish and maintain an organisational policy for The process is institutionalised as a
planning and performing the requirements defined process.
development process.
Assign responsibility and authority for performing
the process, developing the work products and
providing the services of the requirements
development process.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 38

 CMMI assessment

Examines the processes used in an organisation
and assesses their maturity in each process area.

Based on a 6-point scale:
• Not performed;
• Performed;
• Managed;
• Defined;
• Quantitatively managed;
• Optimizing.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 39

 The staged CMMI model

Comparable with the software CMM.

Each maturity level has process areas and
goals. For example, the process area
associated with the managed level include:
• Requirements management;
• Project planning;
• Project monitoring and control;
• Supplier agreement management;
• Measurement and analysis;
• Process and product quality assurance.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 40

 The staged CMMI model
Level 5
Optimizing

Level 4
Quantitatively
managed

Level 3
Defined

Level 2
Managed

Level 1
Initial

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 41

 Institutional practices

Institutions operating at the managed level
should have institutionalised practices that
are geared to standardisation.
• Establish and maintain policy for performing the
project management process;
• Provide adequate resources for performing the
project management process;
• Monitor and control the project planning
process;
• Review the activities, status and results of the
project planning process.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 42

 The continuous CMMI model

This is a finer-grain model that considers individual
or groups of practices and assesses their use.

The maturity assessment is not a single value but is
a set of values showing the organisations maturity in
each area.

The CMMI rates each process area from levels 1 to
5.

The advantage of a continuous approach is that
organisations can pick and choose process areas to
improve according to their local needs.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 43

 A process capability profile
Project monitoring
and control

Supplier ag
reement
management

Risk
management

Configuration
management

Requirements
management

Verification

Validation

1 2 3 4 5

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 44

 Key points

Process improvement involves process analysis,
standardisation, measurement and change.

Processes can be classified as informal, managed,
methodical and improving. This classification can be
used to identify process tool support.

The process improvement cycle involves process
measurement, process analysis and process
change.

Process measurement should be used to answer
specific process questions, based on organisational
improvement goals.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 45

 Key points

The three types of process metrics used in the
measurement process are time metrics, resource
utilisation metrics and event metrics.

Process models include descriptions of tasks,
activities, roles, exceptions, communications,
deliverables and other processes.

The CMMI process maturity model integrates software
and systems engineering process improvement.

Process improvement in the CMMI model is based on
reaching a set of goals related to good software
engineering practice.

©Ian Sommerville 2006 Software Engineering, 8th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 46