Process Improvement: ©ian Sommerville 2004

Process Improvement
Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28
Slide 1
Objectives
q
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
Slide 2
Topics covered
q q q q q q
Process and product quality Process classification Process measurement Process analysis and modelling Process change The CMMI process improvement framework
Slide 3
Process improvement
q
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
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 4
Process attributes
Slide 5
The process improvement cycle
Me Cha An
Process improvement stages

q
Process measurement
Attributes of the current process are measured. These are a baseline for assessing improvements. The current process is assessed and bottlenecks and weaknesses are identified. Changes to the process that have been identified during the analysis are introduced.
Process analysis
Process change
Slide 7
Process and product quality

q
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.
Slide 8
Principal product quality factors
De vP eq lo tec g y Pr e oce Pr od qua qu Co sch

Quality factors
q
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.
Slide 10
Process classification
q
Informal
No detailed process model. Development team chose their own way of working. Defined process model which drives the development process. Processes supported by some development method such as the RUP.
Managed
Methodical
Supported
Processes supported by automated CASE tools.
Slide 11
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Process applicability
Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28 Slide 12
Process choice
q
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.
Slide 13
Infion orPr Im mal p Man ged Me o v prman ocess prde oces pre oce Confi atool tojec An ysi Gener Sp mana gem gem tools tools wr oto kb
Process tool support
Process measurement
q
Wherever possible, quantitative process data should be collected

However, where organisations do not have clearly defined process standards this is very difficult as you dont 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.
Slide 15
Classes of process measurement

q
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. E.g. Number of defects discovered.
Number of occurrences of a particular event
Slide 16
Goal-Question-Metric Paradigm
q
Goals
What is the organisation trying to achieve? The objective of process improvement is to satisfy these goals. Questions about areas of uncertainty related to the goals. You need process knowledge to derive these. Measurements to be collected to answer the questions.
Questions
Metrics
Process analysis and modelling

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

Slide 18
Process analysis and modelling

q
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.
Process analysis techniques

q
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. Must be carefully designed. Participants may tell you what they think you want to hear. Involves assimilating process knowledge by observation. Best for in-depth analysis of process fragments rather than for whole-process understanding.
Questionnaires and interviews
Ethnographic analysis
Slide 20
Process model elements 1

Activity (shown as a round-edged rectangle with no drop shadow) An activity has a clearly defined objective, entry and exit conditions. Examples of activities are preparing a set of test data to test a module, coding a fu nction or a module, proof-reading a document, etc. Generally, an activity is atomic i.e. it is the responsibility of one person or group. It is not decomposed into subactivities. A p rocess is a set of activities which have some coherence and whose objective is generally agreed within an organisation. Examples of processes are requirements analysis, architectural design, test planning, etc. A deliverable is a tangible output of an activity that is predicted in a project plan. A condition is either a pre-condition that must hold before a process or activity can start or a post-condition that holds after a p rocess or activity has finished.
Process (shown as a round-edged rectangle with drop shadow) Deliverable (shown as a rectangle with drop shadow) Condition (shown as a parallelogram )
Slide 21
Process model elements 2

Role (shown as a circle with drop shadow) Exception (not shown in examples here but may be represented as a double edged box) Communication (shown as an arrow) A role is a bounded area of responsibility. Examples of roles might be configuration manager, test engineer, software designer, etc. One person may have several different roles and a s ingle role may be associated with several different people. An exception is a description of how to modify the process if some anticipated or unanticipated event occurs. Exceptions are often undefined and it is left to the ingenuity of the project managers and engineers to handle the exception. An interchange of information between people or between people 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.
Slide 22
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The module testing activity
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Activities in module testing
Process exceptions
q
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.
Process change
q
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.

Intr odu pr n oce Identif Prior T u improv impri o me v eng e Tpr oc rR ain ine Pr Timp ocesso Pr F e ocess r eed aini v model plan plan om v e
The process change process
Process change stages

q q q q q
Improvement identification. Improvement prioritisation. Process change introduction. Process change training. Change tuning.
Slide 28
The CMMI framework

q
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 SEIs 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.
Slide 29
Process capability assessment

q
Intended as a means to assess the extent to which an organisations 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.
The SEI capability maturity model

q
Initial
Essentially uncontrolled Product management procedures defined and used Process management procedures and strategies defined and used Quality management strategies defined and used Process improvement strategies defined and used
Repeatable
Defined
Managed
Optimising
Slide 31
Problems with the CMM

q
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 Did not recognise distinctions between the top and the bottom of levels Concerned with how things were done (the practices) rather than the goals to be achieved.
Discrete rather than continuous
Practice-oriented
Slide 32
The CMMI model

q
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.
Slide 33
CMMI model components

q
Process areas
24 process areas that are relevant to process capability and improvement are identified. These are organised into 4 groups. Goals are descriptions of desirable organisational states. Each process area has associated goals. Practices are ways of achieving a goal - however, they are advisory and other approaches to achieve the goal may be used.
Goals
Practices
Slide 34
CMMI process areas 1
Slide 35
CMMI process areas 2
Slide 36
CMMI goals
Slide 37
CMMI practices
Practice Analyse derived requirements to ensure that they are necessary and sufficient Validate requirements to ensure that the resulting product will perform as intended in the users environment using multiple techniques as appropriate. Select the defects and other problems for analysis. Perform causal analysis of selected defects and other problems and propose actions to address them. Establish and maintain an organisational policy for planning and performing the requirements development process. Assign responsibility and authority for performing the process, developing the work products and providing the services of the requirements development process. Associated goal The requirements are analysed and validated and a definition of the required functionality is developed.
Root causes of defects and other problems are systematically determined.
The process is institutionalised as a defined process.
Slide 38
CMMI assessment
q
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.
Slide 39
The staged CMMI model

q q
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.
Slide 40
Le v l4 e Op Le v l3 e Qua ma Le v l2 e Defi Le v l1 e Mana Le vl e Initial

The staged CMMI model
Institutional practices
q
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.
Slide 42
The continuous CMMI model

q
q q
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.
Slide 43
Projec and c Suppli reem mana Risk mana Config mana Requi mana V135 erifica Vlidat a2 4
A process capability profile
Key points
q q
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.
Slide 45
Key points
q
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.
Slide 46

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Process Improvement

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

The process improvement cycle

Ian Sommerville 2004

Process improvement stages

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Process and product quality

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Principal product quality factors

Ian Sommerville 2004

De vP eq lo tec g y Pr e oce Pr od qua qu Co sch

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Process used should depend on type of product which is being developed

There is no uniformly applicable process which should be standardised within an organisation

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Wherever possible, quantitative process data should be collected

Process measurements should be used to assess process improvements

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Classes of process measurement

Time taken for process activities to be completed

Resources required for processes or activities

Number of occurrences of a particular event

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Process analysis and modelling

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Process analysis and modelling

Ian Sommerville 2004

Process analysis techniques

Published process models and process standards

Questionnaires and interviews

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Process model elements 1

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Process model elements 2

Ian Sommerville 2004

Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 28

Ian Sommerville 2004

Involves making modifications to existing processes. This may involve:

Change should be driven by measurable goals.