Process Improvement
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide1
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
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide2
Topics covered
Process and product quality
Process classification
Process measurement
Process analysis and modelling
Process change
The CMMI process improvement framework
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide3
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
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide4
Process attributes
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide5
Me
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The process improvement cycle
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide6
Process improvement stages
Process measurement
Process analysis
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.
Process change
Changes to the process that have been
identified during the analysis are introduced.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide7
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide8
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Principal product quality factors
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide9
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide10
Process classification
Informal
Managed
Defined process model which drives the development
process.
Methodical
No detailed process model. Development team chose
their own way of working.
Processes supported by some development method such
as the RUP.
Supported
Processes supported by automated CASE tools.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide11
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Process applicability
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide12
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide13
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Process tool support
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide14
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 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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide15
Classes of process measurement
Time taken for process activities to be
completed
Resources required for processes or
activities
E.g. Calendar time or effort to complete an
activity or process.
E.g. Total effort in person-days.
Number of occurrences of a particular event
E.g. Number of defects discovered.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide16
Goal-Question-Metric Paradigm
Goals
Questions
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.
Metrics
Measurements to be collected to answer the
questions.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide17
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide18
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide19
Process analysis techniques
Published process models and process
standards
Questionnaires and interviews
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.
Ethnographic analysis
Involves assimilating process knowledge by observation.
Best for in-depth analysis of process fragments rather
than for whole-process understanding.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide20
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.
Process
(shown as a round-edged
rectangle with drop
shadow)
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.
Deliverable
(shown as a rectangle with
drop shadow)
A deliverable is a tangible output of an activity that is predicted in a
project plan.
Condition
(shown as a parallelogram )
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide21
Process model elements 2
Role
(shown as a circle with
drop shadow)
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.
Exception
(not shown in examples
here but may be
represented as a double
edged box)
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.
Communication
(shown as an arrow)
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide22
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The module testing activity
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide23
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IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide24
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide25
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide26
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The process change process
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide27
Process change stages
Improvement identification.
Improvement prioritisation.
Process change introduction.
Process change training.
Change tuning.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide28
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 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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide29
Process capability assessment
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide30
The SEI capability maturity model
Initial
Repeatable
Process management procedures and strategies defined
and used
Managed
Product management procedures defined and used
Defined
Essentially uncontrolled
Quality management strategies defined and used
Optimising
Process improvement strategies defined and used
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide31
Problems with the CMM
Practices associated with model levels
Discrete rather than continuous
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
Practice-oriented
Concerned with how things were done (the practices)
rather than the goals to be achieved.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide32
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide33
CMMI model components
Process areas
Goals
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
Practices are ways of achieving a goal - however, they
are advisory and other approaches to achieve the goal
may be used.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide34
CMMI process areas 1
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide35
CMMI process areas 2
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide36
CMMI goals
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide37
CMMI practices
Practice
Associated goal
Analyse derived requirements to ensure that they are
necessary and sufficient
The requirements are analysed and
validated and a definition of the
required functionality is developed.
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.
Root causes of defects and other
problems are systematically determined.
The process is institutionalised as a
defined process.
Assign responsibility and authority for performing
the process, developing the work products and
providing the services of the requirements
development process.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide38
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide39
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide40
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IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide41
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide42
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide43
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IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide44
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide45
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.
IanSommerville2004
SoftwareEngineering,7thedition.Chapter28Slide46
