Process Quality

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Process Quality

• Six Sigma
• http//www.isixsigma.com/sixsigma/six_sigma.asp

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Information Consumer Expectations

• People who use information expect more than
  accurate and factually correct data.
• Information custodians (IS staff) are expected to
  provide
• Systems that are responsive
• Systems that deliver information that is relevant
  and easily interpreted
• Systems that provide information that is
  flexible, easily aggregated, and easily
  manipulated
• Systems that are secure and able to prevent
  accidental or intentional data corruption

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PSP/IQ Model
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Academics View of Information Quality
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Academics View of Information Quality
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Developing Objective Data Quality Metrics

• Functional Forms
• Simple ratioMeasures the ratio of (un)desired
  outcomes to total outcomes subtracted from 1
• Free of error Addresses data correctness
• Completeness
• Schema completeness Addresses whether entities
  and attributes are missing from the schema
• Column completeness Refers to missing values in
  the column of a table
• Population completeness Addresses missing
  occurrences of specified states
• Consistency Refers to redundancy of stored
  information

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Developing Objective Data Quality Metrics

• Min or max operationsUsed for dimensions that
  require the aggregation of multiple variables
• Min Dimension is assigned a value that is no
  higher than the weakest data quality indicator
  (ratings on a scale that ranges from 0 to 1)
• Believability Extent to which data is regarded
  as true and credible
• Individual assessment of the credibility of the
  data
• Comparison of data to a common standard
• Past experience
• Appropriate amount of dataExtent to which the
  quantity of data supplied is too little or too
  much
• Ratio of data units provided to data units needed
• Ratio of data units needed to data units provided

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Developing Objective Data Quality Metrics

• Max-- Dimension is assigned a value that
  represents the highest data quality indicator
  (ratings on a scale that ranges from 0 to 1)
• Timeliness-Reflects how up-to-date the data is
  relative to the task being performed
• CurrencyAge of the data (when first received by
  the system) plus the delivery time minus the
  input time
• VolatilityLength of time the data remains valid
• A sensitivity exponent can be added to reflect
  how sensitive the data is to the time construct
• AccessibilityRefers to ease of data
  attainability
• The metric addresses the time interval between
  the user needing the data and its delivery
• A sensitivity exponent can be added to reflect
  how sensitive the data is to the time construct

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Subjective and Objective Assessments
High
Subjective Assessment (Client)
Low
Low
High
Objective Assessment (System)
Assessment of a specific dimension
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Usability Role Gap
Level of IQ
Company
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Capability Maturity Model Integration

• CMMI represents best practices for software and
  systems engineering, integrated product
  development, and systems acquisition.
• Organizations can adopt software or systems
  engineering (or both) models. The IPD and
  systems acquisition are used in conjunction with
  both models
• The CMMI contains 25 process areas for the four
  disciplines
• The model provides guidance and a framework for
  organizations that are pursuing enterprise wide
  process improvements and provides a benchmark to
  assess processes
• The CMMI represents an improvement over its
  predecessor, the CMM
• It is more aligned with modern iterative
  development techniques

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Staged versus Continuous Structure

• Structure (staged or continuous)
• Staged Relates to the entire organization and
  is structured by maturity level
• Each process is associated with one of the five
  maturity levels. The maturity levels and their
  process areas represent the recommended path for
  process improvement
• Consists of 80 goals and 411 practices
• Continuous Relates to individual process areas
  which are used to assess the organizations
  capabilities
• Maturity levels are not used. Instead,
  capability levels are designated for process
  areas with 0 meaning incomplete and 5 meaning
  optimizing

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CMMI Framework
Maturity Levels
contain
indicate
Process Areas
People Management Capability
achieve
organized by
Goals
Common Features
address
Implementation or Institutionalization
contain
Generic/Specific Practices
describe
Institutionalization
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Structure of CMMI

• Maturity levels A layered framework which is
  designed to help an organization progress toward
  the discipline needed to engage in continuous
  improvement. A primary goal is to develop the
  ability to accurately assess the impact of a new
  practice, technology or tool on existing
  practices
• Process areas (PA) Related activities that, when
  performed collectively, achieve a set of goals
  that are believed to be important
• Goals The goals of a PA identify the states that
  must exist for a process to be implemented in an
  effective and lasting way. The goals signify the
  scope, boundaries, and intent of each PA.
• Common features Practices that implement and
  institutionalize a PA. The common features
  include 1) Commitment to Perform, 2) Ability to
  Perform, 3) Activities Performed, 4) Directing
  Implementation, and 5) Verifying Implementation
• Generic and Specific Practices Describe the
  elements of infrastructure and practice that
  effectively contribute to the institutionalization
  of the PAs.

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Maturity Levels
5. Optimizing Level Continuously Improving
Processes
4. Managed Level Predictable Processes
3. Defined Level Standard, Consistent Processes
2. Managed Level Disciplined Processes
1. Initial Level Ad Hoc Processes
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Initial and Managed Levels

• Initial Level The organizations approach to
  developing and maintaining software is ad hoc and
  unpredictable
• The software process is constantly changed or
  modified as work progresses and managers spend
  most of their time responding to crises
• Schedules, budgets, functionality, and product
  quality are generally unpredictable
• Performance depends on the capabilities of
  individuals rather than organizations
• Managed Level The organizations approach to
  planning and management is based on past
  experience
• The software process capability is disciplined
  because planning and tracking of the software
  project is stable and earlier successes can be
  repeated.
• The organization uses available metrics to
  develop realistic costs and schedules based on
  past experience
• Immediate corrective action can be taken when
  problems are identified
• Generally takes 3 5 years to move from level 1
  to level 2

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Defined Level

• Key process areas 1) Requirements management,
  2) Project planning, 3) Project monitoring and
  control, 4) Supplier agreement management, 5)
  Product and process quality assurance, 6)
  Configuration management, and 7) Measurement and
  Analysis
• Defined Level The software process is fully
  documented with clearly defined managerial and
  technical processes.
• The software process capability is standard and
  consistent because both software engineering and
  management activities are stable and repeatable
• Product lines, cost, schedule, and functionality
  are under control and software quality can be
  assessed.
• Continual efforts are made to improve quality and
  productivity
• The existence of a common, organization-wide
  understanding of the activities, roles, and
  responsibilities in a defined software process
• Generally takes 1 ½ to 3 years to move from level
  2 to level 3

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Managed and Optimizing Levels

• Key process areas 1) Requirements development,
  2) Technical solution, 3) Product integration, 4)
  Verification, 5) Organization process focus, 6)
  Integrated project management, 6) Validation, 7)
  Organization process definition, 8)
  Organizational training, 9) Risk management, 10)
  Decision analysis and resolution
• Quantitatively Managed Level The organization
  sets measurable (quantitative) quality and
  productivity goals for both software products and
  processes
• Organization relies on statistical quality
  controls which allows it to distinguish between
  random and meaningful violations (e.g. number of
  faults per 1000 lines of code)
• The organization is able to predict trends in
  process and product quality within the
  quantitative bounds of these limits. When these
  limits are exceeded, action is taken to correct
  the situation.
• Software products are of predictably high quality
  
• Key process areas Quantitative project
  management and organizational process performance

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Optimizing Level

• Optimizing Level The entire organization is
  focused on continuous process improvements with
  statistical quality and process controls in place
• Improvement occurs both by incremental
  advancements in the existing process and by
  innovations using new technologies and methods.
• Feedback knowledge from one project to the next
  leads to continual improvement
• Key process areas Causal analysis and
  resolution and organizational innovation and
  deployment
• Level 2 Find and correct faults
• Level 5 Organization practices defect
  prevention (no errors in the first place)

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Three Themes Guiding the Development of CMMI

• Three themes guided the development of CMMI
• Move to the left,
• Reuse everything,
• Never make the same mistake twice
• Move to the left
• Recognizes the value of effective early
  preparation to avoid introducing defects into a
  product
• Project Planning describes the activities that
  will enable an effective development plan to be
  created
• Planning the involvement of various stakeholders
  across the product development life cycle
• Planning for data management
• All CMMI process areas include a generic
  practice, Plan the Process, that helps the
  organization achieve a level 2 (managed)
  capability in the appropriate process areas

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Three Themes

• Move to the left
• Requirements development
• Eliciting and validating requirements
• Reminders to keep the ultimate users in mind to
  ensure that the product will be suitable in
  meeting the customers needs
• Practices to help ensure that effective product
  architectures are designed and evaluated
  (architecture trade off analysis)
• Reuse everything
• Emphasis on the Organizational Process Focus and
  Organizational Process Definition areas
• Identifying up front when product development may
  benefit from reuse, and adapting the product
  requirements and design accordingly
• Increased attention to using commercial
  off-the-shelf (COTS) components

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Three Themes

• Never Make the Same Mistake Twice
• Defect identification and removal, and then, as
  capability increases, defect prevention
• At lower levels of capability and maturity
  (levels two and three), focus on detecting
  problems and taking corrective actions. These are
  addressed in the Project Monitoring and Control
  and the Measurement and Analysis process areas
• Provide opportunities to peer review not just the
  development items, such as software code, but
  also the planning elements
• At higher levels of capability (levels four and
  five), looks first at special causes of variation
  (level 4 activities in Quantitative Project
  Management) and then at common root causes of
  variation (level 5 activities in Causal Analysis
  and Resolution)
• Goal is to improve processes to avoid introducing
  defects rather than removing them once they are
  observed.
• Organizational Innovation and Deployment manages
  the selection and deployment of improvements
  across the organization

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Benefits of CMMI

• CMMI enables organizations to
• Link management and engineering activities to
  business objectives
• Meet customer expectations by expanding the scope
  of the product life cycle into engineering
  activities
• Incorporate lessons learned from areas of best
  practices
• Implement robust, high maturity practices
• Address organizational functions that are
  critical to the delivery of products and services
  

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Categories of Process Improvements

• Process improvements generally focus on the
  following areas
• Improved schedule and budget predictability
• Improved cycle time
• Increased productivity
• Improved quality (as measured by defects)
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Improved employee morale
• Increased return on investment
• Decreased cost of quality
• Improvement means different things to different
  organizations
• What are your business goals?
• How do you measure progress?
• Improvement is a long term strategic effort
• What is the expected impact on the bottom line?
• How will impact be measured?

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CMMI Software Strategies

• The CMMI can be used for
• Software Process Improvement
• An organization plans, develops, and implements
  changes to its software process
• Software Process Assessments
• An appraisal by a trained team of software
  professionals determines the state of an
  organization's current software process,
  determines the high-priority software
  process-related issues facing an organization,
  and obtains the organizational support for
  software process improvement
• Software Capability Evaluations
• An appraisal by a trained team of professionals
  to identify contractors who are qualified to
  perform the software work or to monitor the state
  of the software process used on an existing
  software effort

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Sample Software Process Improvement Strategy
Increase Profitability
Objectives
Financial
Add new customers
Increase revenue/customers
Customer
Provide more frequent feature updates
Add new features
Internal Processes
Deliver in shorter cycles
Build smaller features
Hold quarterly JADs
Learning Growth
Adopt modular development process
Learn JAD techniques
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Sample Software Process Improvement in Balanced
Scorecard
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Data quality Software example

• http//www.dataflux.com/