Evaluating Software Process Capability and Effectiveness (CKA #3)

This tutorial covers CKA area #3 of the International Software Process Improvement Certification (ISPIC) requirements.

Concepts

Great people can develop a great software product. To repeat success and improve, one needs solid processes. Process capability and effectiveness determine the quality of the resulting product, the costs and the timelines. Yet to manage processes you need to measure them. The course will explain the concepts of software process capability and the related concepts of software maturity and provide an overview of the basics of software process measurement. Then we will focus on different models for evaluating software processes, including well-known standards like CMMI® and ISO. A discussion on the practical aspects of software audits will follow.

Participants will learn:

• The concepts of process capability and organizational maturity
• The basics of process capability measurement
• Standards and frameworks for software process capability evaluation:
  CMMI®, ISO, TickIT, etc.
• Practical aspects of planning, executing and reporting software audits

Outline

• What the course is about
  • Scope: what do we cover in depth, what do we glance over, what we do not cover
  • Goals: what will we learn
  • Administrative items
• The concept of Process Capability
  • The software game: People, Products, Processes
  • Process Capability and Organizational Maturity
• Process capability measurement
  • Measures and Metrics
  • People, product and process metrics - overview
  • Specific process capability metrics
• Software standards and frameworks
  • Before the standards
    • Classical Quality: Deming, Juran, Ishikawa and others
    • Statistical Process Control
  • Specific standards and evaluating mechanisms
    • CMMI®
    • ISO
    • TickIT
    • IEEE
    • RUP
• Software Audits
  • Audit types
  • Auditing tools and procedures
  • Audit programs
  • Planning
  • Execution
  • Reporting and follow-up