CMMI for Services Blog Special Series: 6th Part: This blog series on the cmmiconsultantblog.com is a systematic and structured coverage of CMMI Process Areas starting from Maturity Level 2 to Maturity Level 3: using CMMI–SVC, Version 1.3, as the Reference CMMI Model: As CMMI Consultant, during CMMI Consulting assignment if you are asked about the steps, inputs and outputs of Measurement and Analysis (M&A) Process Area, what would be your response:

CMMI FAQ 0

18th July, 2016

For the above-mentioned question, CMMI consultants may take inputs from the following inputs.

The purpose of Measurement and Analysis (MA) is to develop and sustain a quantitative measurement capability that can be used to support project management and help in decision making at middle and senior management level.

Measurement and Analysis helps at project as well as organizational level. However it requires data collection at project level and analysis of that data at the organizational level.

Inputs

Following are the Inputs for the Measurement and Analysis:

• Project Closure Report
• Project Management Plan
• Process Database

Activities

Following activities are being conducted for Measurement and Analysis:

• Establish Metric Goals: Metric goals are established at the Org Level and then used to in Projects as project level metric goals. These goals are derived from the business goals.
• Specify Measures: Next step is to define measures to address measurement goals/objectives. Some of the examples of the measures categories could include: schedule and progress, Service requests, effort and cost, size and stability, quality etc. Example of measures could include Defects Density, Number of service requests, Effort variance, Schedule Variance, Customer Satisfaction Rating etc.
• Metrics Data Collection Method: Now define how the data shall be collected. Data collection procedure needs to be established.
• Metrics Data Analysis Method: Also define data analysis procedure. It also includes reports that will be prepared and who will be the stakeholders for different kind of metrics reports.
• Metric Data Collection: Next step is collect metrics data at project level and org level (from different functions). PMs shall collect the project data as per defined procedure then this data is collectively compiled at org level.
• Metrics Data Analysis: PM shall analyze the collected metrics data and shall identify the causes of the deviation of the selected metrics. Data analysis is done in comparison to the defined goals for the selected metrics. Different techniques could be used to analyze the causes of variance including Bar or Line Charts, Root Cause Analysis, Fish Bonn Diagram, Pareto Analysis etc. PM shall also plan corrective and preventive activities to control deviations. At Org level data shall also be analyzed in a collective manner.
• Metrics Report: Metrics Analysis report prepared based on the metrics analysis is shared with relevant stakeholders.

Outputs

Following outputs are created during the implementation of the Measurement and Analysis:

• Project Metrics Sheet from project metrics data collection and analysis
• Org Metrics Baseline Report is used to show the metrics comparative analysis of different projects metrics data

The above is not an exhaustive coverage of the Measurement and Analysis (MA), CMMI Process Areas but is substantive enough for CMMI Consultants to create a good foundation of the Measurement and Analysis process in an organization.

Source: CMMI for Services