Organizational Process Performance: A Process Management Process Area at Maturity Level 4
Purpose
The purpose of Organizational Process Performance (OPP) is to establish and maintain a quantitative understanding of the performance of selected processes in the organization’s set of standard processes in support of achieving quality and process performance objectives, and to provide process performance data, baselines, and models to quantitatively manage the organization’s work.
Introductory Notes
The Organizational Process Performance process area involves the following activities:
• Establishing organizational quantitative quality and process performance objectives based on business objectives (See the definition of “quality and process performance objectives” in the glossary.)
• Selecting processes or subprocesses for process performance analyses
• Establishing definitions of the measures to be used in process performance analyses (See the definition of “process performance” in the glossary.)
• Establishing process performance baselines and process performance models (See the definitions of “process performance baselines” and “process performance models” in the glossary.)
The collection and analysis of the data and creation of the process performance baselines and models can be performed at different levels of the organization, including individual work activities or groups of related work activities as appropriate based on the needs of the work and organization.
The common measures for the organization consist of process and product measures that can be used to characterize the actual performance of processes in the organization’s work. By analyzing the resulting measurements, a distribution or range of results can be established that characterize the expected performance of the process when used on an individual work activity.
Measuring quality and process performance can involve combining existing measures into additional derived measures to provide more insight into overall efficiency and effectiveness at an individual work activity or organization level. The analysis at the organization level can be used to study productivity, improve efficiencies, and increase throughput across work activities in the organization.
The expected process performance can be used in establishing the quality and process performance objectives for the work and can be used as a baseline against which actual performance can be compared. This information is used to quantitatively manage the work. Each quantitatively managed work activity, in turn, provides actual performance results that become a part of organizational process assets that are made available to all work groups.
Process performance models are used to represent past and current process performance and to predict future results of the process. For example, the latent defects in the delivered product can be predicted using measurements of work product attributes such as complexity and process attributes such as preparation time for peer reviews.
When the organization has sufficient measures, data, and analytical techniques for critical process, product, and service characteristics, it is able to do the following:
• Determine whether processes are behaving consistently or have stable trends (i.e., are predictable)
• Identify processes in which performance is within natural bounds that are consistent across work activities and could potentially be aggregated
• Identify processes that show unusual (e.g., sporadic, unpredictable) behavior
• Identify aspects of processes that can be improved in the organization’s set of standard processes
• Identify the implementation of a process that performs best
This process area interfaces with and supports the implementation of other high maturity process areas. The assets established and maintained as part of implementing this process area (e.g., the measures to be used to characterize subprocess behavior, process performance baselines, process performance models) are inputs to the quantitative work management, causal analysis and resolution, and organizational performance management processes in support of the analyses described there. Quantitative work management processes provide the quality and process performance data needed to maintain the assets described in this process area.
Related Process Areas
Refer to the Capacity and Availability Management process area for more information about ensuring effective service system performance and ensuring that resources are provided and used effectively to support service requirements.
Refer to the Strategic Service Management process area for more information about establishing and maintaining standard services in concert with strategic needs and plans.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about specifying measures, obtaining measurement data, and analyzing measurement data.
Refer to the Organizational Performance Management process area for more information about proactively managing the organization’s performance to meet its business objectives.
Refer to the Quantitative Work Management process area for more information about quantitatively managing the work to achieve the established quality and process performance objectives for the work.
Specific Practices by Goal
SG 1 Establish Performance Baselines and Models
Baselines and models, which characterize the expected process performance of the organization’s set of standard processes, are established and maintained.
Prior to establishing process performance baselines and models, it is necessary to determine the quality and process performance objectives for those processes (the Establish Quality and Process Performance Objectives specific practice), which processes are suitable to be measured (the Select Processes specific practice), and which measures are useful for determining process performance (the Establish Process Performance Measures specific practice).
The first three practices of this goal are interrelated and often need to be performed concurrently and iteratively to select quality and process performance objectives, processes, and measures. Often, the selection of one quality and process performance objective, process, or measure will constrain the selection of the others. For example, selecting a quality and process performance objective relating to defects delivered to the customer will almost certainly require selecting the verification processes and defect related measures.
The intent of this goal is to provide work groups with the process performance baselines and models they need to perform quantitative work management. Many times these baselines and models are collected or created by the organization, but there are circumstances in which a work group may need to create the baselines and models for themselves. These circumstances include work activities that are not covered by the organization’s baselines and models. For these cases the work group follows the practices in this goal to create its baselines and models.
SP 1.1 Establish Quality and Process Performance Objectives
Establish and maintain the organization’s quantitative objectives for quality and process performance, which are traceable to business objectives.
The organization’s quality and process performance objectives can be established for different levels in the organizational structure (e.g., business area, product line, function, project, work activity) as well as at different levels in the process hierarchy. When establishing quality and process performance objectives, consider the following:
• Traceability to the organization’s business objectives
• Past performance of the selected processes or subprocesses in context (e.g., on projects, work activities)
• Multiple attributes of process performance (e.g., product quality, productivity, cycle time, response time)
• Inherent variability or natural bounds of the selected processes or subprocesses
The organization’s quality and process performance objectives provide focus and direction to the process performance analysis and quantitative work management activities. However, it should be noted that achieving quality and process performance objectives that are significantly different from current process capability requires use of techniques found in Causal Analysis and Resolution and Organizational Performance Management.
Example Work Products
1. Organization’s quality and process performance objectives
Subpractices
1. Review the organization’s business objectives related to quality and process performance.
2. Define the organization’s quantitative objectives for quality and process performance.
Quality and process performance objectives can be established for process or subprocess measurements (e.g., effort, cycle time, defect removal effectiveness) as well as for product measurements (e.g., reliability, defect density) and service measurements (e.g., capacity, response times) as appropriate.
3. Define the priorities of the organization’s objectives for quality and process performance.
4. Review, negotiate, and obtain commitment to the organization’s quality and process performance objectives and their priorities from relevant stakeholders.
5. Revise the organization’s quantitative objectives for quality and process performance as necessary.
SP 1.2 Select Processes
Select processes or subprocesses in the organization’s set of standard processes to be included in the organization’s process performance analyses and maintain traceability to business objectives.
Refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about establishing organizational process assets.
The organization’s set of standard processes consists of a set of standard processes that, in turn, are composed of subprocesses.
Typically, it is not possible, useful, or economically justifiable to apply statistical management techniques to all processes or subprocesses of the organization’s set of standard processes. Selection of processes or subprocesses is based on the quality and process performance objectives of the organization, which are derived from business objectives as described in the previous specific practice.
Example Work Products
1. List of processes or subprocesses identified for process performance analyses with rationale for their selection including traceability to business objectives
Subpractices
1. Establish the criteria to use when selecting subprocesses.
2. Select the subprocesses and document the rationale for their selection.
Refer to the Decision Analysis and Resolution process area for more information about analyzing possible decisions using a formal evaluation process that evaluates identified alternatives against established criteria.
3. Establish and maintain traceability between the selected subprocesses, quality and process performance objectives, and business objectives.
4. Revise the selection as necessary.
It may be necessary to revise the selection in the following situations:
• The predictions made by process performance models result in too much variation to make them useful.
• The objectives for quality and process performance change.
• The organization’s set of standard processes change.
• The underlying quality and process performance changes.
SP 1.3 Establish Process Performance Measures
Establish and maintain definitions of measures to be included in the organization’s process performance analyses.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about specifying measures.
Example Work Products
1. Definitions of selected measures of process performance with rationale for their selection including traceability to selected processes or subprocesses
Subpractices
1. Select measures that reflect appropriate attributes of the selected processes or subprocesses to provide insight into the organization’s quality and process performance.
It is often helpful to define multiple measures for a process or subprocess to understand the impact of changes to the process and avoid sub-optimization. Also, it is often helpful to establish measures for both product and process attributes for the selected process and subprocess, as well as its inputs, outputs, and resources (including people and the skill they bring) consumed.
The Goal Question Metric paradigm is an approach that can be used to select measures that provide insight into the organization’s quality and process performance objectives. It is often useful to analyze how these quality and process performance objectives can be achieved based on an understanding of process performance provided by the selected measures.
2. Establish operational definitions for the selected measures.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about specifying measures.
3. Incorporate selected measures into the organization’s set of common measures.
Refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about establishing organizational process assets.
4. Revise the set of measures as necessary.
Measures are periodically evaluated for their continued usefulness and ability to indicate process effectiveness.
SP 1.4 Analyze Process Performance and Establish Process Performance Baselines
Analyze the performance of the selected processes, and establish and maintain the process performance baselines.
The selected measures are analyzed to characterize the performance of the selected processes or subprocesses achieved in work activities. This characterization is used to establish and maintain process performance baselines (See the definition of “process performance baseline” in the glossary.) These baselines are used to determine the expected results of the process or subprocess when used on a set of work activities under a given set of circumstances.
Process performance baselines are compared to the organization’s quality and process performance objectives to determine if the quality and process performance objectives are being achieved.
The process performance baselines are a measurement of performance for the organization’s set of standard processes at various levels of detail. The processes that the process performance baselines can address include the following:
• Sequence of connected processes
• Processes that cover the entire life of the work
• Processes for developing individual work products
There can be several process performance baselines to characterize performance for subgroups of the organization.
Tailoring the organization’s set of standard processes can significantly affect the comparability of data for inclusion in process performance baselines. Effects of tailoring should be considered in establishing baselines. Depending on the tailoring allowed, separate performance baselines may exist for each type of tailoring.
Refer to the Quantitative Work Management process area for more information about quantitatively managing the work to achieve the established quality and process performance objectives for the work.
Example Work Products
1. Analysis of process performance data
2. Baseline data on the organization’s process performance
Subpractices
1. Collect the selected measurements for the selected processes and subprocesses.
The process or subprocess in use when the measurement was taken is recorded to enable its use later.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about specifying measurement data collection and storage procedures.
2. Analyze the collected measures to establish a distribution or range of results that characterize the expected performance of selected processes or subprocesses when used on a set of work activities.
This analysis should include the stability of the related process or subprocess, and the impacts of associated factors and context. Related factors include inputs to the process and other attributes that can affect the results obtained. The context includes the business context (e.g., domain) and significant tailoring of the organization’s set of standard processes.
The measurements from stable subprocesses in work activities should be used when possible; other data may not be reliable.
3. Establish and maintain the process performance baselines from collected measurements and analyses.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about aligning measurement and analysis activities and providing measurement results.
Process performance baselines are derived by analyzing collected measures to establish a distribution or range of results that characterize the expected performance for selected processes or subprocesses when used on work activities in the organization.
4. Review and get agreement with relevant stakeholders about the process performance baselines.
5. Make the process performance information available across the organization in the measurement repository.
The organization’s process performance baselines are used by work groups to estimate the natural bounds for process performance.
6. Compare the process performance baselines to associated quality and process performance objectives to determine if those quality and process performance objectives are being achieved.
These comparisons should use statistical techniques beyond a simple comparison of the mean to gauge the extent of quality and process performance objective achievement. If the quality and process performance objectives are not being achieved, corrective actions should be considered.
Refer to the Causal Analysis and Resolution process area for more information about determining causes of selected outcomes.
Refer to the Organizational Process Focus process area for more information about planning and implementing process actions.
Refer to the Organizational Performance Management for more information about analyzing process performance data and identifying potential areas for improvement.
7. Revise the process performance baselines as necessary.
SP 1.5 Establish Process Performance Models
Establish and maintain process performance models for the organization’s set of standard processes.
High maturity organizations generally establish and maintain a set of process performance models at various levels of detail that cover a range of activities that are common across the organization and address the organization’s quality and process performance objectives. (See the definition of “process performance model” in the glossary.) Under some circumstances, work groups may need to create their own process performance models.
Process performance models are used to estimate or predict the value of a process performance measure from the values of other process, product, and service measurements. These process performance models typically use process and product measurements collected throughout the service lifecycle to estimate progress toward achieving quality and process performance objectives that cannot be measured until later in the service lifecycle.
Process performance models are used as follows:
• The organization uses them for estimating, analyzing, and predicting the process performance associated with processes in and changes to the organization’s set of standard processes.
• The organization uses them to assess the (potential) return on investment for process improvement activities.
• Work groups use them for estimating, analyzing, and predicting the process performance of their defined processes.
• Work groups use them for selecting processes or subprocesses for use.
• Work groups use them for estimating progress toward achieving the quality and process performance objectives.
These measures and models are defined to provide insight into and to provide the ability to predict critical process and product characteristics that are relevant to the organization’s quality and process performance objectives.
Refer to the Quantitative Work Management process area for more information about quantitatively managing the work to achieve the established quality and process performance objectives for the work.
Example Work Products
1. Process performance models
Subpractices
1. Establish process performance models based on the organization’s set of standard processes and process performance baselines.
2. Calibrate process performance models based on the past results and current needs.
3. Review process performance models and get agreement with relevant stakeholders.
4. Support the work groups’ use of process performance models.
5. Revise process performance models as necessary.