Regardless of whether the CMM (The Capability Maturity Model) is used as a process improvement framework, or some other apt way has been adopted, a systematic and orderly approach is usually applied to solve the process improvement problem, which involves the following actions:
Evaluation of the status of an ongoing process. The first thing to do is to determine where you are in relation to the adopted basic structure. An assessment can be obtained with the help of external consultants who have been trained and therefore are able to evaluate the course of a particular organization in the context of a capability development model similar to the SMM. On the other hand, the internal evaluation can be carried out in the form of a post-project review. This inspection is often intended not only for summarizing the project outputs, but also for determining what has been done well and what should be improved. Both internal and external evaluations require full support from the senior management of an organization and the participation of specialists who need to implement the proposed changes and use them in the future.
QA testing services are indispensable when it comes to ensuring the quality of a software development project. By monitoring the processes throughout the entire life cycle it becomes possible to launch the product successfully.
Identification of areas that need to be improved. Based on the assessment results of the ongoing process, a list of areas for improvement should be compiled. At that it is important to assign priorities to them and document the priority order in the corresponding plans. Attempts to make changes immediately to all areas of this list often lead to keen disappointments.
Process improvement scheduling. It is necessary to attract process implementation improvement specialists to conduct the planning activity to be able to know their proposals and get their support. Such a plan should provide for the introduction of means to analyze the degree of progress towards improving the process. In the context of a functional development model, this measure of progress toward the goal after 12 or 18 months of work can take the form of another formal assessment. It is conducted at intermediate control points to keep track of the progress.
Implementation of changes and monitoring of their effectiveness. After drawing up the plan, implementing all its items, getting the benefits and elucidating the adjustments, one should keep moving forward in every possible way using this plan as the basis for improving the process.
It takes time to improve the process. The transition from level 1 to level 2 in large organizations takes two to three years. Small businesses grow faster than larger ones.
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