Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI)

2.1 Examine Objective Evidence (continued)
Interfaces
with Other
Processes
Summary of
Activities
The activities that provide the team with data needed to produce reliable
appraisal outputs are perhaps the most visible part of the appraisal process
from the perspective of the appraised organization. For this reason, SCAMPI
places a heavy emphasis on methodically planning and tracking the data
collected during an appraisal. The initial objective evidence collected early in
the process allows team members to analyze the state of information available
at the earliest stages of the appraisal and narrow their search for new
information. This early work serves to facilitate an efficient use of time. An
explicit understanding of what information is needed and how that
information will be used therefore drives the activities associated with this
process.
The members of the team continually manage the data collected previously
and target new data collection activities to fill known information needs.
Instruments tend to be used early in the appraisal process, and often provide
leads to be pursued through other data collection activities, in addition to
affirmations of implemented practices. Presentations are sometimes used to
provide a flexible forum where members of the organization can explain
important information about the practices implemented in the organization.
Documents provide the most explicit and lasting representation of practice
implementation in the organization, and the team uses them to understand
how practices in the CMMI model are implemented. Finally, interviews are
used as the most dynamic data collection technique, allowing for branching
among related topics and the explanation of contextual information that
affects the implementation of practices as well as alternative practices.
The appraisal activities conducted for each of these data collection sources are
similar:
• Determine if the information obtained is acceptable as objective evidence.
• Relate the objective evidence to corresponding practices in the appraisal
reference model.
• Relate the objective evidence to the appropriate part of the appraised
organizational unit (i.e., the instantiation).
CMU/SEI-2001-HB-001
Page II-73