Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI)

2.2 Verify and Validate Objective Evidence (continued)
Key Points
Tools and
Techniques
Metrics
Verification and
Validation
Records
Tailoring
This activity spans a number of distinct events in the appraisal method that
together accomplish the same goal—ensuring the validity of the appraisal data
and associated outputs. Managing the interaction with people outside of the
team is a vitally important process to ensure that the results will be accurate.
Facilitation techniques to guide the team through difficult decisions are
important during this activity (as they are during the Rating activity as well).
Techniques to enhance the credibility of the preliminary findings are also
important. Using a flip chart or note-taker during the presentation of
preliminary findings is often effective for instilling confidence among
audience members.
Planned versus actual effort expended for this activity (as with all activities)
will assist in monitoring progress as well as planning subsequent appraisals.
Gauging the level of acceptance for preliminary findings can be facilitated by
computing the percentage of findings adjusted based on feedback, then
comparing this value with past experience.
The attendees of preliminary findings presentations are likely to express
agreement and/or discuss issues with the data being validated. The appraisal
team leader needs to ensure active participation in these activities as a way of
verifying that the verification and validation process is working as intended.
The actions taken following the appraisal will provide feedback to help
validate that this activity was successful.
Characterizations of practice implementation, strength/weakness statements
and changes made based on feedback will be recorded for subsequent use by
the team.
Validating data is required, but a variety of choices for orchestrating this
process are available. The most common approach is the preliminary findings
presentation. The use of an instrument or a more targeted focus-group
approach to validate statements of practice implementation gaps is permitted.
Also, the relative emphasis of mini-team-based verification and verification
carried out by the team as a whole can be adjusted to meet the skills and
preferences of the team at hand.
Continued on next page
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CMU/SEI-2001-HB-001