Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI)

2.3.4 Review and Update the Data Collection Plan (continued)
Implementation
Guidance
(continued)
Prioritizing data needs and allocating data collection effort to particular data
collection events are ongoing activities that the appraisal team leader is
responsible for overseeing. The data collection status summary may be
performed by the appraisal team leader and reported to the team members, or
the appraisal team leader may elect to have each mini-team perform this
activity for the PAs it is assigned.
Specific information needed to resolve ambiguities or conflicts in the existing
data should be documented for follow-up by one or more members of the
team. For detailed data items that have a limited scope of impact, the notes of
individual team members may be adequate to document the data needed. For
example, whether or not a particular person is involved in a meeting, or
reviews a given document, can be confirmed by a simple question asked
during an on-call interview. Therefore, a note made by an individual team
member to make sure the question is asked may suffice. In contrast, if
conflicting information is uncovered about whether or not a given event
occurred, like a meeting, more visibility of this conflict may be needed among
the team members to understand why the information collected thus far is not
internally consistent. In such a case, the person(s) responsible for the PA
where that practice resides may need to alert the team to the conflicting data
and facilitate a team discussion to seek clarity, as well as additional data. This
may lead to the crafting of a specific interview question, which is used in a
standard interview.
The data collection plan and inventory of objective evidence provide a means
for the appraisal team to continuously monitor progress toward sufficient
coverage of reference model practices in preparation for rating. Estimates of
the additional data collection effort should be regularly reviewed. If the
feasibility of the appraisal schedule is called into question, a replanning effort
may be necessary (as described in activity 1.5.3, Replan Data Collection).
CMU/SEI-2001-HB-001
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