Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI)

Since models are necessarily expressed and published in an implementation-independent
manner, the implementation of a model will require that an understanding of how the model
intent (as expressed though goals, practices, and other model material) is to be realized in the
organization be developed, documented, and operationalized. The model intent is made real
through its impact on the way people work; if there is no relation between how they work and
the model, the organization has not implemented the model. Thus, having an understanding
of the ways in which implementation of the model relates to what people are doing in the organization
is a necessary and unavoidable prerequisite to implementing the model. PIIDs
provide a mechanism by which the implementation of a model practice can be described.
Application of PIIs in Process Appraisal
During the course of process appraisal, the appraisal team’s primary focus is on verifying
practice implementation. This is accomplished by (1) obtaining objective evidence relevant to
the implementation of a practice, (2) comparing the objective evidence available with what is
expected, and then (3) making a determination of practice implementation based on the difference
between actual and expected evidence.
The PIIs assist the appraisal team (as well as the implementing organization) with task 1 by
providing a framework or structure that makes explicit the types of objective evidence that
should be considered. In concert with the CMMI model documentation, this provides the
model basis against which the organization’s actual operating practices are compared.
Note that PIIs do not prescribe what objective evidence must be present for practice implementation
determinations to be made; they only make explicit what is reasonable for an appraisal
team to consider. The particular circumstances and attributes of the organizational unit
and/or project must all be taken into consideration when making determinations of practice
implementation. As a general rule, the more objective evidence and the more PIIs represented
by that objective evidence, the higher the confidence level that the practice is implemented.
The PII structure assists the appraisal team with task 2 to the extent that the team has agreed
in advance on the objective evidence it expects to see for each process instantiation examined.
In some cases it may be difficult or impossible to have completely developed a team
consensus on what objective evidence must be seen (in advance). But sooner or later the appraisal
team must establish a consensus view on what is reasonable to expect, since it is only
the presence of that consensus view that permits a determination of practice implementation
to be made.
The final practice implementation determination task is that of developing a team consensus
on whether the practice is implemented for the process instantiation being examined. This
decision is based on the difference between what is expected and what is observed.
CMU/SEI-2001-HB-001
III-11