Systematic process improvement using ISO 9001:2000 and CMMI

236 Approaches Using ISO–CMMI ® Synergy
methods to improve those processes and, in turn, process work products.
The Acting phase is very sensitive. It provides the bridge between process
improvement activities and project production activities.
A large organization will often select a project or a group of projects to
pilot newly developed processes, measure their effectiveness, and collect
lessons learned. After analysis of the results, the processes will be propagated
throughout the organization. Smaller organizations with more limited
resources may not be able to afford the pilot approach and will tend to
gradually implement those new processes and measure their effectiveness
as they move toward selected goals.
Normally, PATs remain active during pilot efforts to collect process measurements
and lessons learned and feed them back into process descriptions.
The PATs disband on pilot or process implementation completion. Continuing
support and improvement become the responsibility of the EPG and
project change agents. Although the use of pilot projects is an effective
technique, many ISO requirements will be satisfied when the process infrastructure
is established and institutionalization has begun.
As organizations start implementing identified process improvements
based on their process improvement plans, they will be able to determine
if the CMMI ® and ISO requirements have been satisfied and if their goals
and objectives have been satisfied. The effectiveness of the introduced
changes will be measured, resulting in feedback and corrective actions, if
necessary.
7.6 Fifth phase: Learning
The Learning phase enables process practitioners using the IDEAL SM model
to continue process improvement by repeating the Diagnosing and subsequent
phases without going back to the Initiating phase. The EPG should analyze
the whole cycle and ensure that most procedural problems are resolved in
the following cycle. In most cases, the EPG will address issues stemming
from the selected approach and make corrections to that approach. It will
review high-level process improvement goals, remove those that were satisfied,
and add new high-level goals resulting from the new needs of the
organization.
After lessons learned are analyzed and new goals are established, new
process improvement proposals may be developed. These will result in
requests to the management council for approval, funding, and resources.
The Learning phase may further fine-tune the synergy implementation,
for example, by adding or modifying transitioning steps, changing process