Summary

Establish and maintain the description of process needs and objectives for the organization.

Description

The organization’s processes operate in a business context that should be understood. The organization’s business objectives, needs, and constraints determine the needs and objectives for the organization’s processes.

Typically, issues related to customer satisfaction, finance, technology, quality, human resources, and marketing are important process considerations.

 

The organization’s process needs and objectives cover aspects that include the following:
  • Characteristics of processes
  • Process performance objectives, such as time-to-market and delivered quality
  • Process effectiveness


Issues related to the organization’s acquisition management needs are important process considerations.

Example Work Products



  1. The organization’s process needs and objectives


Subpractices



1. Identify policies, standards, and business objectives that are applicable to the organization’s processes.

 

Examples of standards include the following:
  • ISO/IEC 12207:2008 Systems and Software Engineering – Software Life Cycle Processes [ISO 2008a]
  • ISO/IEC 15288:2008 Systems and Software Engineering – System Life Cycle Processes [ISO 2008b]
  • ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Information technology – Security techniques – Information Security Management Systems – Requirements [ISO/IEC 2005]
  • ISO/IEC 14764:2006 Software Engineering – Software Life Cycle Processes – Maintenance [ISO 2006b]
  • ISO/IEC 20000 Information Technology – Service Management [ISO 2005b]
  • Assurance Focus for CMMI [DHS 2009]
  • NDIA Engineering for System Assurance Guidebook [NDIA 2008]
  • Resiliency Management Model [SEI 2010c]



2. Examine relevant process standards and models for best practices.

3. Determine the organization’s process performance objectives.

Process performance objectives can be expressed in quantitative or qualitative terms.

Refer to the Measurement and Analysis (MA) (CMMI-ACQ) process area for more information about establishing measurement objectives.


Refer to the Organizational Process Performance (OPP) (CMMI-ACQ) process area for more information about establishing quality and process performance objectives.


 

Examples of process performance objectives include the following:
  • Reduce defect insertion rate by a certain percentage
  • Achieve a certain cycle time for a given activity
  • Improve productivity by a given percentage
  • Simplify the requirements approval workflow
  • Improve quality of products delivered to customer



4. Define essential characteristics of the organization’s processes.

Essential characteristics of the organization’s processes are determined based on the following:

  • Processes currently being used in the organization
  • Standards imposed by the organization
  • Standards commonly imposed by customers of the organization


 

Examples of process characteristics include the following:
  • Level of detail
  • Process notation
  • Granularity



5. Document the organization’s process needs and objectives.

6. Revise the organization’s process needs and objectives as needed.