what is process database, process capability baseline

what is process database, process capability baseline

In this tutorial today learn what is process database, process capability baseline previous tutorial what is software metrics in software engineering

process database:

An organization always has a going concern. It means it existed in the past, continues its transactions in the present, and will strive to survive in the future. This has significant meaning in that in order to continue to exist the organization has to use past data, experience, and best practices. These play key roles in improvement and management. Any learning organization will learn from past success as well as failures. The key factor in this learning process is how effectively the past experience has been captured, shared, and disseminated in different forums.

It has been observed that the learning process can be very effective if there is a systematic way of collecting data and information, deriving the requisite knowledge from that and then sharing with others in a manner that is easy, rewarding, and also can be customizable for the project in question. The systematic way of gathering and recording data is done in-process database. Based on this database, a capability baseline is formed.

The process database captures the experience of previous projects and a number of data related to these projects. This data collection is done through a systematic approach. The approach has been explained here: first, objectives are set for a project. Based on the objectives, metrics are defined. By measuring values of these metrics periodically, the project manager can check the progress toward achieving the set objectives. In order to measure these metrics, variables are defined, and as the project progresses, data for these variables are collected periodically.

Mechanisms for data collection are well defined and tools are employed to collect data. By employing tools for data collection, consistency and data integrity are achieved. The tools help in collecting data, which are recorded in-process database. These data are used as learning for new projects. For project planning, these process databases provide vital inputs for estimating as well as for project management.

Templates are defined to collect these data.

These templates capture data at different stages and then at the end of the project execution, that is, after all, deliverables are completed, these data are entered into the database. A sample template is shown in Annexure B, which helps in recording data from projects. Figure 2.4 explains the systematic approach taken in one of the software major for data collection and entity into PDB.

process capability baseline:

The process capability baseline represents the capability of the processes in quantitative terms. The capability explains the range of performance values that can be expected from a process. This means, for the processes followed in a project, process capability would explain the range of outcomes that can be expected from these processes. Hence, the capability baseline has two important aspects processes and outcomes measured quantitatively. Hence, first, there is a need to determine processes that need to be considered for capability baseline.

The choice of processes to be considered is based on the needs of the organization. The

processes that are critical for business sustenance are to be selected. The criticality will also depend on the needs of the customer. The processes that have a direct impact on the customer need to be selected for baseline also. Once these processes are selected, then measurement techniques for these processes are also defined. The measurement techniques include metrics for measuring processes, variables that will help in measuring these metrics, and periodicity of data collection. Some of the metrics that are measured are delivered quality, productivity, schedule variation, effort distribution across lifecycle stages, effort variation, defect injection rate, defect removal efficiency, defect distribution across lifecycle stages, etc.