Alexander Samarin
9.5 Pattern: Maturity of Process System (MOPS) .1 Business Concern to Be Addressed by the Pattern
Suppose an enterprise wants to reach a particular level of maturity in accordance with the “Capability Maturity Model Integration” (CMMI) (SEI2009) (e.g., as a response to an insufficient realization/support of the business model) and the functioning of the enterprise is represented as a system of processes. From a process management perspective, the MOPS pattern identifies the operations on business processes that are required to help the enterprise advance to a certain level of maturity (see Table9.3):
• Model refers to the fact that the enterprise makes a representation of the complete (end-to-end) process to support communication about the process.
Table 9.2 Example of authority matrix
Conditions Action for the role of
Procurement
type Contract value Manager Director
Vice-president
1 Services <US$10,000 Approve N/A N/A
2 Services US$10,000 and
<US$50,000
Check Approve N/A
3 Services US$50,000 Check Check Approve
4 Goods <US$20,000 Approve N/A N/A
5 Goods US$20,000 and
<US$80,000
Check Approve N/A
6 Goods US$80,000 Check Check Approve
There is no single standard way to model, but the model must encompass the process.
• Implement means that the enterprise creates certain “aids” that are designed to help support the process. Today this often means developing some software that aids in information exchange (it does not have to be software though).
• Execute means that the process is performed or enacted in accordance with the agreed model (which acts as a contract or guideline).
• Control refers to the fact that there is some means of ensuring that the process follows the designed course. This may be strict control and enforcement, or it may be loose control in the form of guidelines, training, and manual practices.
• Measure means that effort is made to determine quantitatively how well the process is working.
• Optimize refers to an ongoing activity which builds over time to improve steadily the measures of the process. Improvement is defined according to the goals of the enterprise.
CMMI states that institutionalization is an important concept in process improvement. When mentioned in the generic goal and generic practice descriptions, institutionalization implies that the process is ingrained in the way the work is performed and there is commitment and consistency in the performance of the process. An institutionalized process is more likely to be respected during times of stress.
9.5.2 Logic of the Pattern
The logic is built on a mapping of the introduced process operations onto the CMMI levels.
9.5.2.1 Performed Process (Level 1)
A performed process is a process that accomplishes the work necessary to produce work products.
Interpretation from a process management point of view: Process templates are considered as black boxes (inputs, governance, outputs, resources) with some information about some process-related concepts such as roles and business objects.
The relationships between these artifacts are not fully explicit. The outcome of a process instance is unpredictable (because it strongly depends on how people are doing the work together).
9.5.2.2 Managed Process (Level 2) A managed process is a performed process that
• is planned and executed in accordance with the policy,
• employs skilled people who have adequate resources to produce controlled outputs,
• involves relevant stakeholders,
• is monitored, controlled, and reviewed, and
• is evaluated for adherence to its process description.
A critical distinction between a performed process and a managed process is the extent to which the process is managed. In comparison with a performed process which has no explicit planning, a managed process is planned and the performance of the process instance is managed against the plan. Corrective actions are taken when the actual results and performance deviate significantly from the plan. A managed process achieves the objectives of the plan and is institutionalized for consistent performance.
Interpretation from a process management point of view: Process templates are defined explicitly but not in detail—they comprise the macro-activities. Such a template is based on some locally agreed conventions (as opposed to enterprise-wide conventions). Typically, a template specifies who (roles) is producing what (business objects), how (macro-activities), and when (some coordination). Although this is actually a skeleton of the process, it is sufficient to plan process instances and to have some key performance indicators for managing this instance against the plan.
The enacting of process instances may be performed either manually or with the help of some tools (e.g., project management software). The handling of some artifacts, e.g., project documents, performance data, and resource allocation, may be partially automated. Since each macro-activity involves a significant amount of human interpretation, the outcomes from process instances are not highly repeatable.
9.5.2.3 Defined Process (Level 3) A defined process is a managed process that
• is tailored from the organization’s set of standard processes according to the organization’s tailoring guidelines,
• has a maintained process description, and
• contributes work products, measures, and other process improvement infor-mation to the organizational process assets.
One critical distinction between a managed process and a defined process is the scope of application of the process descriptions, standards and procedures. For a managed process, the process descriptions, standards, and procedures are local, i.e., they are applicable to a particular project, group, or organizational function, while for a defined process they are enterprise-wide. As a result, the managed processes of two similar projects within the same organization may be very different.
Another critical distinction is that a defined process is described in more detail and is performed more rigorously than a managed process. This distinction means that improvement information is easier to understand, analyze, and use.
Finally, management of a defined process is based on the additional insight provided by an understanding of the interrelationships of the process activities and detailed measures of the process, its work products, and its services.
Interpretation from a process management point of view: Process templates are defined in accordance with enterprise-wide agreed standards. In addition, process templates are defined explicitly at the granularity of well-defined small activities.
Typically, a process template specifies who (roles) is producing what (business objects), how (activities), why (rules), and when (exact coordination). This is actually a normal executable process template which mixes human and automated activities. The latter are rather comprehensive and can be common between differ-ent business domains.
Each project can tailor an appropriate standard process template to the needs of the project (this is some kind of ad-hoc static optimization, of course, with some reasonable limits). Since human participants (roles) perform mainly value-adding work (as well-defined small activities) and not the process administration per se, then the outcome of process instances becomes rather repeatable. Well-defined small activities are simpler to control, thus making the management of a process instance more active.
It is important to note that some level of flexibility should be anticipated to achieve such a tailoring to be carried out without causing any negative effects and without serious efforts. For example, artifacts should be easily versioned and models should be easy to understand.
9.5.2.4 Quantitatively Managed Process (Level 4)
A quantitatively managed process is a defined process that is controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques. The product quality, service quality and process-performance attributes are measurable and controlled throughout the project.
Interpretation from a process management point of view: A normal executable process template is enriched to take into account the needs for proactive control of process instances. For example, the process template contains several checkpoints at which the performance of a particular process instance is measured to take an informed decision about the further execution of this process instance (see Samarin 2009). In some senses, a process instance interacts with the process execution engine. So, a process instance is systematically optimized without a change of its process template.
9.5.2.5 Optimizing Process (Level 5)
An optimizing process is a quantitatively managed process that is changed and adapted to meet relevant current and projected business objectives. An optimizing process focuses on continually improving process performance through both incre-mental and innovative technological improvements. Process improvements are
selected on the basis of a quantitative understanding of their expected contribution to achieve the organization’s process improvement objectives versus the cost and impact to the organization.
A critical distinction between a quantitatively managed process and an optimizing process is that the optimizing process is continuously improved by addressing common causes of process deficiency. A quantitatively managed pro-cess is concerned with addressing special causes of propro-cess deficiencies and providing statistical predictability of the results. Although the process may produce predictable results, the results may be insufficient to achieve the organization’s process improvement objectives.
Interpretation from a process management point of view: A process template is optimized on the basis of performance analysis of many process instances and some enterprise-wide information that is external relative to this process template (e.g., a need to speed up all processes within the enterprise). This is a static (design-time) optimization. Some techniques for dynamic (run-time) modification of a process template may be considered as well.
9.5.2.6 Process Operations in CMMI Process Types
Table 9.3 summarizes the process operations that are involved in each CMMI process type. The nature of involvement is indicated as “Implicit” (informal),
“Explicit” (formal), or “I/E” (in between “Implicit” and “Explicit”).
9.5.3 Implication of the Pattern
Table9.3helps to illustrate that a tool for managing processes is desirable from (at least) the “defined process” (level 3) upwards to actually automate the management of processes. If such a tool can also provide objective analysis of process perfor-mance, then it may help to overcome the cultural barrier between imposed (levels 1–3) and institutionalized (levels 4–5) processes.
Table 9.3 Nature of involvement
Implement Implicit I/E Explicit Explicit Explicit
Execute Implicit I/E Explicit Explicit Explicit
Control Implicit I/E I/E Explicit Explicit
Measure Implicit Implicit I/E Explicit Explicit
Optimize Implicit Implicit Implicit I/E Explicit