Process
Areas
(staged)

Level 2  
 AM 
 ARD
 CM
 MA 
 PP
 PMC 
 PPQA 
 REQM 
 SSAD
Level 3 
 ATM
 AVAL
 AVER
 DAR
 IPM 
 OPD 
 
OPF 
 OT 
 RSKM
Level 4
 
OPP
 QPM
Level 5 
 
OPM 
 CAR

      4. Process Areas
          4.12. Organizational Process Focus
 SP 1.1 Establish Organizational Process Needs 
Process AreaOPF
Level3
GoalSG 1
PracticeSP 1.1

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

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 process area for more information about establishing measurement objectives.

Refer to the Organizational Process Performance 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.




Process
Areas
(continuous)


Process
management   
 OPD
 OPF 
 OT  
 
OPP  
 OPM
Project
management  
 AM
 IPM
 
PP
 PMC 
 REQM
 
RSKM
 QPM
 SSAD
Acquisition Engineering 
 ARD

 ATM
 
 AVAL
 AVER

  
Support 
 CAR 
 
CM 
 DAR 
 MA
 
PPQA