Establish and maintain process performance models for the organization’s set of standard processes.

High maturity organizations generally establish and maintain a set of process performance models at various levels of detail that cover a range of activities that are common across the organization and address the organization’s quality and process performance objectives. (See the definition of “process performance model” in the glossary.) Under some circumstances, projects may need to create their own process performance models.

Process performance models are used to estimate or predict the value of a process performance measure from the values of other process, product, and service measurements. These process performance models typically use process and product measurements collected throughout the life of the project to estimate progress toward achieving quality and process performance objectives that cannot be measured until later in the project’s life.

Process performance models are used as follows:

· The organization uses them for estimating, analyzing, and predicting the process performance associated with processes in and changes to the organization’s set of standard processes.

· The organization uses them to assess the (potential) return on investment for process improvement activities.

· Projects use them for estimating, analyzing, and predicting the process performance of their defined processes.

· Projects use them for selecting processes or subprocesses for use.

· Projects use them for estimating progress toward achieving the project’s quality and process performance objectives.

These measures and models are defined to provide insight into and to provide the ability to predict critical process and product characteristics that are relevant to the organization’s quality and process performance objectives.

Refer to the Quantitative Project Management process area for more information about quantitatively managing the project to achieve the project’s established quality and process performance objectives.

Example Work Products

1.    Process performance models

Subpractices

1.    Establish process performance models based on the organization’s set of standard processes and process performance baselines.

2.    Calibrate process performance models based on the past results and current needs.

3.    Review process performance models and get agreement with relevant stakeholders.

4.    Support the projects’ use of process performance models.

5.    Revise process performance models as necessary.