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Assessments |
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Management Information Systems bvba |
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An assessment is an appraisal of the development process used by a department or a project. The assessment determines: · The maturity level of a process: · The maturity of development processes using a model like the Capability Maturity Model for Software or the Capability Maturity Model Integrated · The maturity of human resources management processes using the People Capability Maturity Model · The degree of satisfaction and/or the critical issues regarding the (key) process areas · The highest priority actions for improvement of the development process
There are different kinds of assessments: · Full assessment. During a full assessment an external team of consultants will investigate the five areas that influence the performance of a development department. They will look into people, management, technology, architecture and organizational issues to identify risk areas and recommendations. · Process assessment During a process assessment an external team of consultants will investigate the managerial aspect of the current way of working, identify risk areas and recommendations. · Human resources management assessment During a human resources management assessment an external team of consultants will investigate the managerial aspect of the current way of working, identify risk areas and recommendations. · Quick scan During a quick scan an external consultant will interview some management level and working level personnel to quickly have a first understanding of the managerial aspect of the current way of working. After the interviews he will usually guide an Interim Maturity Evaluation (see next point). At the end he is able to identify some risk areas and recommendations. Quick scans can be used to assess processes or human resources management. · (Guided) Interim Maturity Evaluation An Interim Maturity Evaluation (IME) is an internal evaluation whose main purpose is to evaluate improvements. It should be done every 3-4 months. Each new IME should show how much improvement has been reached with respect to the previous IME. It also shows the weak areas in our processes and as such helps to concentrate next improvements where they are most necessary. Usually a first (and sometimes more than one) IME is guided by an external consultant to show people how to use this technique. An IME takes typically 3-6 hours with approximately 5 participants. (Guided) IMEs can be used to evaluate process improvements and human resources management improvements.
After an external assessment (i.e. an assessment to be carried out by an external (team of) consultant(s) has been requested it goes through three phases: · Preparation phase during which the consultant gathers general information about the company, selects persons he wishes to interview and makes the necessary arrangements for the assessment. · Assessment phase during which the interviews are held and documentation is examined. · Reporting phase during which the information is analyzed, the maturity level is determined, findings and recommendations are prepared, and the assessment report is presented.
Depending on various factors, an external assessment will take a few days to a few weeks and results in a list of three to ten high-level recommendations. If these recommendations are applied they should result in higher productivity, predictability and quality; and decreased lead times, paying off the investment in the assessment in less than six months. |
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Assessments |
