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Appraisal Assistant Quick Reference

Appraisal Assistant User ManualVersionAuthorDateComment

0.6Fred Liang6/Mar/04Initial version, covers organization, user management, standard appraisal editing, appraisal customization, evidence management

0.7Fred Liang4/Apr/04Update evidence management, practice characterization, goal rating, process rating, maturity rating, appraisal summarizing

0.8Fred Liang21/Apr/04Export/Import mini-team appraisal dataset

0.9Fred Liang15/Jun/04ISO 15504 profiler, CMMI Reports generation

0.91Fred Liang21/Jun/04CMMI-12207/15504 mapping import, 15504 process profile report generation

0.92Fred Liang23/Aug/04Edit evidence name from the evidence list control

0.93Fred Liang27/Aug/04Evidence registry AutoAssociate mode

0.94Fred Liang3/Sept/04Standard appraisal repository framework diagram, appraisal model framework diagram

0.95Fred Liang11/Sept/04Mini team I/O interface, diagrams

0.96Fred Liang26/Sept/04PII export/import

0.97Fred Liang2/Oct/04Evidence Registry, Evidence-Practice relationship characteristic

0.98Fred Liang10/Oct/04User accounts batch init, CMMI-ISO15504 profiler update, evidence association reporting, direct artifact coverage flag, evidence quick reference

0.99Fred Liang9/Nov/04CMMI Class B (SQI) appraisals, practice implementation strength comments, Mini team import option

1.00Fred Liang25/Nov/04Mini team data review panel, usability updates on evidence registry

1.01Fred Liang10/Dec/04Initial evidence spreadsheet for CMMI appraisals, import initial evidence from plain text file.

1.02Fred Liang15/Dec/04Appraisal Customization tab update, instantiation implementation gap rollup

1.03Fred Liang15/Jan/05Standard appraisal method rating scheme panel, automatic database compact

1.04Fred Liang7/Mar/05Multi instance interview panel for CMMI appraisals

1.05Fred Liang2/Apr/05ISO9001 editor and profiler for CMMI appraisals

1.06Fred Liang9/Jun/05Detail customization of process area, update screenshots

1.07Fred Liang21/Jun/05Add instantiation to CMMI practice mapping customization, updated PII auto association mode in the evidence registry

1.08Fred Liang 13/July/05Update mini team I/O options, evidence coverage tab, and multi-instance interview panel

1.09Fred Liang29/Aug/05merge ISO15504 assessment section

1.10Fred Liang6/Dec/05Update evidence registry screenshots, Add import document evidence list

1.11Fred Liang13/Feb/06Cut/Copy/Paste PIIs

1.12Fred Liang20/Jul/06Update screenshots

1.13Fred Liang9/Mar/07BETA 3 updates:

New appraisals

Evidence registry

Multi-Instantiation evidences I/O

Reporting, Result charts

Standard Rating Scheme editing

Model editing

Model mappings

1.Log on to Appraisal Assistant42.Organization profile42.1.Create New Organization Profile42.2.Open Organization Profile43.CMMI Appraisal Projects53.1.Create new appraisal project53.2.Open an existing appraisal project53.3.Delete an existing appraisal project53.4.Name the appraisal project53.5.Customize organization scope63.6.Customize process scope63.7.Customize appraisal team84.Evidence Registry in CMMI appraisal94.1.Collect initial PIIs using spreadsheets94.2.Import a list of documents114.3.Add evidence114.4.Edit evidence114.5.Remove evidence124.6.Open the evidence124.7.Associate evidence to the model practices124.8.Gather evidences by model practice134.9.Cut/Copy/Paste PIIs144.10.Cross-instantiation evidence notes154.11.Review evidence coverage164.12.Evidence Summary Report174.13.Instantiation practice characterization185.CMMI Evidence database Export/Import185.1.Export evidence database185.2.Import evidence database186.CMMI Model Practice characterization196.1.Characterize practice implementation of the instantiation196.2.Characterize practice implementation of the organization unit197.CMMI Goal rating208.CMMI Process area rating219.CMMI Organization unit maturity rating2210.Review CMMI appraisal results2311.CMMI - ISO15504 Profiler2312.CMMI - ISO9001 Profiler2513.CMMI Report Generation2514.ISO15504-5 Assessment Projects2714.1.Customize assessment scope2714.2.Customize Assessment Team2715.Evidence Registry in ISO15504 assessment2815.1.Collect initial ISO15504 evidences using spreadsheet2815.2.Import a list of documents2915.3.Add evidence2915.4.Edit evidence2915.5.Delete evidence3015.6.Associate evidence to assessment indicators3015.7.Review evidence coverage3115.8.Gather evidence by assessment indicators3216.ISO15504 Process Outcome/Achievement Evidences3316.1.Review evidence to outcome/achievement mappings3316.2.Decide evidence association characteristic (Optional)3416.3.Characterize process outcome / process attribute achievement (Optional)3417.ISO15504 Process Attribute Rating3518.ISO15504 Process Capability Rating3519.Review ISO15504 Assessment Results3620.ISO15504 Assessment Reporting3621.Mini-team management3621.1.Export mini-team database3721.2.Import mini-team database3822.User Management4122.1.Add User4122.2.Delete User4222.3.Edit user4323.Standard Appraisal Model Management4323.1.Add a standard CMMI constellation4423.2.Customize process category category4423.3.Customize CMMI process area4423.4.Customize CMMI goal4423.5.Customize CMMI practice4523.6.Add a standard ISO15504 model4523.7.Establish ISO15504 work product repository4523.8.Customize process category4623.9.Customize ISO15504 process4623.10.Customize ISO15504 process attribute4723.11.Customize ISO15504 assessment indicator4723.12.Standard ISO 9001 Profile editor4823.13.Manage CMMI to ISO9001/ISO15504 Mappings4824.Appraisal Method Rating Scheme Management5024.1.New appraisal method5024.2.Delete appraisal method5024.3.Add rating scale5024.4.Delete rating scale5024.5.Edit rating scale5025.Compacting the database51Appendix A: CMMI Evidence Registry Quick Reference1

1. Log on to Appraisal Assistant

You must first log onto Appraisal Assistant. The login name of the default administrator account is: Admin. Password is: AdminTo log on, bring up the User Logon dialog box by selecting Log on from the user menu. Both login name and password are case sensitive. 2. Organization profile

Appraisal Assistant uses one database for each organization unit. It stores data of all appraisal projects that are belonged to the same organization unit. The organization database is password protected.2.1. Create New Organization Profile

Only the administrator users can create new organization database. You can create an organization database by selecting the new organization profile from the organization menu.

By default, the organization database file name will be the same as the organization name. The database file will be created in the specified folder. Once created, the attributes of an organization can be changed through the Organization tab in the main window.2.2. Open Organization Profile

To open an existing organization database, log on to Appraisal Assistant and select open organization profile from the organization menu. The file extension name of the organization profile is *.opf.

3. CMMI Appraisal Projects3.1. Create new appraisal project

To create a new appraisal project:

1. Open the organization profile

2. Select New Appraisal from the Appraisal menu3. Name the new appraisal

4. Select the model framework on the New Appraisal dialog box. If selected the CMMI Staged representation, you also need to specify the Target ML for this appraisal project

5. Tick the applicable models/constellations from the model list. You need to re-select the model if you changed the framework6. Select the rating scheme used for this appraisal

7. A new appraisal will be created and added to the organization profile. If there is another appraisal project currently opened, all data of that appraisal will be saved before the new appraisal project is created. The current user who created the appraisal project will be automatically assigned as the team leader of the new appraisal. If the new appraisal uses the CMMI staged representation, the program will initialize the appraisal process scope according to the appraisals highest maturity level. 3.2. Open an existing appraisal project

To open an existing appraisal project:1. Open the organization profile

2. Select the Organization tab from the left panel

3. Select the appraisal project from the appraisal list

3.3. Delete an existing appraisal project

To delete an existing appraisal project:

1. Open the organization profile

2. Select the Organization tab in the left panel

3. Click on the appraisal project you want to delete

4. Click on the Remove button to remove the selected appraisal project from the database. Once an appraisal is removed, it can NOT be recovered.3.4. Name the appraisal project

To change the appraisal project name:1. Open the appraisal project

2. Select the Appraisal Customization tab

3. Enter the new name in the appraisal name edit box3.5. Customize organization scopeFor CMMI appraisals, when the appraisal project is created, Appraisal Assistant adds an instantiation for processes implemented at the organizational level. By default, ALL instantiations are mapped to ALL practices.To add an instantiation to the appraisal project:

1. Click the Add Instantiation button, an empty instantiation will be added to the appraisal project

2. Enter the instantiation name in the name edit box

3. Comments on the rationales of selecting the instantiation in the context edit box

To remove an instantiation from the appraisal scope:

1. Click the Delete button next to the instantiation you want to remove

To disassociate an instantiation from a practice

1. Click the Map Practice button of the instantiation to bring up the instantiation to practice customization dialog box

2. Find the practices that you want to disassociate

3. Clear the check box next to that practice

4. Clock OK to close the customization dialog box

If an instantiation has evidence associated to the practice, the check box will be disable, thus you can NOT disassociated the instantiation from the practice until its evidence(s) is disassociated from this practice.

3.6. Customize process scopeTo add CMMI process areas to the appraisal project:

1. Click the Add button below the process list

2. Select the process areas from the pop-up dialog box. You can select as many process areas as you want. Only those process areas that are not already in the appraisal project will be listed in the dialog box. Once new process areas are added, the appraisal model hierarchy tree will be updated.

To change a process areas highest capability level to be assessed:

1. Move the mouse pointer over the process area you want to change, the capability level dropdown list will appear if the appraisal uses CMMI continuous representation.2. Select the new target capability level for the process area from the dropdown list

To further customize the process area:

1. Select the process area you want to customize

2. Click the Customize button to bring up the Appraisal Scope Detail Customization dialog box

3. Tick all the practices that you want to be included in the appraisal scope, clear the check box of any practice that you want to be excluded from the appraisal scope.

4. Click the OK button to close the dialog box

5. Appraisal Assistant will update the appraisal model.

Note that the target capability of that process area remains the same. Assigning new target capability level to the process area will RESET the changes you made.

To add Alternative practice to the appraisal scope

1. Select the process area of the alternative practice(s) belongs to

2. Click the Customize button to bring up the Appraisal Scope Detail Customization dialog box

3. Select the GOAL of which the alternative practice belongs to

4. Click Alt.Prac button to bring up the Alternative Practice dialogbox

5. Specify detail info for the alternative practice.

6. Click OK to close the dialog box

Note that the alternative practices only valid for the current appraisal. If you need to have a customized practice show up in all your future appraisals, try editing the standard model instead.

To remove a process area from the appraisal project;

1. Select the process area you want to remove by clicking on the process area name

2. Click the Delete button will remove the selected process area from the appraisal scope3.7. Customize appraisal teamTo add an authorized person to the appraisal project:

1. Click the Add button will bring up the New Team Member dialog box

2. Enter the detail of the new team member and click OK.

To change an team members role in the appraisal project:

1. Move the mouse pointer over the users role, a role dropdown list will appear

2. Select the new role for the user from the dropdown list.

To remove a team member from the appraisal project:

1. Select the user you want to remove by clicking on the login name

2. Click the Delete button will remove the selected member from this appraisal project.

4. Evidence Registry in CMMI appraisalAppraisal Assistant creates one evidence registry for each appraisal project. Each evidence record can be associated to one or more model practices as implementation indicators.

There are three ways of putting evidences into the registry:

1. Collect the initial PIIs using spreadsheets and import them into the database

2. Import the list of documents

3. Using the evidence registry dialog box to enter them one by one4.1. Collect initial PIIs using spreadsheets

You can use spreadsheets to collect initial PIIs. Once you finished setup the appraisal scope, Appraisal Assistant can create empty spreadsheets which contains all practices that are within the current appraisal scope. Appraisal assistant will create one spreadsheet for each instantiation within the appraisal scope, and an additional spreadsheet for evidences that are used in multiple instantiations.To generate the Initial PII spreadsheets:

1. Select Create Initial Evidence Collection Spreadsheets from the Evidence menu

2. Specify the initial name for spreadsheets. Appraisal Assistant will append the instantiation name to the file name you specify to differentiate the spreadsheets

3. Use Microsoft Excel 2002, 2003 or 2007 to open these spreadsheets

4. Read the instruction in the 1st page of the spreadsheet on how to enter data

For single instantiation evidence spreadsheets, the evidence name is the only required data. All other columns are optional. If there are more than one evidences mapped to the same practice, you need to add more rows under the practice. The above screenshot shows evd 1 is mapped to PI/SP1.1 and PI/SP1.3. Evd 2 is mapped to PI/SP1.1 and PI/SP2.1

For multi-instantiation evidence spreadsheets, the evidence name AND the instantiation column(s) are the mandated fields. The above screenshot shows:

Test evidence 1 is mapped to PI/SP1.1 through Org.Processes and Project 2. It is also mapped to PI/SP1.2 through Project 1. Test evidence 2 is mapped to PI/SP1.1 through Org.Processes and Project 2.When importing these data, Appraisal Assistant will check for duplication of the existing evidences. If there is an existing row that uses the same name string AND linked to the same document/URL, Appraisal Assistant considers them as the same evidence being associated to multiple model practices. This is essential for reducing the number of evidence entries in the database.

If there is an existing evidence mapped to the same practice under the same evidence name, Appraisal Assistant consider the PII already exists, thus ignore this row. This is essential to avoid duplication when the same spreadsheet is imported more than once.

To import the evidences you collected on these spreadsheets, you need to export them into a Tab delimited text file, and then use the Import Initial Evidence option on the Evidence menu.

4.2. Import a list of documents

You can import a list of document evidences to the evidence registry by using the Import List button. This is different from Collect initial evidences using spreadsheet see 5.1) feature. The evidences imported here are NOT mapped to any of the model practice. This evidence list can be obtained from the organization units document database or through listing the file folder. The document list file MUST follow this format:

a) the file is a plain text file

b) the 1st row must be this string: List of Document Evidencesc) the 2nd row is for table titles, and does not contains real data

d) there must be 5 columns in each row (besides the 1st row)

e) there must be a TAB key separated each column (4 tab each row)

f) the 1st column is Instantiation, the instantiation name string

g) the 2nd column is Evidence name, the evidence name

h) the 3rd column is Document link, the link to the actual evidence

i) the 4th column is Document source, the person/OU that provides this evidence

j) the 5th column is description, a short description of the evidence (one liner).

Only the 1st and the 2nd column are compulsory, though providing the document link will greatly reduce the chance of duplication. Import an incorrect formatted text file will crash the application. You can use the included DocumentList.xls to assist your data collection (save it as Tab delimited text before importing).

4.3. Add evidence

To add new evidence to the database:

1. Click the Add button below the evidence list will add a new evidence record to the evidence registry. The initial status of the evidence is set to Entered. If there is only one instantiation in the scope, Appraisal Assistant will automatic assign it as the instantiation of the new evidence.4.4. Edit evidence

To edit an evidence record:

1. Select the evidence record you want to edit by clicking on the evidences name in the evidence list

2. Select the Evidence detail information tab

3. Edit the evidence detail information from the edit boxes. You can use the Browse button to locate the evidence file. Once evidence is verified, the icon next to the evidence name will change to blue color in the evidence list. If the appraisal team decide to reject the evidence, they can simply remove it from the evidence registry

To avoid switching back and forth between tabs, you can edit the evidence name and instantiation directly from the evidence list at any time.

To edit an evidence name:

1. Select the evidence record from the Evidence List2. Click the Evidence column of the selected evidence, a edit box will be appeared3. Edit the evidence name To change an evidence instantiation:

1. Selected the evidence record from the Evidence List2. Click the Instantiation column of the selected evidence, an combo box with all the valid instantiations will be appeared

3. Selected the new instantiation.

4.5. Remove evidence

To remove an evidence record:

1. Select the evidence record you want to remove by clicking on the evidences name in the evidence list

2. Click the Delete button to remove the evidence record from the evidence registry. This action will also remove all PIIs that are related to the deleted evidence.4.6. Open the evidence

If an evidence record has valid document link (refer to an electronic document, web site, etc) and the computer has proper viewer program to view the file, you can open the evidence directly from Appraisal Assistant by double clicking on the evidence name.

4.7. Associate evidence to the model practices

Once the evidence is entered, the appraisal team can associate it to the model practices. Associating a piece of evidence to a model practice means the evidence or part of that evidence is an indicator of the model practice implementation (PII).To map the evidence to the model practices (add PII):

1. Select the evidence record you want to associate from the evidence list2. Select the Evidence to CMMI Practice Association tab

3. Locate the practice in the appraisal model

4. For single instantiation evidences, tick the checkbox next to the practice to associate the selected evidence record to the practice. 5. For Multiple instantiation evidences, tick the check box next to the instantiation to associate the evidence record to the practice-instance. 6. Set the indicator type. Once the evidence is associated with a practice, it become one of the practice implementation indicators (PII). By default, the program set the new indicator type to Not Allocated. To change the indicator type, click on the text to bring up the indicatory type selection list. Select the appropriate indicator type. The same evidence associated to different practices can be different type of indicator. 7. Characterize the nature of the evidence-practice association. You can specify whether the evidence indicates the strength, weakness or both of the implementation of the model practice of the instantiation. 4.8. Gather evidences by model practiceIf the appraisal team is unfamiliar with the CMMI appraisal model and unsure what evidences to look for, Appraisal Assistant allows you to gather evidences by model practices.

1. Select the Evidence to CMMI practice tab

2. Navigate the appraisal model hierarchy tree in the tab to locate the practice. The summary of the practice and example indicators will be displayed at the bottom edit box. Use this information to guild your evidence collecting activities.3. Select the INSTANTIATION node of which you are about to collect evidences.

4. Click the Add button to add a new evidence record entry for the selected practice. This newly added evidence record will be automatic associated to the selected practice and the evidence name is automatic activated for editing.

5. Enter the new name for the evidence, and specify the indicator type of the newly added PII

6. Repeat step 4, 5, and 6 until you have enough evidences collected for the selected practice.

To avoid new evidences being automatic associated to model practice, you can select node other than practice-instance nodes/evidence-practice (PII) nodes from the appraisal model hierarchy tree or deactivates the Evidence to CMMI practice tab.

4.9. Cut/Copy/Paste PIIs

Appraisal Assistant allows you to copy/cut/paste PII on the model hierarchy tree. You can use the shortcut key: Ctrl-X/C/V or the right-click Context menu to Cut/Copy/Paste PIIs. When copied from a practice level, goal level, or process area level node, the entire PII sub-tree is copied to the clipboard. Because PIIs are practice specific, Appraisal Assistant automatic enforce the following rules to ensure data integrity.Copy rules: when copy from a PROCESS AREA node, the entire PII hierarchy of that PA is copied

when copy from a GOAL node, the entire PII hierarchy of that goal is copied

when copy from a PRACTICE node, the list of related PIIs are copied

when copy from a INSTANCE node, the list of PIIs of this INSTANTIATION are copied

when copy from a PII node, that PII is copied

Paste rules: when PASTE a PII hierarchy copied from process area, only the generic dimension PIIs are pasted (specific dimension PIIs are also pasted if the user paste the hierarchy back to the SAME process area)

if the clipboard's PII hierarchy was copied from a SPECIFIC goal, only allow pasted back to the SAME goal of the SAME process area

if the clipboard's PII hierarchy was copied from a GENERIC goal, only allow pasted to the SAME generic goal of ANY process area

if the clipboard's PIIs were copied from a SPECIFIC practice, only allow pasted back to the SAME practice of the SAME process area

if the clipboard's PIIs were copied from a GENERIC practice, only allow pasted back to the SAME practice of ANY process area

if the clipboard's PII was copied/cut from a lone PII node, allow paste to anywhere on the hierarchy PII hierarchy copied from one appraisal model can NOT be pasted to elements of another model.Cut rules: PII can be CUT one by one, when a PII is cut, it is also copied to the clipboard.4.10. Cross-instantiation evidence notes

In CMMI appraisals, it is often the case that information gathered from an interview session covers more than one instantiations. Moreover, there are some document evidences such as organization-wide policy/strategy cover more than one instantiations. Besides the method mentioned in the previous section, you can also use the cross-instantiation evidence panel to record the PII notes. Comments entered through the Cross-instantiation evidence panel will be automatic added to the evidence registry of the appraisal project.

To add a cross-instantiation evidence1. Bring up the Cross-instantiation evidence panel

2. Click Add button to add a new evidence record.

3. Name the evidence record

To add PII notes to a practice of a project instantiation

1. Bring up the Cross-instantiation evidence panel2. Select the evidence from the evidence list

3. Locate the practice that is related to this PII comments

4. Click on the instantiation column of the interested practice

5. Enter the comment through the edit box at the bottom of the tab.6. Select the indicator type from the dropdown list7. Specify the characteristic of the notes from the dropdown listTo delete a cross-instantiation evidence1. Bring up the Cross-instantiation evidence panel2. Select the evidence record to be deleted

3. Click the Delete button to remove the interview and all related comments

4.11. Review evidence coverage

You can use the Model Practice Evidence Coverage tab to review the evidence coverage of any practice at any time during the appraisal.

The number of indicators of each instantiation associated to a practice is displayed as xx-yy-zz (ss), where xx is the number of direct artifacts, yy is the number of indirect artifacts, zz is the number of direct affirmations, ss is the total number of evidences of an instantiation that are associated to the practice. If some of the evidences have not been specified their indicator type, the total number of evidences does NOT equal to the sum of all indicators.

Red cell color indicates there is no evidence from that instantiation is associated to a practice. Pink cell color indicates there is at lease one evidences but the types of the PIIs are not specified. Orange cell color indicates there is one type of indicators. Yellow cell color indicates there are two types of indicators. Cyan cell color indicates there are three types of indicators. Gray cell color indicates the instantiation is irrelevant to the practice.The green tick indicates there is at least one affirmation in that row/column. The red cross indicates there is no affirmation in that row/column. The gray dot indicates the instantiation is irrelevant to the practices of that goal. The affirmation coverage is calculated in the same way as specified in SCAMPI A MDD. The blue triangle in the cell indicates there is at least one direct artifact from that instantiation is mapped to the model practice, the red triangle in the cell indicates there is NO direct artifact from that instantiation is associated to the practice.Appraisal Assistant also calculates the coverage of direct artifact in the Evidence to CMMI Practice Association tab. The icon with a blue triangle indicates there is at lease ONE direct artifact from this instantiation that can proof the implementation of the related model practice. The icon with a red triangle indicates there is NO direct artifact from this instantiation that can proof the implementation of the related model practice. 4.12. Evidence Summary Report

To help you understand the evidence coverage of the current appraisal project, Appraisal Assistant can generate an evidence summary report that summarizes relationships between the selected evidences and the model practices. You can also save this report to a RTF file.

Alternatively, you could press the F7 key in the evidence registry to locate PIIs that are related to the selected evidence.4.13. Instantiation practice characterization

To characterize a practice at the instantiation level with out leaving the evidence registry dialog box:

1. Select the Evidence to CMMI Practice Association tab

2. Left click on the characterization column of the instantiation will bring up a characterization dropdown list

3. Select the new characteristic of the instantiation practice from the dropdown list

4. Make comments on the implementation gaps between the model practice and practice implementation.

5. record the presence/absences of evidence5. CMMI Evidence database Export/Import

The purpose of these functions is to provide a mean to transfer evidence data between appraisal projects. This is different from reporting the PIID of the appraisal. If the organization unit collects evidences against the CMMI practice periodically, the appraisal team can uses these PII as the base for further investigation. 5.1. Export evidence databaseWhen exporting evidence database, you need to define the scope of the export, which process areas and process instantiations. Once set, all evidences related to the defined export scope and their relationships to the model elements are exported. You can view the PII database by open it in Microsoft Access.

5.2. Import evidence databaseWhen importing PIIs, only the model elements that are within the current appraisal scope will be imported. Appraisal Assistant automatic filters the evidences/PIIs that are outside the scope of the destination appraisal. The program logs all errors in the import.log file. Once finish importing, the new PIIs can be assessed through the evidence registry. Unlike importing mini-teams, the PII importing process does NOT check the possible evidence duplications. If the same PII database is imported more than once, there will be multiple copies of the same evidence and model practice associations in the evidence registry.

6. CMMI Model Practice characterization

6.1. Characterize practice implementation of the instantiation

You can characterize the instantiations implementation of the model practice in the Practice Characterization tab of the main window.

6.2. Characterize practice implementation of the organization unit

Once all instantiations that are associated to a practice are characterized, you can characterize the organization units implementation of the practice. Appraisal Assistant will use the user defined aggregation rule to calculate OU level characterization by aggregating instantiation level of practice characterizations. You can define your own aggregation rule through the rating scheme editor

To characterize a practices implementation:

1. Select the practice from the appraisal model at the left panel

2. Review all associated instantiations characterization

3. Review all associated evidences4. Select the practice characterization from the dropdown list of the combo box.

5. Edit the implementation gaps between the model practice and the practice implementation if it is not fully implemented

6. Enter any extra comments on the strength of the organization units model practice implementation (optional).

7. CMMI Goal rating

To rate a goal:

1. Select the goal from the appraisal model at the left panel

2. Review all practices characterization

3. Select the goal rating from the drop own list

4. Enter the observed weakness on the satisfaction of the goal.5. Enter the observed strength on the satisfaction of goal

8. CMMI Process area rating

To rate a process area:

1. Select the process area from the appraisal model at the left panel

2. Review all associated goal rating

3. Select the process area capability level from the drop down list, or4. Select the process area satisfaction from the drop down list

5. Enter the observed strength of the process area6. Enter the observed weakness of the process area

9. CMMI Organization unit maturity rating

Organization unit maturity rating tab will only be shown if the appraisal is a CMMI class A appraisal. To rate an organization units maturity:

1. Select the root node of the appraisal model at the left panel

2. Review all process areas capability rating against the CMMI stage equivalent table

3. Select a maturity rating for the organization unit from the drop down list

4. Edit the organization unit maturity rating observation10. Review CMMI appraisal results

Appraisal assistant displays the summary of the appraisal results in the model hierarchy tree at the left panel. The detail of the appraisal results are displayed in the Appraisal Result tab. You can use the check box below each chart to toggle between show/hide the practice characterizations. 11. CMMI - ISO15504 Profiler

Appraisal assistant is capable of generating an ISO 15504 process profile from a CMMI appraisal. The generated process profile uses ISO 12207 AMD 1&2 as the process performance dimension, ISO 15504-2 as the capability dimension. The relationships between CMMI and ISO 12207/ISO15504-2 model elements are established through the Standard Appraisal Model Editor. When generating the ISO15504 process profile, all evidences are associated to their potentially related process outcomes/attribute achievements.

The generated ISO 15504 process profile will be presented in the following resizable dialog box:

On the left of the dialog box, there is a list of ISO 12207 processes that are mapped to the CMMI process areas within the current CMMI appraisal scope. The icon indicates there is at lease one outcome of that process does NOT have evidence. The icon indicates all process outcomes have one or more evidence associated to.

On the right hand side of the dialog box, there is a series of tabs for the process attributes of the selected process. The assessor needs to rate all these process attribute achievements. The process attributes that are out of the appraisal scope can be left as Not Rated.

Evidences associated to the process attributes are grouped by process outcomes (at PA 1.1) or process attributes achievements (at PA 2.1 or above). You should perform a review on these evidence associations. Uncheck the check box next to the evidence item to remove the evidence from a process outcome/achievement. Click the Delete Unchecked button will remove unchecked evidence from the outcome/achievement. The profiler does NOT allow adding new evidence associations to the outcome/achievement. To reset the initial set of evidence association, click the Reset Evidences button. If an ISO15504 model element does not have corresponding elements in CMMI model, you will need to manually add PII to this model element by using the Add PII or Add OoS Evidence (for evidences that are not in the current CMMI appraisal). If the CMMI appraisal scope is changed (i.e. add/remove process area, evidences) after the ISO 15504 process profile is created, the ISO 15504 profile will not be changed automatically. The user can click the Reset Profile button to reset the entire ISO 15504 process profile at any time. Doing so will also reset all evidence associations. All previous changes made by the appraiser will be lost.

12. CMMI - ISO9001 Profiler

Appraisal assistant is capable of generating an ISO 9001 profile from a CMMI appraisal. The relationships between CMMI and ISO9001 model elements are established through the Model Mapping Manager. Evidences collected during the CMMI appraisal are related to the corresponding ISO9001 requirements.

On the left of the dialog box, there is a list of all ISO 9001 clauses. The icon indicates organization unit FAILED on this clause. The icon indicates the organization unit PASSED on this clause. The content of the selected clause will be displayed on the main view of the dialog boxEach requirement of the selected clause is displayed as a small blue panel. Related evidences are list in the list control of each panel. You need to perform a review to remove all un-related evidence of each requirement of each clause. When you select a practice or evidence node on the list, the related comments you entered during the CMMI appraisal will appear on the READONLY edit box on the right.If the CMMI appraisal scope is changed (i.e. add/remove process area, evidences) after the ISO 9001 profile is created, the ISO 9001 profile will not be automatic updated reflect the latest CMMI appraisal changes. The user can click the Reset Profile button to reset the entire ISO 9001 profile at any time. Doing so will also reset all evidence associations. All previous changes made by the use will also be lost.

13. CMMI Report Generation

Appraisal assistant can export appraisal data to six types of report for CMMI appraisals: - Strength/improvement opportunities report

- Appraisal disclosure statement

- Finding summary report- Goal rating template- Practice Implementation Indicator Description. - Evidence to practice mapping report

Reports are in RTF or XML spreadsheet format. These reports are NOT intended to be used as is. The main purpose of these reports is to provide enough data for the appraisal team to compile the final reports. The data in the generated reports are raw data, which means they are not sanitized.

The various charts in the Appraisal Result tab can be saved individually. All charts are saved in bitmap format. If the current CMMI appraisal uses continuous representation, and the rating scheme allows process area capability level rating, the user can save the staged equivalent table chart on the Organization Unit tab.

The Strength/weakness report will attempt to summarize the strength and weakness from the process area rating, goal rating and practice characterization. Again, the purpose of this function is to provide a foundation for summarizing strengths and weaknesses of each process area. The result by no mean is final. The appraisal team needs carefully review the report and make any correction if necessary.

The CMMI appraisals ISO15504 process profile report can be generated through the ISO15504 profiler dialog box. 14. ISO15504-5 Assessment ProjectsOnce an assessment project is created, you can customize the assessment scope and assessment team through the Project Setup tab.

14.1. Customize assessment scope

To add an instantiation to the assessment project:

1. Click the Add Instantiation button, an empty instantiation will be added to the assessment project

2. Enter the appraisal name in the name edit box

3. Comments on the rationales of selecting the instantiation

To remove an instantiation from the assessment project, click the Delete button next to the instantiation you want to remove.

To add ISO15504-5 process to the assessment project:

1. Click the Add button below the process list

2. Select the process from the pop-up dialog box. You can select as many process areas as you want. Only those processes that are not already in the appraisal project will be listed in the dialog box. Once new processes are added, the assessment model hierarchy tree will be updated.

To change a processs target assessment capability level:

1. Move the mouse pointer over the process you want to change

2. The capability level dropdown list will appear

3. Select the new target capability level for the process area from the dropdown list

To remove a process from the assessment project;

1. Select the process you want to remove by clicking on the process name

2. Click the Delete button will remove the high-lighted process from the assessment project

14.2. Customize Assessment Team

To add a person to the assessment project, click the Add button will bring up the user list. Select as many users as you needed from the list. By default, all new authorized personnel are team member.

To change a team members role in the assessment project:

1. Move the mouse pointer over the users role, a role dropdown list will appear

2. Select the new role for the user from the dropdown list.

15. Evidence Registry in ISO15504 assessment

Appraisal Assistant creates one evidence registry for each assessment project. Each evidence record can be associated to one or more assessment indicators. The evidences are automatic associated to process outcome/attribute achievement according to the standard assessment models indicator to outcome/achievement relationships. You can not associate a piece of evidence to a process outcome/attribute achievement without first association that piece of evidence to the appropriate assessment indicators. You interact with the evidence registry through the evidence registry dialog box.

There are three ways of putting evidences into the registry:

1. Collect the initial evidences using spreadsheets and import them into the database

2. Import the list of documents

3. Using the evidence registry dialog box to enter them one by one

15.1. Collect initial ISO15504 evidences using spreadsheet

You can use spreadsheets to collect initial evidences then imported them into the evidence database. Once you finished setup the assessment scope, you can let the Appraisal Assistant create empty spreadsheets which contains all assessment indicators that are within the current assessment scope (Evidence -> Initial Evidence Collection Spreadsheet). Appraisal assistant will create one spreadsheet for each instantiation within the assessment scope.

The evidence name is the only required data. All other columns are optional. If there are more than one evidences mapped to the same indicator, you need to add more rows under the indicator. When importing these data, Appraisal Assistant checks both the evidence name and document link column, if there is an existing row that uses the same name string AND linked to the same document/URL, Appraisal Assistant considers them as the same evidence being associated to multiple assessment indicators. This is essential for reducing the number of evidence entries in the database. Evidences that are mapped to a specific work product on the performance dimension will be automatic mapped to the corresponding generic work product in the same process.

In the above picture, evd 1 is mapped to ENG.1/02-01 and ENG.1/13-00 and all 13-00 in the PA2.1 and above of ENG.1. Evd 2 is mapped to ENG.1/02-01.To import the evidences you collected on these spreadsheets, you need to export them into a Tab delimited text file, and then use the Import Initial Evidence option on the Evidence menu.15.2. Import a list of documents

You can import a list of document evidences to the evidence registry by using the Import List button. This is different from Collect initial ISO15504 evidences using spreadsheet (see 16.1) feature. The evidences imported here are NOT mapped to any of the assessment indicators. This evidence list can be obtained from the organization units document database or through listing the file folder. The document list file MUST follow this format:

k) the file is a plain text file

l) the 1st row must be this string: List of Document Evidencesm) the 2nd row is for table titles, and does not contains real data

n) there must be 5 columns in each row (besides the 1st row)

o) there must be a TAB key separated each column (4 tab each row)

p) the 1st column is Instantiation, the instantiation name string

q) the 2nd column is Evidence name, the evidence name

r) the 3rd column is Document link, the link to the actual evidence

s) the 4th column is Document source, the person/OU that provides this evidence

t) the 5th column is description, a short description of the evidence (one liner).

Only the 1st and the 2nd column are compulsory, though providing the document link will greatly reduce the chance of duplication. Import an incorrect formatted text file will crash the application. You can use the included DocumentList.xls to assist your data collection.

15.3. Add evidence

To add new evidence to the database:

1. Click the Add button below the evidence list will add a new evidence record to the evidence registry. The initial status of the evidence is set to Entered

15.4. Edit evidence

To edit an evidence record:

1. Select the evidence record you want to edit by clicking on the evidences name in the evidence list

2. Select the Evidence detail information tab

3. Edit the evidence detail information from the edit boxes. You can use the Browse button to locate the file or type in the address directly in the edit box. Once evidence is verified, the icon next to the evidence name will change to blue color on the evidence list. If the assessment team decide to reject the evidence, they can simply remove it from the evidence registry

To avoid switching back and forth between tabs, you can edit the evidence name and instantiation directly from the evidence list at any time.

To edit an evidence name:

1. Select the evidence record from the Evidence List

2. Click on the Evidence column of the selected evidence, a edit box will be appeared3. Edit the evidence nameTo change and evidence instantiation:

1. Selected the evidence record from the Evidence List2. Click on the Instantiation column of the selected evidence, an combo box with all the valid instantiation will be appeared

3. Selected the new instantiation.

15.5. Delete evidence

To remove an evidence record:

1. Select the evidence record you want to remove by clicking on the evidences name in the evidence list

2. Click the Delete button to remove the evidence record from the evidence registry

15.6. Associate evidence to assessment indicators

You can associate one piece of evidence to one or more assessment indicators. By doing so, you indicate that evidence or part of that evidence is indicating the achievement of the process attribute.

For example, you associate the software requirement specification to the work product indicator 20-11 Software Requirement of ENG.4-PA1.1 because certain part of that document exhibit the same characteristics as work product 20-11 is defined in the ISO15504-5. In other words, you are considering this software requirement specification an evidence of the achievement (either positively or negatively) of the PA1.1 performance attribute of ENG.4 process.

If the evidence is associated to a specific work product indicator, the Appraisal Assistant will automatic associate this evidence to the generic work product indicators within the same process.

To associate the evidence to the assessment indicator through the evidence registry dialog box:

1. Select the evidence record you want to associate

2. Select the Evidence to Assessment Indicator tab

3. Locate the indicator in the appraisal model

4. Tick the checkbox next to the indicator to associate the selected evidence record to the assessment indicator. The evidence is now added to the Assessment Model Hierarchy. Each piece of evidence can be associated to multiple indicators. 5. Click on the characteristic column of the evidence to characterize the nature of the mapping6. To make comment on why is the evidence indicating the achievement of a process attribute, you need to select the evidence from the Assessment Model Hierarchy then enter the comment in the Evidence-Indicator Comment edit box.

Appraisal Assistant automatic associates the selected evidence to the process outcomes/attribute achievements by looking up the indicator to outcome mapping table. If the evidence is disassociated from an indicator, the process outcome/attribute achievements evidence associations will also be updated.

15.7. Review evidence coverage

When you associate evidences to the indicators, the program will automatic associate these evidences to the process outcomes/attribute achievements. Since the process attribute ratings are mainly based on the satisfactions of process outcomes and attribution achievements, you need to ensure they have enough evidences associated for making a judgement. You can use the process attribute tab of the main window or use the Outcomes/Attribute Achievements Evidence Coverage tab on the evidence registry to review the evidence coverage.

The meanings of the numbers are displayed at the top of the tab. They may look different if you had edited the standard assessment model and alter the standard indicator types. The red cells highlight the outcomes/achievements that have zero evidence. The edit box at the bottom of the tab shows the indicators that are related to the selected model element.

15.8. Gather evidence by assessment indicators

If the assessment team does not familiar with the ISO15504-5 assessment model, you can collect evidence by the assessment indicators.

To gather evidence by assessment indicators:

1. Select the Evidence to Assessment Indicator tab

2. Navigate the assessment model hierarchy tree in the tab to locate the assessment indicator

3. Select the indicator which you are about to collect evidence for. The summary of the indicator will be displayed at the right hand side edit box. Use them to guild your evidence collecting activities.

4. Click the Add button to add a new evidence record for the selected indicator. This newly added evidence record will be automatic associated to the selected assessment indicator and the evidence name is automatic activated for editing. The model tree hierarchy will also be automatic updated.

5. Enter the new name for the evidence

6. Specify the process instantiation of the evidence. 7. Characterize how the evidence is mapped to the assessment indicator8. Enter evidence related comments9. Repeat step 5, 6 and 7 until you have enough evidences collected for the selected assessment indicator.

To avoid new evidences being automatic associated to assessment indicators when clicking the Add button, you can avoid selecting indicators from the appraisal model hierarchy tree or deactivates the Evidence to Assessment Indicators tab.

16. ISO15504 Process Outcome/Achievement Evidences16.1. Review evidence to outcome/achievement mappingsOnce the evidences are associated to the indicators, they are automatic mapped to the process outcomes/attribute achievements. These associations are presented in the Process Attribute tabs. They are grouped by process outcomes/attribute achievements. If you selected the default SPICE A/B or SPICE B method, the evidences are also grouped by the relevant practice indicators. You need to decide whether these automatic associations are appropriate.

To remove an evidence association from the process outcome/attribute achievement:

1. Clear the check box next to the evidence name in the outcome/achievement panel

2. Click the Delete Unchecked button will remove ALL unchecked evidence associations from this process outcome/attribute achievement.

To reset the evidence association back to the default status, click the Reset All Evidences button. Doing so will also reset all evidence association type back to Not Assigned. You can NOT add new evidence to a process outcome/attribute achievement without first mapping this evidence to the appropriate assessment indicators.

16.2. Decide evidence association characteristic (Optional)

When a piece of evidence is associated to a process outcome/attribute achievement, it can be either associated as strength, weakness or both. By default, the association characteristic is the same as how the evidence related to the assessment indicators. Occasionally, some evidences might be strength on one outcome and weakness on others.

To change the association characteristic, click on the Characteristic column of the Related Evidence list box, and then select the new characteristic from the combo box.

You can comment on the characteristic of the evidence by making notes in the evidence to outcome comment edit box.

16.3. Characterize process outcome / process attribute achievement (Optional)

If the selected assessment method is SPICE A or SPICE A/B, Appraisal Assistant allows you to characterize the satisfaction of each process outcome/attribute achievement and record observations. These are optional characterizations and can be used for rating the process attribute later in the assessment.

17. ISO15504 Process Attribute Rating

Rating the PA is mandated in ISO15504 assessment methods. You can rate a process attributes achievement by selecting the appropriate rating from the combo box. You can record any observed strength and weakness related to the process attribute in the two edit boxes below. These strength and weakness will be automatic aggregated on the process level.

18. ISO15504 Process Capability Rating

Process capability rating is automatic calculated from the process attribute ratings according to the rules of the ISO15504-2. You can record any process findings/observations in the bottom edit box.

19. Review ISO15504 Assessment Results

The capability profile tab consists of three types of charts: 1. Process attribute profile charts

2. Process capability profile charts

3. Average process attribute score charts per process category. This chart is calculated as:

20. ISO15504 Assessment Reporting

Appraisal assistant can export assessment data to three kind of report: strength/weakness report, assessment record, and finding summary report. All reports are in RTF format. These reports are NOT intended to be used as is. The main purpose of these reports is to provide enough data for the assessment team to compile the final reports. The data in the generated reports are raw data, which means they are not sanitized.

The strength/weakness report will attempt summarize the strength and weakness of each process by aggregating the strength and weakness of the process attributes. The result by no mean is final. The appraisal team needs carefully review the report and make any correction if necessary.

When exporting the assessment record report, Appraisal Assistant will also export two process profile charts. These charts are in BMP format. They will be saved at the same location/folder as the finding summary report.

21. Mini-team management

Appraisal Assistant supports the multiple mini-teams appraisals. Once you defined the appraisal scope and the list of team member of each mini-team, the program generates a database for each mini-team. A mini team database is essentially an organization database with one appraisal project. These mini team databases can be merged back to the main appraisal project by using the import mini-team function.

The maximum number of evidences allowed for each mini-team database is 390,000, and the maximum number of mini-teams allowed is 5,400. You can NOT further divide the mini-team by exporting more child mini-team databases from a mini-team database, nor can you merge 2 mini-team databases.

21.1. Export mini-team database

When exporting database, all current instantiations, evidence types, evidence records, and all PIIs within the mini-teams scope are exported.

To export a min-team database:

1. Bring up the export mini-team dialog box by selecting Export mini teams from the appraisal menu

2. Click the New Mini-team to create a mini-team configuration panel

3. Enter the name of the mini team at the name edit box, this name must be a unique string, it must NOT contains special characters such as \ and /. This string will be used as part of the mini-team database file name.

4. Assign process areas for the mini-team by clicking the Add Process button. You can select multiple process areas from the popup dialog box. Usually mini-teams are divided by the process areas.

5. Assign team member for the mini-team. Only those who are already in the parent appraisal team can be assigned to mini-teams.

6. Specify the output location7. Click the OK button to generate mini-team database.

You can repeat this process any time you want. You must ensure all min-team name strings are unique.

21.2. Import mini-team database

To import a mini-team database, you need to make sure the current opened appraisal project is the one that exports the mini-team. If not, select the correct appraisal project from the project list of the organization tab on the left panel.

It is possible that the users in different mini-teams modified the same parent database record, or the same piece of evidence is entered in multiple mini-team databases. When the conflict or possible duplicated database records are found during the importing process, Appraisal assistant will ask you to choose the preferred import function, by either:

Keeping the original record of the parent database, or Letting the record of the mini-team override the original, or Creating a new record in the parent database for the record of the mini-team.

The following example illustrates the behaviour of these options. In the example, both Evid 1 and Evid 2 are referring to the same piece of evidence. They are associated to different model practices.

The mini-team importing process is essentially merging the mini-team database records back to the parent database. If a mini-team removed one of the records that is inherited from the parent database (delete a parent evidence record, disassociate a parent evidence record from a model practice, etc), the deleted database record still exists in the parent database after importing the mini-team because the parent database is unaware of the deleting action. By default, the program only imports database fields that are modified by the mini team.

Importing a mini-team database changes the parent database records, there MUST BE a review process to verify the correctness of all records once all data are imported.

To import a mini-team database:

1. Select the Import mini team from the Appraisal menu

2. Locate the mini-team database

3. If the program discovers any possible duplicated record between the current appraisal and the mini-team database, you will be asked to specify how the program should respond. Any discrepancies between these possible duplicated records will be highlighted in red text.

When importing mini teams, Appraisal Assistant will ask you to specify the default importing action. By default, the program will prompt you to select the import action when it detects differences between the parent project record and the mini team record. The 2nd and 3rd option will stop the Appraisal Assistant from asking any more questions when importing the mini team.

If the option Cleanup parent PIIs that were deleted by this mini team is enabled, after databases are merged, the program deletes PIIs that were deleted by the mini team.

You can review the differences between the current parent database records and their corresponding mini team records before importing. The differences between corresponding record pairs are highlighted in red text. The current parent database records are listed on the left column and the mini team records are on the right. The generated report is a XML spreadsheet. It can be opened by Microsoft Excel 2002.

22. User Management

An administrator can create new user, delete user, and edit any user account. A normal user (limited account) can edit his /her user account. To simplify the user administration on multiple copies of Appraisal Assistant, the program allows the administrator to export the list of user to a plain text file. Other copies of Appraisal Assistant can create a batch of user accounts by importing this user list file. All imported user accounts will be set to limited account initially. Their initial passwords are the same as their login name.

22.1. Add User

To add a new user, log on to Appraisal Assistant as an administrator. Select user manager from the Maintenance menu.

Click the New button will bring up the new user dialog box:

There are two types of user accounts: administrators are those who manage the application and create new organization profile. Normal user accounts are limited account. At this point, limited user can access to all features of Appraisal Assistant except creating the organization profile. (it is likely to be changed in the future releases)22.2. Delete User

To disallow a user using your copy of Appraisal Assistant, you need to remove the user account from the database. To do so, select a user from the user list, and then click the Delete button will delete the selected user from the database.

22.3. Edit user

Select a user from the user list, click the Edit button will bring up the edit user dialog box:

The login name of the user account is not changeable as it is used by the database as the primary key of the user account. You can change your password by bring up the change password dialog box:

23. Standard Appraisal Model Management

The standard appraisal model in Appraisal Assistant is highly customizable. Appraisal Assistant supports two standard appraisal model frameworks: CMMI and ISO15504-2.

Any changes made to the standard appraisal model will not affect the existing appraisal projects. The standard appraisal model repository only keeps the latest version of the model. To access the standard appraisal model manager, log on to Appraisal Assistant, select Standard Appraisal Model Editor from the Maintenance menu. All standard appraisal models are listed at the top of the editor. The current selected model is highlighted in black color with bold font. To select a different standard model, double click on the model list or select an item and click the Select button.

You can remove a standard model from the repository by selecting it from the model list then click the Delete Model button.In Appraisal Assistant, standard appraisal model have two dimensions: process specific and generic (process dimension and capability dimension in ISO15504 models). Model elements of the generic dimension apply to all processes. Model elements are arranged in tree hierarchies in both dimensions. The controls in the standard appraisal model editors are enable/disable depending on what model element is currently selected on the tree hierarchy.23.1. Add a standard CMMI constellation

To Add a CMMI constellation:

1. Click the Add Model button

2. Select CMMI from the Framework dropdown list

3. Specify the highest CL level of this model

4. Name the standard model and acronym

5. Enable the Import Basic Generic Dimension Model Element if your new constellation uses the same generic dimension as CMMI v1.1. Clear this option if you want to define your own generic dimension.

6. Click OK to add a new CMMI constellation to the repository

To Rename a CMMI constellation:

1. Select the root node of from the hierarchy tree

2. Change the acronym, or name of the constellation from the main window23.2. Customize process category categoryYou can specify different process categories for each constellation. By default, any new CMMI constellation comes with: Process Management, Project Management, Engineering, and Support category.

23.3. Customize CMMI process area

To Add a CMMI process area, click the Add Process button

To Edit a CMMI process area1. Select the process area from the model tree hierarchy

2. Specify the acronym and name for the new process area

3. Select process category group from the dropdown list

4. Select Maturity Level from the dropdown list. If the process area is NOT meant to be used in the STAGED representation appraisal, do not specify the ML.

5. Specify the purpose and additional summary comment for the new process area. 2000 letter maximum each.23.4. Customize CMMI goal

To Add a CMMI SPECIFIC goal

1. Activate the Specific Dimension tab2. Select the process area of the goal belongs to

3. Click the Add Goal button to add a new specific goal to the process area

To Add a CMMI GENERIC goal

1. Activate the Generic Dimension tab

2. Click the Add Goal button to add a new generic goal to the generic dimension.

To Edit a CMMI goal

1. Select the goal from the model hierarchy

2. Specify the acronym, name and a short summary for the goal23.5. Customize CMMI practice

To Add a CMMI practice1. Select the goal of the practice belongs to from the model hierarchy

2. Click the Add Practice button to add a new practice to the goal

To Edit a CMMI practice

1. Select the practice from the model hierarchy

2. Specify the acronym, name of the practice

3. The Summary of the practice is the highlighted text on the standard CMMI model, just below the practice name. This is the message shows up on every CMMI practice tab when doing the characterization.

4. The Purpose of the practice are the sub practice, or a short description of the practices appraisal consideration5. Specify the capability level of the practice, this is a mandated field. Appraisal Assistant needs to know the CL of a practice when generating initial appraisal model for a staged representation appraisal.

6. Clear the Practice Include in Staged Representation will prevent this practice being used in a staged representation appraisal.

To Add example work product or indicator to the practice

1. Select the practice from the model hierarchy

2. Click Add Exp. DA to add a example direct artifact, or

3. Click Add Exp. IA to add a example Indirect artifact

4. Name the artifact23.6. Add a standard ISO15504 model

To Add an ISO15504 model:

1. Click the Add Model button

2. Select ISO15504 from the Framework dropdown list

3. Specify the highest CL level of this model

4. Name the standard model and acronym

5. Enable the Import Basic Generic Dimension Model Element if your new model uses the same generic dimension as ISO15504-5. Clear this option if you want to define your own generic dimension.

6. Click OK to add a new ISO15504 model to the repository

To Rename an ISO15504 model:

1. Select the root node of from the hierarchy tree

2. Change the acronym, or name of the model from the main window

23.7. Establish ISO15504 work product repository

Work products in ISO15504 models are structurally stored in a hierarchy. Entering work product in the repository should be finished before entering any other model elements.

To Open the work product editor:

1. Select the ISO15504 model from the model list

2. Click the WP Editor button to bring up the work product editor dialog box

Click Add Generic Work Product button to add a generic work product

To Add a Specific work product1. Select the Generic work product from the tree hierarchy

2. Click Add Specific Work Product button to add a specific work product23.8. Customize process category

You can specify different process categories for each standard model. By default, a new ISO15504 model comes with: Acquisition, Supply, Engineering, Operation, Support, Management, Process Improvement, Resource and Infrastructure, and Reuse.23.9. Customize ISO15504 process

Click the Add Process button to Add an ISO15504 process

To Edit an ISO15504 process1. Select the process from the model hierarchy

2. Specify the acronym and name for the process

3. Select category group from the dropdown list

4. Specify the purpose and additional summary comment for the new process. 2000 letter maximum each.

To Add an ISO15504 process outcome

1. Select the process from the model hierarchy

2. Click the Add Outcome button to add a new outcome to the process23.10. Customize ISO15504 process attributeTo Add an ISO15504 process attribute

1. Activate the Generic dimension tab

2. Click the Add Attribute button to add a process attribute to the capability dimension

To Add an ISO15504 attribute achievement

1. Select the process attribute from the model hierarchy

2. Click the Add Outcome button to add an achievement to the process attribute23.11. Customize ISO15504 assessment indicator

There are three types of assessment indicators in a ISO15504 model: practice indicator, work product indicator, and the resource indicator.

To Add an ISO15504 base practice indicator:1. Select the process of the indicator belongs to

2. Click the Add Practice button to add a practice assessment indicator

To Add an ISO15504 generic practice indicator:

1. Select the process attribute of the indicator belongs to

2. Click the Add Practice button to add a generic practice assessment indicator

To Add an ISO15504 work product indicator:

1. Select the process of the indicator belongs to

2. Click the Add WP button will bring up the work product selection dialog box3. Double click on the list item to choose a work product for the indicator

To Add an ISO15504 generic work product indicator:

1. Select the process attribute of the indicator belongs to

2. Click the Add WP button will bring up the work product selection dialog box3. Double click on the list item to choose a generic work product for the indicator

To Add an ISO15504 generic resource indicator:

1. Select the process attribute of the indicator belongs to

2. Click the Add Resource button to add a generic resource assessment indicator

As required in ISO15504-2, PAM indicators need to be explicitly mapped to process outcomes and attribute achievements. To Map an indicator to outcome/achievement:

1. Select the assessment indicator

2. Tick the process outcome item on the list control on the main window. Clear the check box will remove the mapping between the indicator and the outcome/achievement.23.12. Standard ISO 9001 Profile editor

The standard ISO9001 model editor can be accessed through Maintenance menu. In Appraisal Assistant, there are two types of ISO9001 model elements: Clause and Requirement. The program considers the shall statements of ISO9001 as requirement and the one level above in the standard document as clause..

23.13. Manage CMMI to ISO9001/ISO15504 MappingsThe Model Mapping Manager allows you to establish mappings between any CMMI constellation and ISO15504 model. It also manages ISO9001 to CMMI constellation mappings. A CMMI to ISO15504 mapping maps CMMI practices to an ISO15504 process outcome or attribute achievement. An ISO9001 to CMMI mapping maps ISO9001 requirements to CMMI practices.These mappings are the keys to create an ISO15504/ISO9001 process profile from a CMMI appraisal. You can create more than one set of mapping between the same pair of models. When converting from a CMMI appraisal to ISO15504/ISO9001, Appraisal Assistant will ask you to select the preferred mapping set.

The Model Mapping Manager can be accessed under the Maintenance menu.

To define a new mapping set

1. Click the New Mapping Set button

2. Name the mapping set. Once the mapping set is added, there is no way of changing the mapping sets name and acronym at this version. (unless you want to play around with the database table in MS Access)

3. Select the source model and the destination model from the dropdown lists. A mapping set can be mapping between ISO9001 and any CMMI constellation, or between CMMI constellation and any ISO15504 model

4. Click OK button

To map a CMMI practice to ISO15504 model

1. Select the CMMI practice on the tree hierarchy on the left

2. Locate the ISO15504 model element from the tree hierarchy on the right

3. Tick the destination model element, clear the check box will remove the mapping between the CMMI practice and that ISO15504 model element

To map a ISO9001 requirement to CMMI practice

1. Select the ISO9001 quality requirement from the tree hierarchy on the left

2. Locate the CMMI practice from the tree hierarchy on the right

3. Tick the CMMI practice, clear the check box will remove the mapping between the ISO9001 requirement and that CMMI practice.

To show all model elements that are mapped to the CMMI practice, select the CMMI practice and press F7. To review the mapping, click the report button to generate a XML spreadsheet with all the established mappings.24. Appraisal Method Rating Scheme Management

Appraisal Assistant allows you to customize the rating schemes for different appraisal methods through the appraisal method rating scheme editor. You can also customize the instantiation to OU aggregation rules and practice to goal aggregation rules for CMMI appraisal rating schemes.24.1. New appraisal method

To create a new rating scheme for an appraisal method:

1. select the intended appraisal model type, CMMI or ISO15504, from the radio buttons

2. click the Add Method button

3. click on the new methods name column

4. enter the name for the method

24.2. Delete appraisal method

To delete a rating scheme from the method repository:

1. select the intended appraisal model type from the radio buttons

2. select the method about to be removed from the tree structure

3. click the Delete button to remove the rating scheme

24.3. Add rating scale

To add a rating scale for a rating option:

1. enable the rating option if necessary

2. click the Add Scale to add a rating scale

You can not add or remove ISO 15504 process attribute rating scales because they are required by the standard.

24.4. Delete rating scale

To delete a rating scale:

1. select the rating scale about to be removed

2. click the Delete button to remove the selected rating scale from the list

24.5. Edit rating scaleTo rename a rating scale:

1. click on the name column of a rating scale to bring up the edit box

2. click on the edit box to set input focus

3. enter the new name for the rating scale

To change the Score value of a rating scale:

1. click on the Ref value column of the rating scale to bring up the edit box

2. click on the edit box to set input focus

3. enter the new score value for a rating scale

The rating scale score are used by the application to:

Determine the level of achievement/satisfaction of any given rating. The application also uses this value to sort the appearance order of the rating scale on the main user interface. Calculate the average practice score per process category

Calculate the average process attribute score per process groupTo change the display color of a rating scale:

1. click the color column of the rating scale to bring up the combo box

2. select the new color from the combo box.

Appraisal Assistant will use this color to display the rating on the main user interface. There are ten pre-defined colors to choose from.CMMI characterization aggregation rules are automatic reset once you added or removed a rating scale from the scheme. The aggregation rule defines a set of OU characterization from a certain combination of instantiation characterization. Each rating scale can be Included (1), Excluded (0), OR Disregard (0/1). A complete aggregation rule set will exhaust all possible instantiation level characterization combination. Appraisal Assistant will works even if the aggregation set is not complete.

In this screenshot, rule_0 indicates if we have at least ONE FI, regardless any number of NY, and NO other characterization on instantiation level, it should recommend a FI on the OU level. Rule_1 indicates if we have any number of NY, any number of FI, and at least ONE LI, it should recommend a LI on the OU level.To customize aggregation rule1. Open the rule editor

2. Click Add Rule button to add an empty rule3. Click on the cell of the rule will bring up a dropdown list, select 1, or 0, or 0/1 to include/exclude/ignore that respective rating scale in this rule. 25. Compacting the database

Appraisal assistant uses Microsoft Jet database engine to manage the data. The organization database is in Microsoft Access format. The high volume add/remove/insert actions from Appraisal Assistant will lead to fragmentation of the internal data structure over time. You can reclaim much of the hard disk space by compact the database. To enable automatic database compact:

1. go to the maintenance menu

2. select Compact Organization Database when closing, you will notice a small check mark now appears next to the menu item. Click on the option again will disable the automatic compactingWith this option enabled, when an organization database is closed (open/new another organization database, exit the application etc), Appraisal Assistant will rename the current database to organization name_current time.opf while the compacted database uses the old file name.When Appraisal Assistant is started, this option will be turned off by default. You do not need to compact the database every time the organization database is closed. Unlike other database applications, Appraisal Assistant does not query the database in run time, thus a fragmentized database does not have performance penalties except the hard disk space.

Appendix A: CMMI Evidence Registry Quick Reference

391

_1156492478.vsd

Parent Database

Evid 1

Model Practice 1

Mini Team database

Evid 2

Model Practice 2

Same Evidence

Parent Database after importing

Evid 2

Model Practice 1

Model Practice 2

Import Option 2

_1235848826.unknown

_1156492499.vsd

Parent Database

Evid 1

Model Practice 1

Mini Team database

Evid 2

Model Practice 2

Same Evidence

Parent Database after importing

Evid 2

Model Practice 1

Model Practice 2

Import Option 3

Evid 1

_1156492460.vsd

Parent Database

Evid 1

Model Practice 1

Mini Team database

Evid 2

Model Practice 2

Same Evidence

Parent Database after importing

Evid 1

Model Practice 1

Model Practice 2

Import Option 1