PIM.3 Process Improvement#
The purpose is to continually improve the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency through the processes used and ensure alignment of the processes with the business needs.
Process outcomes#
Commitment is established to provide resources to sustain improvement measures.
Issues arising from the organization’s internal or external environment are identified as improvement opportunities and justified as reasons for change.
Analysis of the current status of the existing process is performed.
Improvement goals are identified and prioritized, and consequent changes to the process are defined, documented and implemented.
The effects of process implementation are monitored, measured and confirmed against the identified improvement goals.
Knowledge gained from the improvement is communicated within the organization.
Base practices#
PIM.3.BP1: Establish commitment
|
status: valid
|
||||
Establish commitment to support the process improvement staff, to provide resources and further enablers to sustain improvement actions. Note The process improvement process is a generic process, which can be used at all levels (e.g, organizational level, process level, project level, etc.) and which can be used to improve all processes. Note Commitment at all levels of management may support process improvement. Note Enablers for improvement measures may include trainings, methods, infrastructure, etc. |
|||||
PIM.3.BP2: Identify improvement measures
|
status: valid
|
||||
Identify issues from the analysis of process performance and derive improvement opportunities with justified reasons for change.
Note
Analysis may include problem report trend analysis (see SUP.9), analysis from Quality Assurance and Verification results and records (see SUP.1), validation results and records, and product quality metrics like defect rate.
Note
Issues and improvement suggestions may be addressed by the customer.
Note
Sources for identification of issues may include: process assessment results, audits, customer’s satisfaction reports, measurements of organizational effectiveness/efficiency, costs of quality.
Analyze the current status of the existing processes and establish improvement goals.
Note
The current status of processes may be determined by process assessment.
Prioritize the improvement goals and improvement measures.
Process improvement measures are defined.
Note
Improvements may be documented in incremental steps.
Implement and apply the improvements to the processes. Update the Process documentation and train people as needed.
Note
Process application can be supported by establishing policies, adequate process infrastructure, process training, process coaching and tailoring processes to local needs.
Note
Improvements may be piloted before roll out within the organization.
The effects of process implementation are monitored and measured, and the achievement of defined improvement goals is confirmed.
Knowledge gained from the improvements and progress of the improvement implementation is communicated to affected parties.