How do we apply TS and PI to a pure testing environment?

We provide a pure testing service for one of our clients and we are wondering how to apply TS and PI to these activities.

We are going for CMMI Re-Appraisal (Level 3) during the last part of this month and our Lead Appraiser has clearly said that all process areas, except SAM and those at the organizational level are applicable to even these projects. He wants us to map the direct & indirect evidence against the SP's for TS and PI in the PIID sheet for these two projects.

How does one do that for a projects that is just Testing projects?

Excellent question!  The CMMI, especially the PA's Technical Solutions and Product Integration, are steeped in the language of software development, and it's not always obvious how these might apply to another discipline, such as testing (or paper clip distribution for that matter!)

But first I must digress.  SHAME ON YOUR LEAD APPRAISER for not providing you with some guidance!  Your original message (which I edited because it's my blog not yours) indicated he was insisting on certain things without providing you with some guidance and interpetation of the model.  He should be ashamed.  We're not auditors - the SEI clearly states that a SCAMPI Appraisal is a COLLABORATIVE event, not an audit.  While he can't do the work for you, he should be helping to guide you.  'nuff said.

The good news is it's entirely possible and simple to apply to these two PAs to your situation.

TS: What testing alternatives did you explore?  Did you use a purchased tool, build your own, or reuse something from another project?  Did you write test cases (code)?  Did you reuse them from other projects?  Did you create a test plan with instructions?  I bet you did a lot of this, and these are directly related to practices in TS.

PI: Did you set up and environment for testing?  If you do load, integration, and performance testing you must have determined sequence, developed interfaces. and so on right?  Well, these are good examples of tasks in the PI process area.  By the way, it's some of the SAME evidence you might provide for VAL and VER.

Best of luck on your appraisal!