Dear Appraiser:
I have a question on the two rules below.
For SCAMPI B, objective evidence must be sought for each individual practice and instantiation included in the scope of the appraisal. For each practice, at least one direct artifact or one oral affirmation must be obtained for each instantiation. In addition, for each practice within the scope of the appraisal, at least one oral affirmation and one direct artifact must be present when considering the set of instantiations for that practice.
I
s the point of the second rule to ensure that evidence from the set isn’t either all direct or all oral affirmation?
Some people interpret the “In addition” part of the rule to mean that any evidence used to satisfy the first rule cannot be used to satisfy the second. The two interpretations can sometimes lead to different conclusions.
For example:
Instantiation A | Instantiation B | Instantiation C | Instantiation D |
Direct Artifact | Direct Artifact | ||
Oral Affirmation | Oral Affirmation |
The first interpretation says this is ok. Each Instantiation has something and the set has a least one of each type. The second interpretation says it is not ok. The evidence used to satisfy the first rule cannot be used to satisfy the second. So they are looking for one more Direct Artifact and one more Oral Affirmation.
Either people holding to the second interpretation are reading way too much into the phrase “In addition” or the rules are not worded well.
Help!
As usual, the SEI speaks in foreign language!
“In addition, for each practice within the
scope of the appraisal, at least one oral affirmation and one direct
artifact must be present when considering the set of instantiations for
that practice.”
The key part of this sentence is the last part “… when considering the set of instantiations for that practice.” They’re referring to the aggregation practice of coming up with a Organizational Unit Characterization for the practice. There is a formula for that as you probably know.
The one characterization in the SCAMPI Method not given much discussion is “NY” or “not yet.” If you have five instantiations (projects) and four of the five are “Not Yet” then you have satisfied the “in addition” part. If all five are “not yet” you have not satisfied it. In many cased all five will have something other than “NY” but not always.
Instantiation A | Instantiation B | Instantiation C | Instantiation D | Organizational Unit |
Direct Artifact | Direct Artifact | OK | ||
Oral Affirmation | Oral Affirmation | OK | ||
NY | NY | NY | NY | NOT OK |
NY | NY | Direct | NY | OK |
Make sense?
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