Version 1.1 - 10/9/97

The purpose of Process Change Management is to continually improve the software processes used in the SSC San Diego organization with the intent of improving software quality, increasing productivity, and decreasing the cycle time for product development.

Process Change Management involves defining process improvement goals and, with senior management sponsorship, proactively and systematically identifying, evaluating, and implementing improvements to the organization's standard software process and the projects' defined software processes on a continuous basis.

Training and incentive programs are established to enable and encourage everyone in the organization to participate in process improvement activities. Improvement opportunities are identified and evaluated for potential payback to the organization. Pilot efforts are performed to assess process changes before they are incorporated into normal practice.

SSC San Diego shall:

1. Plan continuous process improvement.
2. Have organization wide participation in the organization's software process improvement activities.
3. Continuously improve the organization's standard software process and the projects' defined software processes.
4. Have senior management sponsor the organization's activities for software process improvement.
5. Provide adequate resources and funding for software process improvement activities.
6. Require training for software managers in software process improvement.
7. Require training for the managers and technical staff of the software engineering group and other software-related groups in software process improvement.
8. Require training for senior management in software process improvement.
9. Establish a software process improvement program, which empowers the members of the organization to improve the processed of the organization.
10. Have the group responsible or the organization's software process activities (e.g., software engineering process group) coordinate the software process improvement activities.
11. Ensure that the organization develops and maintains a plan for software process improvement according to a documented procedure.
12. Perform the software process improvement activities in accordance with the software process improvement plan.
13. Handle software process improvement proposals according to a documented procedure.
14. Have members of the organization actively participate in teams to develop software process improvements for assigned process areas.
15. Install, where appropriate, the software process improvements on a pilot basis to determine their benefits and effectiveness before they are introduced into normal practice.
16. Implement when the decision 9is made to transfer a software process improvement into normal practice, the improvement according to a documented procedure.
17. Maintain records of software process improvement activities.
18. Provide feedback to software managers and technical staff on the status and results of the s0oftware proc3ss improvement activities on an event-driven basis.
19. Make and use measurement to determine the status of the software process improvement activities.
20. Review the activities for software process improvement with senior management on a periodic basis.
21. Conduct reviews of audits by the software quality assurance group the activities and work products for software process improvement and reports the results.

The SSC San Diego Commanding Officer is responsible for implementing this policy.

The Software Engineering Process Office (SEPO) is responsible for maintaining this policy.