ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013
(Main)Information technology — Process assessment — Guide for process improvement
Information technology — Process assessment — Guide for process improvement
ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013 provides informative guidance on using process assessment as part of a complete framework and method for performing process improvement as part of a continual improvement activity. It also provides guidance on how to strengthen and maintain the abilities to ensure success with continual process improvement - improvability. Improvability is addressed both at the organizational perspective and at the project perspective. In the case of process improvement, the concepts and principles are appropriate for the full range of different business goals, application domains and sizes of organization, so that all types of organizations may use them. It is the same in the case of process improvability. ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013 deals with process improvement on three levels. Strategic: what goals to achieve, the motivation and direction. Tactical: how to achieve the goals of process improvement. Operational: how to perform the process improvement. ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013 has three improvement perspectives. Process perspective: Process improvement as a programme or project. Organizational perspective: Improvement of organizational improvability in order to ensure success with improvement projects. Project perspective: Improve a project´s improvability and reach improvement success. ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013 includes topics such as: utilising the results of a process assessment; principles of continual process improvement; roles in process improvement; principles of enhancing improvability; process improvement support elements; overall change strategies; scope of change; Although the focus for ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013 is continual process improvement based on using process assessment as part of a complete framework and method for performing and ensuring success with continual process improvement, it can also be used in related areas.
Technologies de l'information — Évaluation des procédés — Guide de l'amélioration des procédés
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Standards Content (Sample)
TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
33014
First edition
2013-12-01
Information technology — Process
assessment — Guide for process
improvement
Technologies de l'information — Évaluation des procédés — Guide de
l'amélioration des procédés
Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2013
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . v
Introduction . vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Introduction and overview of continual process improvement . 2
4.1 Framework . 3
4.2 Roles . 5
4.2.1 Management / Sponsor . 6
4.2.2 Project Organization . 7
4.2.3 Experts. 7
4.2.4 Process Improvement Unit (Process owners) . 7
4.2.5 Process Improvement Manager . 7
4.2.6 Process Improvement Team Member . 7
4.2.7 Customer . 7
4.2.8 Project Manager . 7
4.2.9 Practitioner . 7
4.3 Basics in continual process improvement . 8
4.4 Basics in improvability . 9
5 Process Improvement . 9
5.1 Overview . 9
5.2 Steps of process improvement . 10
5.2.1 Step 1 - Examine organization’s business goals . 10
5.2.2 Step 2 - Initiate process improvement cycle . 10
5.2.3 Step 3 – Perform a process assessment . 11
5.2.4 Step 4 - Develop action plan . 12
5.2.5 Step 5 - Implement improvements . 15
5.2.6 Step 6 - Confirm improvements . 17
5.2.7 Step 7 - Sustain improvements . 17
5.2.8 Step 8 - Monitor performance . 18
6 Improvability basics – Organizational support for process improvement . 18
6.1 Overview . 19
6.2 Step 1 - Identify business goals . 20
6.3 Step 2 - Identify the scope of organizational change . 20
6.4 Step 3 - Select models and methods and identify roles in process improvement . 21
6.5 Step 4 - Identify the overall change strategy . 21
6.5.1 Overall change strategy . 21
6.5.2 Identify the overall change strategy . 23
6.6 Step 5 - Identify status of improvement support elements . 23
6.6.1 Process improvement support elements . 23
6.6.2 Identify and use the improvement support elements . 26
6.7 Step 6 - Define scope of change – and what to change . 26
6.8 Step 7 – Define organization for enhancement and process improvement . 27
6.8.1 Enhance the improvability – the improvement support element . 27
6.9 Organization of process improvement work . 27
7 Enhance project improvability . 28
7.1 Overview . 28
7.2 Step 1 - Identify status of improvement support elements . 29
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
7.3 Step 2 - Define scope of change – and what to change .30
7.4 Enhance improvability at project perspective .32
Annex A (informative) Roles, related problems and solutions in process improvement .33
Annex B (informative) How good are you at improvement? .36
Annex C (informative) Example on organization .38
Bibliography .39
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when the joint technical committee has collected data of a different kind from
that which is normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example), it may decide to
publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely informative in nature and shall be subject to review
every five years in the same manner as an International Standard.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TR 33014 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
This first edition technically revises clauses of ISO/IEC TR 15504-4:2004.
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Introduction
This Technical Report provides guidance on using process assessment as part of a complete framework and
method for performing process improvement as part of a continual improvement activity. The guidance
covers:
invoking a process assessment;
using the results of a process assessment;
identifying improvement actions aligned to business goals;
cultural issues in the context of process improvement;
dealing with management issues for process improvement.
The overall goal of this Technical Report is to strengthen these needed abilities for continual improvement of
processes in organizations. Organizations too often struggle with process improvement because of lack of
focus on necessary process improvement abilities. This Technical Report will help an organization ensure
benefits are realized from process improvement. It will also help an organization prepare for success with
specific process improvement initiatives, programmes or projects. The Technical Report also describes the
process improvement basics vital for performing a process improvement programme or project.
ISO/IEC TR 33014 deals with process improvement on three levels:
Strategic, what goals to achieve, the motivation and direction.
Tactical, how to achieve the goals of process improvement.
Operational, how to perform the process improvement.
ISO/IEC TR 33014 has three improvement perspectives:
Process perspective: Process improvement as a programme or project.
Organizational perspective: Improvement of organizational improvability in order to ensure success with
improvement projects.
Project perspective: Improve a project´s improvability and reach improvement success.
This Technical Report is part of a set of International Standards designed to provide a consistent and coherent
framework for the assessment of process quality characteristics, based on objective evidence resulting from
implementation of the processes. The overall aim is to establish a framework for consistent and reliable
assessment covering processes employed in the development, maintenance and use of systems across the
information technology domain, and to the delivery and management of services employing IT-based
systems. The set of standards, as a whole, addresses process quality characteristics of any type. Results of
assessment can be applied for improving process performance, or for identifying and addressing risks
associated with application of processes.
The set of International Standards ISO/IEC 33001 – ISO/IEC 33099 defines the requirements and resources
needed for process assessment. The overall architecture and content of the set is described in ISO/IEC
33001.
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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Information technology — Process assessment — Guide for
process improvement
1 Scope
This Technical Report provides informative guidance on using process assessment as part of a complete
framework for performing process improvement as part of a continual improvement activity. It also provides
guidance on how to strengthen and maintain the organization’s abilities to ensure success with continual
process improvement.
This Technical Report does not presume specific organizational structures, management strategies, life cycle
models or development methods.
This Technical Report has its focus on continual process improvement, and the support for succeeding in
continual process improvement – organizational improvability. Improvability is addressed both at the
organizational perspective and at the project perspective. The organizational perspective is for large process
improvement programmes and project perspective is for process improvement projects.
In the case of process improvement, the concepts and principles are appropriate for the full range of different
business goals, application domains and sizes of organization, so that all types of organizations may use them.
It is the same in the case of improvability.
Although the focus for this Technical Report is continual process improvement based on using process
assessment as part of a complete framework and method for performing and ensuring success with continual
process improvement, this Technical Report can also be used in related areas. One such related area is
where continual improvement of processes takes a part in the development of the business. An example of
this is when a process improvement initiative is identified in IT Service Management (ISO/IEC 20000).
Continual process improvement can also be used to strengthen an organization’s ability to carry out the
improvement of services.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary
1
ISO/IEC 33001:— , Information technology — Process assessment — Concepts and terminology
1
To be published.
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 33001:—, ISO 9000:2005 and
the following apply.
3.1
continual process improvement
on-going cycle of process improvement programmes to strengthen and improve the processes supporting
business and include one or several improvement projects or initiatives, which can be implemented in series
or in parallel
3.2
process improvement support element
way that an organization expresses support for process improvement projects or initiatives
3.3
improvability
inherent ability of an organization to support continual process improvement
4 Introduction and overview of continual process improvement
This Technical Report focuses on process improvement, based on utilising the results of a process
assessment. This process improvement may be in the context of an improvement programme, improvement
project or improvement initiative perspective.
Process assessment is carried out to characterise the performance of a process with respect to a specific
process quality characteristic; this may be done as part of an initiative to improve this aspect of the process, or
to determine the risks associated with the level of achievement of the characteristic in a particular context.
Process assessment is the basis for the process improvement initiatives or programs supported by this
Technical Report.
Improved business goals (or change in goals) are the main driver for improvement initiatives in an
organization (clause 6.2). Process improvement programmes or improvement projects are the work carried
out to realise the change (see Bibliography [35]). Process improvement also affects the strategies,
requirements for competences, processes and sometimes the relation to the customers.
Continual process improvement is a cycle based upon the premise that in order to always meet or exceed
customer needs, organizations must continuously improve. Besides providing guidance on process
improvement, this Technical Report also focuses on how continual process improvement can be enhanced
with organizational support.
The set of elements supporting improvement indicates improvability in this Technical Report. Improvability
can be evaluated, strengthened and maintained. Improvability closely links business, people and change. .In
order to accelerate improvements, it is important that an organization is aware of the various support elements
that can affect improvement. Improvement means change and an organization needs to choose a change
strategy that is appropriate to the way the organization works, and it needs to choose appropriate approaches
and methods for organizing the improvement activities. During an improvement programme a change of
strategy and methods has to be considered.
In relation to this Technical Report, ISO 9004:2009 (see Bibliography [20]) is relevant for the formulation of a
business strategy, identification of business goals, performing resource management, learning from and
following up on on-going improvement programmes and projects.
Additional knowledge about process improvement can be found in the assessment indicators of any process
assessment model conformant with ISO/IEC 33004.
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
All necessary roles have to be enacted in any improvement initiative to reach success. For that reason a set of
roles are defined in this Technical Report, and the roles are related to success with process improvement and
organizational improvability.
Because of this broad organizational involvement, the audience and usage of this standard are accordingly
broad.
Audience:
Process assessors
Process improvement leaders in organizations
Process improvement leaders in process improvement training
Consultants (organizational external and internal) supporting in process improvement
Project managers
Process experts
Service managers
Training practitioners
Service improvement managers
Process improvement sponsors (may be the same person as assessment sponsor in ISO/IEC 33002, but
not necessarily).
Process improvement project managers
Usage:
Advice in relation to improvement following a process assessment
General advice on how to ensure success with improvement initiatives
Advice on change methods
Training interest
Organizational marketing of improvement initiatives internal and external
Post improvement review to identify risks
Determining the organizational improvability
Improvement of processes in projects
Consulting to enhance improvability
4.1 Framework
This standard deals with process improvement on three levels:
Strategic, what goals to achieve, the motivation and direction;
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Tactical, how to achieve the goals of process improvement;
Operational, how to perform the process improvement.
This standard also has three improvement perspectives:
Process perspective: Process improvement as a programme or project;
Organizational perspective: Enhancement of organizational improvability in order to ensure success with
improvement projects;
Project perspective: Enhance a project´s improvability and reach improvement success.
The three levels and three perspectives are combined in Table 1, and illustrate the entire framework.
All three perspectives have a common operational level, including the activities that implement the
improvement.
The tactical level describes the support elements which best bolster a process improvement project’s success
rate, or an organizational success rate with process improvement programs in general. The tactical level
differs for the perspectives on how to identify what to improve. For process improvement a process
assessment is used.
The strategic level gives the basis for setting up an improvement programme, including definition of scope of
change and identification of the overall change strategy.
Table 1 — Framework for process improvement and its support
LEVEL / PER- PROCESS ORGANIZATIONAL PROJECT
SPECTIVE
Process improvement Organizational improvability Project improvability
STRATEGIC ENHANCE ORGANIZATIONAL
IMPROVABILITY
Clause 6 Step 1 to 4
TACTICAL IMPROVE PROCESSES ENHANCE ORGANIZATIONAL ENHANCE PROJECT
Clause 5 Step 1 to 3 IMPROVABILITY IMPROVABILITY
Clause 6 Step 5 to 7 Clause 7 Step 1 to 2
OPERATIONAL IMRPOVEMENT PROJECTS
Clause 5 Step 4 to 8
This Technical Report can be used in three ways:
1) As a guide to perform process improvement that at the Process perspective includes both the
Tactical and Operational levels.
2) As a guide to enhance an organization’s improvability, which at the Organizational perspective
includes all three levels of the framework: Strategic, Tactical and Operational levels.
3) As a guide to improve a project’s improvability, which at the Project perspective includes both the
Tactical and Operational levels.
Each improvement perspective has several steps. The steps and their relations are presented in Figure 1.
These steps involve many important roles in an organization. This addresses the different types of roles in
clause 4.2, and Informative Annex A discusses how their daily problems and solutions can be related to
process improvement.
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
Clause 4.3 highlights the basics in process improvement, and clause 4.4 highlights the basics in enhancement
of improvability for continual improvement of processes.
2. Identify 3. Select
4. Identify the
1. Identify the scope of models and
Overall change
business goals Organizational Methods and
Business Scope Models
Clause 6
strategy
goals of org. Methods
change identify roles
Step 1 to 4
change and roles
Change strategy
Process improvement
Initiation &
Clause 5 Clause 6 Clause 7
Organisation’s needs
Step 1 to 3 Step 5 to 7 Step 1 to 2
5. Identify 1. Identify
1. Examine
Status of Improve- Status of Improve-
Organization's
ment Support ment Support
Business Goals
elements elements
Process improvement Improv. Support Improv. Support
objectives element status element status
2. Identify
Process 6. Define scope 2. Define scope
Improvement of change of change
cycle
Process improvement Scope of Scope of
Implementation plan change change
3. Perform
7. Define
Process
organization
Assessment
Current
Assessment Input
Process profile
Process improvement
Assessment output
Organisation
ISO/IEC 33002
ISO/IEC 33010
Industry
Clause 5
benchmark
Approved
New iteration Action plan
Step 4 to 8
4. Develop
action plan 5. Implement
Improvement project
improvements
8. Monitor 7. Sustain
Current
Implemented
performance
6. Confirm
Performance improvements
improvements
improvements
Institutionalised Confirmed
improvements improvements
Figure 1 — Improvement framework of activities with steps and relations
4.2 Roles
When aiming for process improvement in an organization the project members, project managers, process
owners, project organizers, top managers, users, experts and consultants, all have different roles to play in
supporting process improvement and organizational improvability. This variety of perspectives needs to be
coordinated and enacted.
There are three main roles: Performer, User, and Supplier, which are seen in at different levels within the
organization.
The Performer is responsible for designing and implementing the improvement activities in the organisation. In
a typical organization a process improvement unit or department (or the equivalent) or an Engineering
Process Group (EPG) is responsible for carrying out the process improvement – thus having the role of
Process Improvement (PI) performers at the organizational level. At the project level it could be a PI manager,
and at the individual level it could be a PI Team member.
Sometimes the result of performing an activity is something useful for the performer him/herself, but most
often another person will use these results — the User. The process improvement user will typically be an
internal customer or end-user (e.g. quality or process department), a project manager or an individual
practitioner. When it comes to change in an organization, the users (of the change) can be anyone in the
organization (customer, project manager, practitioners, suppliers or performers). Only external organizational
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Improve Processes
Enhance organizational
improvability
Enhance project improvability
Strategic
Operational Tactical
level
level level
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ISO/IEC TR 33014:2013(E)
experts are not regarded as users. So in this context the users include those who receive the results of the
improvement work.
The Performer very often does not act alone. There may be a Sponsor supplying funding, a Champion helping
with a technology transfer, and a Manager who makes sure that this specific activity is delegated to the
Performer. In general a Supplier role is characterised by distributing resources, knowledge, and power. The PI
supplier will be someone from management enacting the role as sponsor and/or champion. It could be a
Manager or Sponsor at the organizational level, the project organization at the project level, and internal or
external organizational experts at the individual level.
Table 2 (inspired by Bibliography [16]) gives an overview of the roles at the three different levels mentioned.
Below, an account of how each role is enacted in the process improvement arena is described.
Table 2 — Three Process Improvement roles at three levels
Role / level Organization Project Individual
level
level level
Supplier Management/ Project Expert
role sponsor Organisation
Performer Process Process PI Team
Improvement Improvement
role member
Unit Manager
User Customer Project Practitioner
role Manager
In an organization all these roles must be defined to be successful. They have to work closely together to
“push” a process improvement through.
The nature of the problems perceived by each role is also very different. One of the keys to a more successful
improvement initiative in an organization is to focus on this difference. If you have a Performer role, for
example, then the less you focus on your “own” problems, the more you can help to solve problems for other
roles, and thus achieve mutual success. See Informative Annex A for more information on roles, related
problems and solutions in process improvement.
It is important to identify the various vital roles on the scene. Doing so makes visible which resources are
available, who does what, and most importantly, who must cooperate in these important projects for the
organization. Once these conditions are visible, the different roles can be used to create the greatest success.
All these roles must be defined in an organization to be successful in process improvement. All roles have
...
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