Each practice is uniquely numbered (e.g., 1.1.2.1) according to the following
convention:
The following labels are used to provide traceability between
Trillium practices and external references, source standards
and practices:
SEI Refers to an SEI CMM v1.1 practice
ISO Refers to the ISO 9001 Standard or ISO 9000-3 Guideline
Bellcore Refers to a Bellcore document
MB Refers to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria
IEC Refers to an IEC Standard (i.e., IEC 300)
IEEE Refers to an IEEE Software Engineering Standard
Trillium Indicates a practice unique to Trillium which has undergone cus
tomization in combining one or more of the above references
Roadmap Indicates a practice that is traceable to the external references
Trillium given above via another practice within the same roadmap which
has explicit external references
The intent of this section is to help the reader better understand the way
the practices have been designed and worded.
Practices are described in three wording styles which are progressively more difficult to achieve.
These styles are not another scale.
The three wording styles are:
This style is used to state that:
- something is in place or exists,
- an activity is performed informally within the organization, and/or
- it is performed on a project by project basis.
The practice may or may not state who does the activity. Two examples of this style of practice are:
"1.1.2.1 The organization has a well-defined three-year business plan
[Bellcore TR-NWT-000179 3.4.3-4] [MB 3.0] [Trillium]"
"4.1.2.20 Project planning specifies and documents schedules, resources
and approval authorities for verification and validation
activities [ISO 9001 4.4.2, 4.4.7, 4.4.8] [ISO 9000-3 5.5.2]
[Trillium]"
This style states that:
- an activity is performed,
- there is a written procedure explaining how to perform the activity,
- the procedure is understood by the practitioners, and
- the procedure is consistently used by the practitioners.
An example of Style 2 is:
"4.1.3.12 The project's development risks are identified, assessed,
documented, and managed according to a documented procedure
[SEI CMM Activity 10]."
This third style includes all the requirements of the second style and adds
the following activities:
The definitions and terms found in Trillium are based on
industry-wide accepted terminology. They can be found in the Glossary (see
Appendices).
Where possible, the following order of precedence has been used:
- ISO 8402:1991 Draft International Standard
- ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 Vocabulary
- ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 WG10 Vocabulary
- Other sources (e.g., IEEE 610 Software Engineering Standards)
There are some instances where the order of precedence has not been
respected. As an example of this, the definition of specification from
IEEE 610 was used instead of the definition from ISO 8402:1991 as it was more
suitable to the context of this document.
When a definition cannot be found in the preceding documents, other sources
are used. Only when no definition can be found is a new definition
created.
In the process of preparing for an assessment, it may be necessary to adapt
or translate the Trillium terminology and definitions into the
common language, culture and context of the organization. This is done to
minimize the variation due to interpretation by participants. This must be
done carefully to ensure that the scope and intent of each practice is not
altered.
The definitions below can also be found in the Glossary. They are included in
this section because they are crucial to understanding the Model.
One of the parts that make up a system. A component may be hardware or
software and may be subdivided into other components (IEEE 610:1991).
All activities performed to create or enhance a product.
- In management, a major activity or group of activities that are
continuous. For example, the principle functions of management are
planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.
- In project management: an activity or set of activities that span the
entire duration of a software project. Examples of project functions
include configuration management, quality assurance, and project cost
accounting.
- In programming: a specific, identifiable task performed by one or more
software components.
An item which is produced during some phase of the software development
process, and is an input product to a later phase, but is not provided to the
user. Examples of intermediate products are: requirements specifications,
design specifications, and test reports.
A company, corporation, firm, enterprise or institution, or part thereof,
whether incorporated or not, public or private, that has its own functions
and administration (ISO 8402:1991).
Note: In the Trillium context, an assessment is
generally applied to a complete organization, or part thereof, that is
responsible for the development of a specific product.
A set of interrelated resources and activities which transform inputs into
outputs. Resources may include personnel, facilities, equipment, technology
and methodology (ISO 8402:1991).
The result of activities or processes. A product may include service,
hardware, processed materials, software, or combination thereof (ISO
8402:1991).
Note: in the Trillium context, the customer
perceives the product as a black box entity provided by the supplier. The
customer sees only the interfaces which provide access to the product's
operation. Generally the customer has no view of the internal components
inside the black box.
An essential set of conditions that a system has to satisfy (ISO
2382-20:1991).
A set of programs, associated data, procedures, rules, documentation, and
materials concerned with the development, use, operation, and maintenance of
a computer system (CSA Q396:1989).
Note: in the Trillium context, this includes
firmware regardless of its final manufactured form (e.g., PROM, Gate
Array).
A document that specifies, in a complete, precise, and verifiable manner, the
requirements, design, behaviour, or other characteristics of a service,
product, system or component, and, often, the procedures for determining
whether these provisions have been satisfied (IEEE 610:1991).
A collection of components organized to accomplish a specific function or set
of functions (IEEE 610:1991).
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