Dr. Ralf Kneuper
Dr. Ralf Kneuper Consulting
Software Quality Management
and Process Improvement
Release Notes: PIID and SCAMPI Tool (PST) Version 1.4.0
Release date: 16 November, 2005
The main change in Version 1.4.0 is that PST now supports SCAMPI B&C as well as SCAMPI A. Furthermore, the new aggregation rules for SCAMPI A as published by the SEI in October 2005 have been built in. These changes concern all sheets in the PA worksheets. (R61, R83)
Note that in the method definition, a practice characterization scale for SCAMPI C is suggested as an example, but no fixed scale is defined. Instead of using the suggested scale, this template uses the same scale for SCAMPI C as is defined for SCAMPI B.
Migration of data
- Added missing "not" in second paragraph of description of PST-TransferPIID.xls. (R82)
- Added the version number to PST-TransferPIID.xls.
- In PST-Transfer-PIID, the two files are now closed after transfer. (R84)
Changes in file names and structure
- None
General and Instructions sheets
- Un-protected the cells containing administrative data on sheet "General" and deleted the current formula contained there. As a result, there is no more need for SCAMPI-CONFIG.xls. This should solve the problem that these references sometimes contain the full path rather than just the filename, which leads to problems when moving the files. (R56)
Findings sheet
- In some cases, the rules for sufficiency of F2F affirmations were evaluated incorrectly for maturity level 3 process areas. This has been corrected.
- Characterization of practices on the organizational level is no longer possible as long as not all instances are characterized.
Practice sheets
- Fixed the practice sheets after row 2 so that the practice statement always stays visible. (R79)
- The appraisal considerations were sometimes not fully visible, e.g. PP, PMC GP 2.10. (R81)
- Deleted superfluous ":" at the end of the goal statement of GG2.
Tracking workbook
- Corrected references in the "Progress tracking" sheet that were off by one column from column O onwards.
- In "Goal and Practice Rating", the references to GG1 were off by 5 lines and have been corrected.
- Moved the table to track face-to-face (F2F) affirmations from "Progress Tracking" to a separate sheet "F2F". Extended this table to cover both the 1R:1C Rule and the 50% Rule.
Configuration workbook
- Deleted, since it is no longer needed (cf. R56 above).
Open issues, requirements and known problems
| ID | Priority | Issue |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | low | The LA should be able to see what has been changed as compared to the previous version, perhaps using a log file |
| R2 | low | User (LA, assessment team, PIID author) and maintenance documentation. |
| R19 | medium | If a practice is not applicable, e.g. a PP practice for ORG, and you only add this information in column E in the practice sheet, not column B (which would duplicate the information), then in both the findings and the general sheet, the DA / IA counts as not written. So you may end up with 100% of DA OK, but only 80% written |
| R31 | medium | OU characterization of practices should not be allowed as long as not all instances have been characterized (possibly "NA"). |
| R31a | medium | Goal rating should not turn red when empty. If the OU practice characterizations for one goal (column AK) are all filled with values other than "FI", then goal rating can contain an arbitrary value (other than "S") without turning red. (Perhaps handle using validation?) |
| R41 | low | Distinguish "NA", "not rated" and "not yet". Document difference in instructions. |
| R54 | low | Those parts of the "Findings" sheet that are decided by the whole team (OU rating etc.) should be locked so they can only be changed with the LA password. |
| R57 | medium | Rename remaining files, command bar as "PST ..." |
| R62 | medium | No characterization as long as information is needed |
| R75 | low | Use white font on red backgrounds, in particular with conditional formatting, to make it easier to read. |
| R76 | medium | Correct references to "<PA>" in GP statements. |
| R77 | medium | Consistent handling of "NA" in the percentages in row 1 of the findings sheet. For IA the percentage should exclude NA entries. |
| R78 | medium | Always show column AZ of findings sheet, but use white font to make it invisible. Using conditional formatting, mark the cell red if the value is 1, i.e. there is an inconsistency. |
The following items refer to the macros which are not yet part of the published version.
| ID | Priority | Issue |
|---|---|---|
| M1 | medium | Expand macro "Release" for maintenance with the following functionality: Set protection; hide columns |
| M2 | medium | The macro CL2 should also work for the SCAMPI-Tracking.xls sheet. |
| M3 | medium | Separate lock / unlock user entries and team entries. Turn protection and unprotection into separate subroutines? |
| M4 | medium | Generate reports such as "all missing information for project X", etc. (probably using a macro) |
| M5 | medium | Only make macros visible where that is needed. Other macros should be private. |
| M6 | medium | The macro SetVersion does not handle cancelling from the input box correctly. Similarly, MarkNA and password check do no handle cancelling correctly. |
| M7 | high | Convert the macros into VB6 and then publish them as part of the package. |
| M8 | medium | Create a draft presentation from the results in the worksheets |
| M9 | medium | Use constants everytime instead of literals |
| M10 | medium | Set up systematic error handling. |
| M11 | high | In OPD, mark as NA (e.g. "P1, P2, P3, P4") ⇒ ORG is marked NA. |
| M12 | high | Check all macros to confirm that they still work after the major changes performed to the sheets (in particular the inclusion of SCAMPI B and C). |
