CMMI Glossary - Verification and Validation

Everyone can understand the phrase “The END justifies the MEANS”.  It expresses that you can do whatever you want and use whatever MEANS as long as you can achieve the END result.  In Quality Assurance, specifically in Verification & Validation (or V&V in short), a product/service can only pass Quality Assurance if “The right END must be achieved through the right MEANS”

In other words, under context of QA, it is not just necessary to assert you have arrived at the END result, but you also have to ensure the WAY you achieve it complies with specific standards, rules, and the right ingredients are used, and so forth.

All definitions for Verification/Validation do not have anything wrong, but they just keep listing the objects that would go behind these two verbs, such as some artifacts, without stressing the fact that the artifacts go behind the verb "Verify" are those associated with the method/way/ingredients, whereas the artifacts go behind the verb "Validate" are those associated with the end product that is produced by using the method/way/ingredients!

In other words, these definitions just do not deliver the intended IMPACT for understanding like this: “You VALIDATE the END, and you VERIFY the MEANS” (similar to "Building the right thing" and "Building the thing right" principles).

CMMI - a Model for Process Improvement

• CMMI stands for Capability Maturity Model Integration. It is a process improvement model that includes 3 Constellations encompassing 35 Process Areas, and with 2 Improvement Measurements: Maturity Level and Capability Level

• Process Areas cover Generic Goals and Practices as well as Specific Goals and Practices for improvement

• Maturity Level is a staged improvement measurement across Process Areas, whereas Capability Level is a continuous improvement measurement that is Process Area specific

CMMI/SCAMPI/PIID - Practice Implementation Indicator Description

PIID is a mechanism, under CMMI (maturity model)/SCAMPI (appraisal technique), for capturing evidences of a CMMI practice for purpose of appraisal by an external auditor.

PIID are practice evidences that are classified into three types:

• Direct Artifact : a PIID type that is considered a direct output (a direct evidence) of the particular CMMI practice, e.g., the output or product or deliverable of a CMMI process area. 
• Indirect Artifact : a PIID type that is considered an indirect output of the particular CMMI practice, etc. minutes, logs, etc. (the indirect evidences) of the practice, e.g, the CMMI practice log or governance log (I call these secondary output of a process area) 
• Affirmation: a PIID type that includes oral or written evidences confirming the particular CMMI practice (or lack thereof), e.g., some one's affirmation over an interview. 

For instance,

• A "PE Plan" is a direct output of the CMMI "PMC SP 1.5" process therefore it is a Direct Artifact. 
• The associated PE Plan review attendance records are the secondary evidences in the process that produces the PE Plan, and therefore it is considered an Indirect Artifact.
• In addition, if some witness being interviewed over the audit duration asserts that the PE Plan reviewing meeting did in fact took place. It would be considered an "Affirmation" 

To sum it up, if you are an independent audit professional given the responsibility to audit some thing that were supposed to follow CMMI in its entirety, these are the three areas of evidences you will go through to properly execute the audit.   The outcome will be used to prepare the audit report as well as the basis for  formulating your recommendations.

Capability/Maturity Levels - Key Measurement Concept

Capability and Maturity Levels share the same characteristics in terms of the transition from lower to the next.

When the enterprise/process becomes managed from initial chaotic state, it achieves level 2 capability/maturity.

Within level 2/3/4, the progress transition is  to proactively managed (3), then to proactive managed with empirical measurements (4).

Finally when all focus is in optimization, it reaches to the ultimate level 5.