Introduction

Software projects are executed for building a variety of systems in different types of organizations. Each project requires a suitable process definition. Therefore, there is a need for a common process framework (CPF) that defines the broad activities applicable across all projects in the organization. A CPF acts as a starting point for defining a process suitable for the project.

The CPF is a generic process framework and the activities defined in the CPF capture the best practices suited to an organization. In order to use the CPF, it is important to establish adaptation guidelines that are used to select the task sets suitable for each project.

Common Process Framework course includes:

• An Introduction to the CPF
• Establishing and Adapting a CPF

This course has been co-authored by the internationally recognized consultant and authority on software engineering—Dr. Roger S. Pressman.

Course Benefits

This course will enable you to:

• Explain what a CPF is.
• Explain how a CPF is established and used in an organization.

You receive a certificate of completion after successfully completing this course.

Content Brief

A common process framework (CPF) is a generic process framework that defines the broad activities that apply to all projects regardless of their characteristics. A project team can adapt the CPF to arrive at the process definition for a project. The CPF is based on a software process model that is suitable for all the projects that an organization undertakes.

The CPF provides a project team a standard starting point for defining the project-specific software process. It helps to ensure that the fundamental software engineering activities are always performed in a project. It is accompanied by adaptation guidelines that enable its easy and appropriate adaptation for a project based on the specific project characteristics. The project teams adapt the CPF by using the adaptation guidelines to obtain recommended task sets that are appropriate for the project and further fine-tuning the recommended task sets.

To establish a CPF, the process model that best suits the organization has to be selected first. The project teams should then identify the set of framework and umbrella activities that will apply to all the projects. For each activity, the required actions should be identified and each action should be represented by alternative task sets that can be used to perform it. Each task set should be described in sufficient detail for use by the project team. This description should include a description of the required tasks, the work products to be built, and the quality assurance (QA) checkpoints and project milestones to be achieved by the task set.