Practice: Organizational Process Definition (OPD)
The purpose of Organizational Process Definition (OPD) is to establish and maintain a usable set of organizational process assets and work environment standards.

For IPPD, Organizational Process Definition +IPPD also covers the establishment of organizational rules and guidelines that enable conducting work using integrated teams.
Relationships
Goals

The following specific goals are associated with this process area:

SG 1 Establish Organizational Process Assets

A set of organizational process assets is established and maintained.

IPPD Addition

Integrated processes that emphasize parallel rather than serial development are a cornerstone of IPPD implementation. The processes for developing the product and for developing product-related lifecycle processes, such as the manufacturing process and the support process, are integrated and conducted concurrently. Such integrated processes should accommodate the information provided by stakeholders representing all phases of the product lifecycle from both business and technical functions. Processes for effective teamwork are also needed.

SG 2 Enable IPPD Management

Organizational rules and guidelines, which govern the operation of integrated teams, are provided.

An organizational infrastructure that supports and promotes IPPD concepts is critical if it is to be successfully sustained over the long term. These rules and guidelines promote concepts such as integrated teaming and allow for empowered decision making at many levels. Through its rules and guidelines, the organization demonstrates commitment to IPPD and the success of its integrated teams.

IPPD rules and guidelines become part of the organization’s set of standard processes and the project’s defined process. The organization’s standard processes enable, promote, and reinforce the behaviors expected from projects, integrated teams, and people. These expected behaviors are typically communicated in the form of policies, operating procedures, guidelines, and other organizational process assets.

Main Description

Organizational process assets enable consistent process performance across the organization and provide a basis for cumulative, long-term benefits to the organization. (See the definition of “organizational process assets” in the glossary.)

The organization’s process asset library is a collection of items maintained by the organization for use by the people and projects of the organization. This collection of items includes descriptions of processes and process elements, descriptions of lifecycle models, process tailoring guidelines, process-related documentation, and data. The organization’s process asset library supports organizational learning and process improvement by allowing the sharing of best practices and lessons learned across the organization.

The organization’s set of standard processes is tailored by projects to create their defined processes. The other organizational process assets are used to support tailoring as well as the implementation of the defined processes. The work environment standards are used to guide creation of project work environments.

A standard process is composed of other processes (i.e., subprocesses) or process elements. A process element is the fundamental (e.g., atomic) unit of process definition and describes the activities and tasks to consistently perform work. Process architecture provides rules for connecting the process elements of a standard process. The organization’s set of standard processes may include multiple process architectures.

(See the definitions of “standard process,” “process architecture,” “subprocess,” and “process element” in the glossary.)

The organizational process assets may be organized in many ways, depending on the implementation of the Organizational Process Definition process area. Examples include the following:

  • Descriptions of lifecycle models may be documented as part of the organization’s set of standard processes, or they may be documented separately.
  • The organization’s set of standard processes may be stored in the organization’s process asset library, or they may be stored separately.
  • A single repository may contain both the measurements and the process-related documentation, or they may be stored separately.
Additional Information
Refer to the Organizational Process Focus (OPF) process area for more information about organizational process-related matters.