Advanced process engineering is the discipline of creating and improving processes to produce desired outcomes in conjunction with people and products (see the People-Process-Product model for more on holistic improvement). The desired outcomes are defined in terms of VALUE, in Lean this is termed a value proposition which meets the customer/stakeholder needs and expectations.

Advanced process engineering needs to not only consider VALUE but also consider RISK. Most existing methods recognize that risks need to be identified and managed but until now there has been no rigorous method to associate risk with process capability. Practical Process Profiles provide a methodology to make this association, so that a process is engineered to reduce risk and increase the probability to achieve the value proposition. 

ISO/IEC 15504 has two purposes: process improvement and capability determination. In part 4 of the standard, the use for capability determination specifies the use of Capability Target Profiles.  These consist of a set of processes with each process have a specified capability level (CL). The best way to set these capability levels is to investigate which processes have the biggest effect on achieving a desired target. This is achievable by two means - positive achievement of desired outcomes (value creation) and problem avoidance (risk reduction).

The combination of the two approaches is called Practical Process Profiles. It is practical because it focuses attention on the specific processes that have the greatest impact of achieving the desired aims (e.g. safety, time to market, etc..) for a domain (e.g. automotive, aerospace, etc..). It can set targets for each process based upon both value creation and risk reduction.

Producing products, systems and software entails certain risks. Risks that occur become problems that require extra effort, reduce productivity, value creation and profitability, and can even cause business failures. Leistungs Consult has created a methodology for teams, enterprises and industries that reduces risk through Practical Process Profiles and process optimisation. Reducing the risk means that less time is spent fixing problems and more time is spent profitably producing products (e.g. software) for value creation (value streams).

• For projects, this is called TBBDI Risk - Team Based Business Design Improvement - Risk.
• For companies, this is called EBBDI - Enterprise Based Business Design Improvement.
• For an industry or association, this is called IBBDI - Industry Based Business Design Improvement, for example, Automotive (& Automotive SPICE), Medical, Aerospace, and Financial industries.

Benefits

The TBBDI Risk, EBBDI and IBBDI methodologies have the following benefits:

• Practical Process Profiles that increase process (and hence business) efficiency.
• Reduce process related risks. Handle safety, security and other industry specific risks.
• Superior to existing target profile approaches in process and assessment standards while still  compatible with CMMI and ISO15504 (SPICE).
• Reduce number of processes required to achieve business aims (value creation and Lean compatible).
• Process improvement and optimisation activity can be based on industry, enterprise and project specific risk reduction. Each level brings particular benefits such as standardisation, competitive advantage, project efficiency.
• Profiles can jointly highlight and prioritize value creation and risk reduction.

We provide training and consulting to allow you to benefit in optimising your business.  A certification scheme is currently being planned.

To read more, download the white paper.

Courses with iSQI.

There is an article on Practical Process Profiles in IEEE ITPro - November/December 2007.

I am technical editor for work on a new part 9 to the ISO/IEC 15504 standard which covers the requirements for Target Process Profiles. As a result of sponsoring the work on the standard, the Practical Process Profile methodology will be fully compatible with the new standard.

TBBDI-EBBDI-IBBDI.pdf