Workshop: Hard Questions for Process Improvement in Multimodel Environments

Registration for the May 8 workshop is now closed. But we will keep a waiting list, in the event that registered participants tell us they cannot attend. If you would like to be added to that waiting list, please contact Mike Anderson at mja@sei.cmu.edu. You can also contact Mike to be added to our mailing list for information about process improvement in multimodel environments and future events.

Purpose	Share current research and methods for multimodel process improvement and gage the current state of the practice in commercial, government, and defense organizations
Sponsors	Lockheed-Martin, the Software Engineering Institute
Dates and Locations	A workshop was held on May 8 in Arlington, VA (USA) A workshop date later in 2008 in Munich, Germany, is also being considered.

Workshop Description

What determines the business value of a harmonized multimodel approach?
What constitutes a process architecture for multimodel process improvement?
What are the deployment implications of a multimodel approach?

Tough questions like these have to be addressed—if organizations are to succeed with process improvement to support business objectives and mission success in multimodel† environments. The SEI-led PrIME project intends to intends to investigate key areas in multimodel process improvement.

In advance of that project, Lockheed-Martin and the SEI are co-sponsoring this workshop to share current research and methods for multimodel process improvement and to gage the current state of the practice in commercial, government, and defense organizations.

Through participating in this workshop, you can

learn about current thinking and relevant developments in process improvement in a multimodel environment
strengthen your knowledge about the challenges, options, and solutions currently facing organizations today and what still needs to be investigated by the community
extend your network of people interested in multimodel issues
gather ideas for immediate use in your environment
provide information that influences the SEI research agenda

Through presentations, participatory working sessions, and a sharing of insights, the workshop will provide answers to these questions:

What are the challenges of multimodel process improvement strategy, model relationships, process architecture, and deployment?
What will be the benefits if we solve them?
What is current work in this area?
How do we close gaps leveraging, where possible, existing engineering and process approaches?

Agenda for the Arlington, VA, Workshop

Starting Time	Item	Description or Detail
7:30 a.m.	Check-in	Breakfast and workshop registration
8:30 a.m.	Opening remarks	Paul Nielsen, Director and CEO or the Carnegie Mellon® Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and Dr. Ray Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Lockheed Martin
9:00 a.m.	Case study	M. Lynn Penn, Director, Program Process Management, for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services (LMCO IS&GS), describes the LMCO IS&GS experience
9:30 a.m.	Introduction to multimodel harmonization	Jeannine Siviy and Pat Kirwan discuss the approach to the multimodel issue being investigated by the SEI
10:00 a.m.: Concurrent working sessions (These sessions can continue through the 12:00-12:45 p.m. lunch period, if the working groups choose.)
Session A	Multimodel strategy: from value proposition to strategic selections of model improvement strategies	In this session, we will examine philosophical underpinnings of multimodel process improvement, the business value of a harmonized multimodel approach, and the topmost levels of creating a strategy.
Session B	Technology relationships: composing models and other technologies via taxonomies, mappings, and other approaches	In this session, we will examine the realities of overlapping and differentiating model features. Approaches for grappling with these realities will be discussed, ranging from simple mappings to model element classification. The role of model composition, and its accomplishment via these approaches, will be discussed.
Session C	Process architecture: how to achieve robust, agile, and compliant process design	Highly successful multimodel process improvement efforts have been observed to employ a standard process architecture within their organizations. In this session, we will discuss what constitutes a process architecture, its relationship with other layers (strategy, model composition) of a harmonized approach, and existing and emerging (and needed) methods to leverage in its creation.
Session D	Implementation: dealing with thorny deployment problems unique to the multimodel situation	In this session, we will explore implementation issues of particular interest in a multimodel process improvement context such as competing financial and personnel resources and effect on both design and deployment managing an overwhelming number of audits and appraisals developing multimodel expertise via cross training
2:00 p.m.	Working session presentations	Sharing of results from the the working sessions
3:00 p.m.	Closing remarks
3:15 p.m.	Refreshments and networking

Workshop Dates and Locations

May 8, Arlington, VA (USA)
A workshop in Munich, Germany, later in 2008, is also being considered.

Registration

Registration for the Arlington, VA workshop is closed. Please contact Mike Anderson at mja@sei.cmu.edu for information on other workshop opportunities or to be added to our mailing list.

Workshop Sponsors

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