SEI Partner Network Newsletter

In this issue:

• CMMI Product Suite News
• Now Available on Partner Resource Center
• New Forms for Observation and Sponsorship Requests
• TPWeb No Longer Available
• SCAMPI Body of Knowledge Development Team
• New Partnering Opportunities Available
• Certification
• Call for Papers for Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium
• Call for Presentations and Tutorials for SATURN Workshop
• Notes and Reminders
• SEI SEPG 2007

 

CMMI Product Suite News

Announcements regarding the upgrade to CMMI v1.2 and SCAMPI High Maturity appraisals

All of the announcements that have been sent to Business Points of Contact, Instructors, and Lead Appraisers regarding the changes for CMMI v1.2 and the SCAMPI appraisals can be found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/partners/cmmiupgrade/index.html.

Now Available on Partner Resource Center

CMMI Version 1.2 Upgrade Training Modules

The CMMI v1.2 Upgrade Training modules are now available on the Partner Resource Center to the Introduction to CMMI instructors who are authorized to deliver the upgrade training.   The URL for the Partner Resource Center is https://partner-resources.sei.cmu.edu. Students are to register through http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/courses
_2007.html for a fee of $175.

NOTE:  No regular attendee list is due from the instructor for the upgrade training class; therefore, no royalties will be due from the Partner organization.  Attendee lists and per seat fees are still required, however, for the Introduction to CMMI v1.2 courses delivered by CMMI instructors authorized to provide this course.

Important Permission Reminder:

1. Partners will be permitted to hold instructors-led offerings of “CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training”.
2. Partners will be permitted to advertise these instructor-led course offerings as SEI authorized, instructor-led “CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training”.
3. Partners may charge such fees as they choose to the students attending Partner instructor-led offerings of “CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training”. Partners will have no financial obligation to the SEI because students will have already paid the SEI through the course registration process.
4. Instructor-led offerings of “CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training” must comply with the following:
   
   
1. the instructor shall not edit any official SEI authored "CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training" slide,
2. The Instructor shall not present or otherwise make available any slides from the "Intro to CMMI(R), v.1.2" course
3. The Instructor may make reproductions of the official SEI authored "CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training" slides for the purposes of face-to-face training, and
4. Partners may email permission@sei.cmu.edu to request permission to create a derivative work and use the derivative work as part of instructor-led offerings of “CMMI(R) Version 1.2 Upgrade Training” in accordance with the conditions contained in the permission letter.

New SEI Course Evaluation Forms

The SEI will use a new course evaluation form in all SEI and Partner-delivered course offerings to collect more significant information about courses, specific offerings, and students. The new course evaluation form and printing instructions are available for SEI Partners and instructors on the Partner Resource Center at https://partner-resources.sei.cmu.edu/.

The new form will provide more in-depth information for formative and summative evaluation of courses.  Other changes include improved and consistent answer scales, and the collection of background information on students.  We hope to understand why students took SEI classes, what s/he initially thought of the classes and instructors, and future course offerings in which the student may be interested.

The SEI uses the course evaluations from Partner courses to evaluate the quality of course deliveries.  At this time, Partners do not receive aggregate data collected from Partner course evaluations.  The SEI keeps the forms it receives, so please make photocopies for your organization prior to sending them to the SEI.

If you have questions or suggestions regarding the new course evaluation form, please contact Erin Czerwinski at 412-268-7772 or edw@sei.cmu.edu.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) Forms

The SEI requires your permission to release information contained in educational records. This release form can be found at
https://partner-resources.sei.cmu.edu.

New Forms for Observation and Sponsorship Requests

Observation Forms

If you are a candidate individual to provide an SEI service who wishes to request a required observation, you may now complete the new observation form that can be found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/partners/forms.html.  This form should be completed and sent to partner-forms@sei.cmu.edu.

Sponsorship Forms

If you wish to become an authorized/certified individual who can provide an SEI service, you must be sponsored by an SEI Partner organization that is licensed to provide the SEI service.  The sponsorship form is available at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/partners/forms.html.  Once this form is completed, it can be sent to partner-forms@sei.cmu.edu.

TPWeb No Longer Available

As of October 30, 2006, TPWeb is no longer available for Partner Business Points of Contact, SCAMPI appraisers, or CMMI Instructors.

SCAMPI Appraisals

SCAMPI appraisals are currently reported to the SEI using the SEI Appraisal System (SAS). You will access SAS through your Web browser at http://sas.sei.cmu.edu.  All appraisers, team members, and sponsors must register with SAS.  If you have any questions regarding this new process, visit http://www.sei.cmu.edu/appraisal-program/reporting.html or send email to sas-support@sei.cmu.edu.

Course Attendee Lists

All course attendee lists need to be on a course attendee list template found on http://partner-resources.sei.cmu.edu and sent to partner-attendees@sei.cmu.edu.

NOTE:  ALL students are to be on the initial attendee list submitted to the SEI whether or not they have successfully completed the course or have paid the Partner.  No additional students will be added once the course list is submitted and verified.

SCAMPI Body of Knowledge Development Team

As you may know from previous communications, we are planning the development of a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser Body of Knowledge (SLA-BOK) in 2007 to help define requirements for training and certification.  We had asked for nominations of individuals who would be interested in attending a workshop at the SEI in February and subsequently working on the development thru June, 2007.  The response was wonderful, and we had over 70 individuals nominated by the community.  During the nomination process, we decided it may be a better idea to invite all the nominees to participate in the February workshop instead of a smaller subset.  Thus, we have issued invitations to these individuals and are planning the workshop now.

This change in our plans has also spawned another decision:  to create a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser Body of Knowledge Advisory Board.  The details of this board are included in a document that is posted in the Partner Resource Center under the category heading of "SLA BOK Advisory Board" and is titled "SLABOK_AB".  We ask that you review this document for your own knowledge of our plans and if possible, cast a vote for whom you wish to have serve on this board.  The nominees for the advisory board positions (and a snapshot biography of each) have been compiled into another document on the PRC titled "SLABOK_voting_bios".  Please cast your vote only once for only one nominee by sending email to bok-ab@sei.cmu.edu.  The voting will be open from today until January 5, 2007.

We thank you as always for your participation and help in moving the SEI Appraisal Program's development efforts forward.  Please let me know if you have any questions on the voting process.

New Partnering Opportunities Available

Software Architecture: Principles and Practices

The Software Architecture: Principles and Practices course is available for licensing to qualified SEI Partner organizations.  This course is part of the SEI's Software Architecture curriculum, and introduces students to the basics of software architecture in a real-world setting and emphasizes the importance of the business or mission context in which systems are designed and built.  Licensed SEI Partners will be able to deliver this course to participating software professionals to bring them leading edge concepts in software architecture.

For more information please contact the SEI Partner Network with questions about this opportunity, or visit the following url: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/partners/sapp.html

Implementing Goal-Driven Measurement

The SEI is pleased to announce that the Implementing Goal-Driven Measurement course is now available for licensing through the SEI Partner Network.  The two-and-a-half-day Implementing Goal-Driven Measurement (IGDM) course from the SEI's Software Engineering Measurement and Analysis product suite describes a method for identifying and defining indicators (graphical displays) and measures that directly support an organization's business goals related to product development, process improvement, and project management.  Organizations interested in licensing the IGDM course can find more information and a link to the SEI Partner application at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/partners/sema.html.

Certification

SEI certifications continue to grow with the recent addition of the SEI-Certified SCAMPI High Maturity Lead Appraiser program launched in October 2006.  133 applications have been received to date. Applicants must successfully pass both an application review and oral exam to receive certification. Examinations will conclude on June 30th for this exam cycle.

In other programs, future PSP Instructors now must have completed the PSP Developer certification to attend PSP Instructor training.  This exam based certification may be taken via the SEI's testing network.

Watch our certification website, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/credentials/, for future news regarding the latest details.

Call for Papers for Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium

2nd Annual Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium

September 17-20, 2007

Disney’s Board Walk Inn, Orlando, Florida

Theme:  Transition Strategies for Large Scale Introduction

The 2nd Annual Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium is designed to bring together users, adopters, and developers of the TSP, those involved in its development and transition, and those who are new to the technology and eager to learn more. 

We invite you to be leaders in sharing knowledge from your successes and struggles in deploying TSP.

We invite abstracts of approximately 300 words, describing papers and presentations relative to experiences in adopting, transitioning, and supporting TSP teams in commercial, military/government, or academic organizations.

Abstracts should emphasize:

Team performance, measurement, improvement, and benefits

how TSP has served as an enabler in CMMI Process Improvement Initiatives

transition strategies for large-scale introduction

There will be one presentation per day following each morning's keynote address dedicated to Best Implementation within an Organization.  An award will be given to the organization with the Best Implementation project results.  The winner will be selected by the TSP Symposium Program Committee with input from the SEI TSP Team.

Detailed instructions for preparing abstracts, papers, and presentations may be found at:  http://www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp/symposium.html

Important Dates

February 28, 2007:	Last date to submit abstracts
March 23, 2007:	Presenters notified
April 2, 2007:	Registration begins
June 22, 2007:	Papers submitted
August 24, 2007:	Presentations submitted
August 17, 2007:	Last date for Hotel Registrations at the TSP Symposium rate

Hotel Reservations

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Disney Board Walk Inn, Orlando, Florida, phone 407.939.5100 or 407.WDW.MAGIC (939.6244).  The cut-off date for reservations for the TSP Symposium is August 17, 2007. After that date, the hotel cannot guarantee rooms at the Symposium rate.

Single/Double Occupancy	$189 per night
Additional Person (18 yrs and older)	$25 per person per night
Government Rate:	$89 per night

*Rates do not include sales and occupancy taxes, currently 12.5 %*

For More Information, Please Contact:

Jodie Spielvogle

jsn@sei.cmu.edu

phone:  412.268.6504

fax:    412.268.5758

Call for Presentations and Tutorials for SATURN Workshop

3rd SEI Software Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) Workshop
May 14-16, Pittsburgh, PA USA http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/saturn/

The SEI Software Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) workshops bring together engineers, architects, technical managers, and product managers to exchange best practices in developing and acquiring software architectures and using them to build predictable, high-quality systems.

The third SATURN workshop—SATURN 2007—is open to all software architecture practitioners. We particularly want to invite those who have learned about SEI architectural methods and techniques by either taking a course in the SEI Software Architecture Curriculum or reading SEI publications about them and have an interest in applying them in their organization.

Workshop participants are invited to discuss the challenges they face in meeting quality attribute requirements, designing and maintaining architectures, predicting quality attribute behavior, and making practical and informed tradeoffs early. Topics to be discussed include but are not limited to

• case studies and lessons learned in applying SEI software architecture technology
• efforts to improve the state of architectural practices across an organization
• clarifying and codifying the role of the software architect
• future directions in software architecture technology
• architecture design in distributed software projects
• the relationship of software and system architecture
• the value or ROI of software architecture practices

Authors can submit their proposals through the form at:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/saturn/submissions.html

Important dates:

Submission deadline: January 15, 2007

Notification of acceptance: February 19, 2007

SATURN 2007 Tutorials: May 14, 2007

SATURN 2007 Workshop: May 15-16, 2007

Notes and Reminders

CMMI Courses

Please use the proper name when delivering or marketing your Introduction to CMMI classes.  The long name of “Introduction to Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) – Staged and Continuous” has been changed to “Introduction to CMMI Version 1.2.”

SEI SEPG 2007

Visit http://www.sei.cmu.edu/sepg/2007/index_alt.html for information on discounts and deadlines for the SEI SEPG 2007 being held in March 26 – 29 in Austin, TX.