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1. What are the database
demographics?
- As on November 2004,
the Benchmarking database contains measures collected
from 6,500 completed and validated projects from US, UK,
Europe, India, China, Asia and Australia.
The projects cover nine application domains (refer FAQ
number 2 on nine application domains) and different project
life-cycles (refer FAQ 3 on project life-cycles).
Projects included in the QSM database must:
- Have completed the
development cycle and be successfully deployed.
- Have measured as
a minimum on the SEISM core measures: size,
schedule and effort.
2. Which
are the various application domains covered by this service?
3. I am
into maintenance projects. Can Benchmarking apply to my projects?
- QAI Benchmarking
service applies to traditional project life cycles like
waterfall as well as other approaches like RAD, prototyping,
maintenance, enhancements, modification projects.
4. What
is the data required to be collected for Benchmarking?
- At the minimum QAI
Benchmarking service requires an organization to report
the four core SEISM measures: Size, Effort,
Time, Defects (from start of system-integration testing
to release)
5. How
much time is required to collect data for Benchmarking?
- For organizations
with a measures program in place, it requires about 40
minutes to fill in the Benchmarking service data collection
forms for submission.
- For organizations
that have not been tracking the four core SEISM
measures of size, effort, schedule and defects it requires
about half-day to reconstruct the data.
6. My
organization is into producing real-time software. Can Benchmarking
service be of use?
- (Please refer FAQ
number 2 above). Yes, the Benchmarking service can be
used by your organization.
7. I am
a purchasing organization. How can I make use of Benchmarking
service?
- Benchmarking Service
is being used by purchasing organizations to:
a. Assess the capabilities of their vendors by
mandating them to submit project data from 3 similar projects
executed in the past.
b. Using the benchmarked capabilities of the vendors
to validate the bids.
c. Using the validated bids and the benchmarked
capabilities to track the project execution. Vendors are
mandated to submit the project data on a monthly or two-weekly
basis. This is used to arrive at the productivity measures
to ensure projects are on track.
8. I am
a technology vendor. Can I make use of Benchmarking service?
- Technology vendors/tool
vendors demonstrate the productivity enhancements of their
technology/tool by benchmarking the capabilities of their
clients before and after the application of the tool/technology.
9. I write
technical proposals for other organizations. Can I make use
of Benchmarking service?
- In case you write
technical proposals then you can incorporate the QAI benchmarked
data of your client as part of the proposal. This will
provide the cutting edge to your client to qualify in
the bidding process.
10. My
organization estimates software size using FPA technique.
Can I make use of the Benchmarking service?
- QAI benchmarking
service is independent of the size estimation technique
adopted by an organization. Some organizations make use
of SLOC, others use FPA, still others measure as components,
or configuration items, or windows and so on.
- Since the QAI Benchmarking
analysis is based on the SLOC (core measure defined by
SEISM as an effective measure of the work product),
organizations are asked to supply the gearing factor (a
factor to convert their internal estimate to SLOC). QAI
service also has a set of gearing factors determined on
the basis of the QSM project database, which can be made
use of the organization in case it is unable to arrive
at its own factor.
11. Is
the Benchmarking service dependent on the quality model/framework
(like ISO/CMM® etc) by my organization?
- The QAI Benchmarking
service is a performance benchmark that is independent
of the quality model/framework adopted by the organization.
Performance is one parameter that is also independent
of the geographical location of the entity. With quality
certification becoming a hygiene factor, benchmarking
is a way for organizations to differentiate themselves
from others.
12. What
are the deliverables of the Benchmarking service?
- The QAI Benchmarking
Service provides you with a comprehensive report that
examines the data supplied from 42 different perspectives.
The report also provides the top management with a list
of action items for initiating/furthering software process
improvement.
13. What
are the service options of QAI Benchmarking service?
- QAI Benchmarking
service provides the following options to an organization:
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Annual subscription: Get an organization snapshot
for unlimited projects/ 50 projects/ 25 projects.
- Benchmarking
one project: Benchmarking one project against the
database.
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It
is our experience that the real benefits start accruing
to an organization if it adopts the following strategy:
- Benchmarking
entire organization database against industry database
once every six months.
- Establishing
trend lines for internal projects and Benchmarking all
new projects against internal reference database.
14. How
do I avail of the QAI Benchmarking service?
- To avail of the
QAI Benchmarking service follow the following steps:
15. How
do you maintain the confidentiality of the data supplied?
- Confidentiality is
maintained by QAI by physical and logical isolation of
the team handling project data. Clients have the choice
of further sanitizing the data by removing project specific
contextual information other than that required for analysis.
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feedback:
"The recent
exercise of benchmarking NIIT
projects' data against the industry has been
quite encouraging. …. My sincere thanks for
the effort.
Would look forward to more associations of
such kind.." NIIT
"I really appreciate what you have done
for us. I think the result will help us make
another breakthrough in Quantitative
Management…" Bamboo Networks
"…Thanks for the Benchmarking Report,
we are very excited looking at the results.
Will definitely get back to you for further
benchmarking in future…" Techspan
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