The SPR Philosophy

SPR is committed to providing the maximum assistance to its clients through professional service offerings. Our vision for software metrics and measurement is best summarized by our founder and Chief Scientist, Capers Jones, in his landmark book Applied Software Measurement：

SPR is a leading, global organization working in the areas of software metrics, measurement, and estimation using functional sizing. In addition to the widely used software project estimation and assessment tool SPR KnowledgePLAN®, we offer clients consulting services covering a broad range of business needs.

An SPR Benchmark Assessment study is a diagnostic analysis of a software organization used to capture current performance measured by productivity and quality levels. The study analysis answers two fundamental questions:

·         Are we doing things right?

·         How do we compare to industry?

Once an organization's current performance levels are established, a comparison can be made against external standards to understand, in quantifiable terms, strengths and areas for improvement. A Benchmark Assessment study often becomes the first step when a software organization is addressing one of the following business issues:

·         Considering Outsourcing

·         Establishing a Process Improvement Initiative

·         Improving Time to Market

·         Committing to Higher Quality Levels

SPR uses its expertise in measurement to assist clients in establishing meaningful portfolio and project baselines. Then, SPR draws on its extensive industry knowledge base, derived from more than 14,531 completed software projects of all types, as a reference point against which to compare (“benchmark” against) client baseline data. It is the actual organizational data that forms the baseline and the comparative analysis against industry data that constitutes the benchmark.
 

During the study, we collect information at the project level, using a “representative sample approach.”  The sample projects selected reflect the work patterns of your organization itself, e.g., a mix of new projects, enhancements, and those with special factors such as high usage of contractors or integration of packages. In the analysis, the project data is summarized to create a complete and accurate picture of the organizational.

Our experience indicates that project-level data is more accurate and available than information at other levels of granularity. During a benchmarking engagement, we collect and analyze both hard data (productivity and quality) and project attribute information (relating to process, technology, personnel, environment, and product risk).

 

The illustration shows the elements of the Process Assessment Baseline process:

·         Benchmark

·         Analysis

·         Vertical Industry

·         Standard

·         Project Views

SPR works with client management to select a representative group of projects and actively participates in on-site quantitative and qualitative data collection.

1.       Quantitative project data is collected for key variables pertaining to project effort levels, sizing, quality and deliverables. This client-provided information is then validated by SPR for accuracy. Throughout this process we work closely with the client to ensure that all appropriate information is available for the engagement.

2.       Qualitative data focuses on organizational attributes. This information is collected by SPR consultants in interviews with selected project team members. In a consensus-driven process, data is collected that reflects staff experience, tool utilization and effectiveness, environmental factors, and process methods.

Project data is using SPR KnowledgePLAN®, SPR's proprietary estimation/modeling product, to form a divisional or enterprise view of an organization. Since SPR's methodology incorporates both quantitative and qualitative data, the organizational view presents a clear picture of current quality and productivity levels as well as a detailed explanation of the organizational characteristics leading to these performance levels.

SPR's comprehensive, inter knowledge base consists of data from over 14,531 projects across a wide range of industries and is considered to be one of the most comprehensive in the industry. We have the ability to profile organizational data against generic industry standards, Best-in-Class standards, and certain vertical industry standards. The knowledge base can also be stratified, allowing annual layers of data to be included or excluded at the client's request.

 

This unique approach produces a clear and comprehensive understanding of an organization’s productivity and quality levels as well as a detailed understanding of the organizational factors leading to these performance levels.

Analysis of Current Performance: Detailed analysis of project and organizational level performance is conducted within the framework of four broad attribute categories: Personnel, Technology, Process, and Environment. During the last decade SPR has been developing its knowledge base and has identified the factors within each attribute category that directly impact productivity and quality. By understanding these correlations, we can deliver a meaningful analysis and set of recommendations.

Comparison to External Standards: Once current levels of productivity and quality are established, they are benchmarked against external standards to provide a reference point for performance.

All project data is individually plotted with the organizational view represented by a regression line. One of the benefits of analyzing organizations at the project level is the ability to highlight best practices. For example, effective use of technologies by a project team will generally result in superior productivity and/ or quality.

These strategies are not unconnected observations but carefully constructed recommendations supported at the project and organization levels by detailed quantitative performance data.

We have the unique ability to model several improvement recommendations in SPR KnowledgePLAN® to predict productivity and quality gains based upon presumed changes to the software environment. This modeling supports an organization's ability to prioritize improvement programs and quantify return-on-investment (ROI) calculations.

 

We have performed hundreds of assessments on Fortune 1000 and government organizations worldwide, making this methodology an industry standard. Continuing research by SPR Chief Scientist Capers Jones keeps the base of comparative information and analysis of methods fresh and applicable to modern development environments.

·         A large credible knowledge base populated with over 14,531 software projects from IT, systems, commercial, and government environments

·         Over a 20 years of experience in the software assessment market supporting many Fortune 1000 and software organizations every part of the world

·         An automated benchmarking process that utilizes SPR KnowledgePLAN® to collect, aggregate, and analyze an organization's software projects

·         An assessment approach where SPR collaborates with the client to collect project data and subsequently validates it for accuracy

·         A modeling feature that quantifies productivity and quality gains resulting from improvement recommendations

SPR regularly conducts seminars, training courses and workshops for IFPUG-certified Function Point Analysis training, executive-level metrics awareness training, process improvement effectiveness training, as well as numerous custom training courses for individual clients.

Click HERE for a detailed course catalog.

SPR unique “Effectivity” analysis is a form of formal benchmarking, using traditional SPR techniques, conducted in conjunction with formal or informal process improvement assessments (e.g., CMMI?), during which the quantitative results are directly correlated with process improvement investments to produce a clear picture of what is working and what is not, what process improvements are paying for themselves (e.g., through increased productivity), and what areas of continuing investment are likely to produce the most “bang for the buck.”

Acting as a part of the proposal team, SPR assists its clients in learning about and calibrating their internal organizations and/or their own clients’ organizations through any of several methods, including developing an “Early Productivity Snapshot,” assessing the reliability and usefulness of client-supplied metrics, and triangulating individual project estimates to “surround the truth.”

In an outsourcing context, SPR assists in meeting the challenges encountered in transitioning an inherited organization by developing an organizational baseline, by recruiting and building a metrics team, and above all by communicating a metrics vision.

While a client is debating the elements going into a balanced scorecard, SPR draws upon our industry experience and knowledge base of project data to help the client better understand what metrics to use and what commitments make sense. If a client already has a balanced scorecard, SPR can help optimize the position by reviewing and strengthening the metrics data gathering capability. In addition, SPR advises clients on how to make the required metrics more than just contract management overhead and turn them into valuable knowledge capital.

Some software organizations measure the right things wrong; some simply measure the wrong things; and, of course, most don't measure anything at all. An SPR metrics counsel provides our clients the best possible metrics advice, not unlike a legal counsel, as they try to avoid these classic behaviors.