SCAMPI places a heavy emphasis on methodically planning and tracking data collected during the assessment. The extensive pre-onsite document review allows the team members (if they choose) to narrow the onsite search for new information. This front-loaded work ( "The Assessment Team Begins to Review Documents") helps the team develop an understanding of the information that is needed and how that information will be used. As with a CBA IPI assessment, of course, the assessment team looks for information to confirm that the practices implied by the documentation have in fact been implemented.
The assessment team continually manages the data collected and identifies new data collection activities to fill known information needs. Instruments such as questionnaires tend to be used early in the assessment, providing leads to other data collection activities. Presentations are sometimes used to provide a flexible forum where members of the organization can explain important information about the organization’s practices. A document review provides the most explicit representation of the existence of CMMI practices. Finally, interviews are conducted.
For each of the information-gathering activities, the team:
- Determines if the information is acceptable as objective evidence of CMMI practices.
- Relates the evidence of the organization’s procedures to corresponding practices in the model.
- Ties procedures to where they belong in the organization.
- When the team has finished its data collection, the gaps found are confirmed with the organization.