This Key Process Area (KPA) is called Software Subcontract Management by CMM/CMMI but aligns with the PMBOK® Procurement Management knowledge area. The goal is to select vendors that are best able to meet the needs of the projects in terms of work, product, and budget. Note that while the PMBOK® paints procurement management activities with a broad brush to cover all industries, CMM/CMMI are only interested in activities that pertain to software subcontractors or software vendors. The Procurement Management plan must cover any acquisitions. As with the other KPAs, software subcontract management is organized into objectives, commitments, skills, activities, measurements, and verifications.
goals
The 4 objectives of this KPA are:
- Qualified software subcontractors are selected by the project manager. This objective is fully supported by the Conduct of Procurement process.
- The client and the subcontractor accept their mutual commitments. The contract for the delivery of goods and/or services for consideration is the agreement. The contract (procurement contract award) is the result of the conduct procurement process.
- The client and the subcontractor maintain continuous communications. There is nothing in the Purchasing Management processes that specifically addresses this objective; however, scheduling regular review meetings, such as performance reviews, will accomplish this goal.
- The client tracks the software subcontractor’s performance against commitments. Work performance information, performance reports, and performance reviews are inputs to the procurement management process and are used to track results against commitments.
Performance Commitment
There are 2 commitments: that the project follow a written organizational policy to manage the software subcontractor and that a subcontract manager be designated to be responsible for establishing and managing the software contract. The policy is the responsibility of the organization subcontracting the work and you, or someone you assign the role to, is the subcontract manager. Your Procurement Management plan is not an organizational policy, but it will supersede one for the project you are managing.
ability to perform
You will demonstrate the ability to perform the activities required by your plan by allocating adequate resources and funds for subcontractor selection and management work. You are the first resource assigned to the project, and all organizational policies, standards, vendor lists, and your Procurement Management plan are also resources. Any manager or other person you assign to the job of selecting or managing the subcontractor must be properly trained in that job and receive guidance on the technical aspects of the contract. Your human resource management plan will describe how this is done. Resources assigned to your project by outside organizations, such as a Procurement group, must be trained by that group.
Performed activities
- Define and plan the work according to the documented procedure and the subcontracted work is described in a Statement of Work (SOW), which is derived from the project SOW. The documented procedure in this case will be your Purchasing Management plan. Detailed activities include make or buy decisions and choice of supplier selection criteria. The SOW must also be reviewed and accepted by resources working on subcontractor selection and management.
- Select the subcontractor based on their ability to perform the work in accordance with a documented procedure. This is the Make Procurement process described in your Procurement Management plan.
- The contract between the client and the subcontractor is used to manage the subcontract. This activity includes specifying the work products to be delivered by the subcontractor, the criteria to be met, how changes will be made, acceptance criteria, and how the subcontractor’s performance will be monitored. This is all of the standard stuff that is covered in the Make Procurements and Manage Procurements processes.
- The customer reviews and approves the development plan of the software subcontractor. This will be a covered deliverable in the SOW and the approval process and conditions for approval will also be described there.
- The subcontractor plan is used to track the activities of the subcontractor. Follow up should be done in the status review meetings you have with the subcontractor’s project manager.
- Changes to the SOW and the subcontractor contract are decided according to a documented procedure. This procedure will be the Contract Change Control System described in the Manage Procurement process.
- Client performs periodic status/coordination reviews with subcontractor management. These are called PMBOK® Procurement Performance Reviews and are part of the Manage Procurement process. These should be detailed in the SOW and should be done at scheduled intervals (for example, once a week) to review the status of the subcontractor’s project. This activity continues by specifying that deviations from the plan be addressed and that conflicts be addressed. Corrective actions are part of the responsibilities of the PM subcontractor. Deviations not addressed by that PM would result in a dispute and disputes are resolved using the Claims Management tool described in Manage Procurements. The best way to meet these needs is to ensure that the subcontractor’s PM manages your project in accordance with project management best practices (which require that corrective action be taken when results deviate from plan). You should also ensure that the PM maintains an action log or issue log to capture any issues they have with the project.
- Periodic technical reviews are carried out with the subcontractor. This activity verifies that the product being produced meets your needs and any quality objectives set for it. This activity is described in the Manage Procurement process as Inspections and Audits. Interpret this as functional specification reviews and detailed design documents produced by the subcontractor where the requirements captured in your business requirements document are translated into features and code.
- Formal reviews of subcontractor work products are conducted at selected milestones. These formal reviews are what I refer to as Gate Review meetings held at key milestones throughout the project. The subcontractor may have its own Gate Review meetings with you as a key stakeholder, or your Gate Review meetings may be sufficient on their own. In either case, the planned deliverables for the entire phase of the subproject should be reviewed for completeness and the plans, resources, risks, etc. of the next phase of the subproject should also be reviewed.
- The customer’s Software Quality Assurance (SQA) group oversees the subcontractor’s SQA activities in accordance with a documented procedure. This is beyond the scope of your project, unless your project is also implementing an SQA group and processes. Your project can contribute to the activity by ensuring that the contract, SOW, and your quality management plan specify the required SQA activities of the subcontractor, and by conducting audits to ensure those activities are performed.
- Your Configuration Management group oversees the subcontractor’s configuration activities. The SOW used to define the subcontractor’s responsibilities should include CM activities and these should also be captured in the subcontractor’s project plans. Reviews and audits must include verification that the subcontractor is performing its CM activities as planned by the subcontractor.
- You must perform acceptance testing of the subcontractor deliverables in accordance with a documented procedure. Inspections of deliverables, such as specifications, designs, and codes, must be governed by your plan’s Manage Procurement process. These should include testing of the software (user acceptance testing).
- The subcontractor’s performance is regularly evaluated and the evaluation is reviewed with the subcontractor. This is described in the Tools and Techniques section of the Manage Procurement process (Procurement Performance Reviews).
Measurement and Analysis
There is only one measurement: Measurements are taken and used to determine the status of Purchasing Management activities. These measurements are taken as part of monitoring overall project management activities. They will be foreseen in your project plans.
Deployment Verification
Your procurement management activities should be reviewed regularly with senior management. This can happen at Gate Review meetings and/or Steering Committee meetings, and at meetings with your sponsor. If you’re managing a project and you have a project manager reporting to you on a software subproject, you should meet with him regularly to review his procurement management activities. This could be part of the agenda for weekly status review meetings, or require meetings specifically for that purpose. Finally, the SQA group must review and/or audit the tools and activities used for Purchasing Management. This will only be possible if your organization has an SQA group. Without an SQA group, your organization may have a PMO or PMC, in which case that group would be responsible for overseeing all areas of project management, including procurement management, and would conduct project audits.
There is very little that a project manager who adheres to the project management best practices outlined in the PMBOK® would or could do to meet the Software Subcontract Management KPA criteria. The only thing outside the influence of the project manager is the establishment of a Software Quality Assurance group. This group is also essential for the software quality assurance KPA. To the best of my knowledge, there is no better way to demonstrate an understanding of project management best practices than certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP®). Project managers who meet the PMI® criteria can become certified by taking a PMP® course or similar PMP® exam preparation training and then writing the certification exam.