The RCM Model establishes five Capability levels (level 0 is an initial level that does not count):
Combining these three factors allows us to provide specific solutions to the specific problems of organizations.
- At level 0, the requirements are included in documents and are unstructured other than being organized into the chapters of the document itself.
- At level 1, the implementation of the requirements engineering process in an organization starts.
- At level 2, a Requirements Definition and Management process has been established.
- At level 3, project acceptance and management has been defined.
- At level 4, design elements have been defined.
- At level 5, there is consistent the change management, reuse of requirements and corporate implementation of the requirements engineering process.
Capability Levels
- Level 0: Unstructured
- Level 1: Structured
- Level 2: Defined process
- Level 3: Initial Traced: Project acceptance and management has been traced
- Level 4: Traced: design elements have been traced
- Level 5: Modelled
Each of the capability levels is comprised of different practices grouped into four categories:
- Practices relating to Requirements Engineering
- Practices relating to Change Management
- Practices for guaranteeing Corporate Implementation
- Reuse practices
The level-based approach measures the situation of an organization in relation to all the aspects of the Requirements Definition and Management process. Nevertheless, the organization’s business approach and its specific needs is taken into account when designing the Improvement Plan; improvement actions can only be established in specific areas of Requirements Definition and Management, corresponding to one or several levels, that do not necessarily have to be undertaken in the order indicated by the levels defined in the RCM Model.
In the Improvement Plan takes into account the level identified as objective (or the specific areas of each level). In order to put the Improvement Plan into practice we must define the practices to be implemented, configure the tools required to give optimal support to the processes and train team both in methodological aspects and in the use of the tools required to implement those practices. Visure’s Requirements Definition and Management Solution fully supports the practices defined in the RCM Model.
RCM Assessment
The RCM Model has an assessment model based on the analysis of:
- Requirements Definition and Management process documentation.
- Project documentation within the requirements framework.
In addition to revising this documentation, different interviews are held with all the relevant Stakeholders , in such a manner that every viewpoint is taken into account.
All of this information is treated objectively in order to obtain an adherence weighting of the organization’s processes with respect to the model’s practices, relative to their level of compliance with the RCM Model and also for each RCM level in their different categories.
The results of the assessment method, the Gap Analysis, are presented in a quantitative and qualitative summarized manner, identifying strengths and opportunities to improve, and metrics and graphics that show the organizational’s global compliance in relation to each level and its degree of compliance in relation to the practices of each level, grouped by categories.
