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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #73194
Title: ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT FOR IMPROVING TECHNICAL OUTCOMES

Author
item Alessi, Randolph
item Amerman, Carroll
item ANDREWS, BLAKE - ROCKWELL COLLINS
item Korthals, Rodney
item Schneider, Sally
item Shannon, Michael
item WIDMANN, E - HUGHS AIRCRAFT
item WORL, J - BATTELLE
item Voorhees, Ward

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The technological innovation process occurs within organizations at varying levels of performance and effectiveness. Our first objective was to improve the effectiveness of a software team that develops farm information systems within the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Lessons learned could then be transferred to other teams and sites to help improve national collaboration on larger ARS software systems. A team-based assessment strategy for process improvement was chosen based on work of the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Systems Engineering Process Assessment (SEPA). Results show that many engineering processes are weakly represented and poorly understood. Additionally, there is a difference in understanding among managers, project leaders and software practitioners. This team-based process improvement method, due to its close connection with people at all levels in the organization, proved useful for improving the software work environment.