Evaluation Plan

Definition

The evaluation plan is the quality work product that documents all plans for performing quality control evaluations on an endeavor.

Objectives

The typical objectives of an evaluation plan are to formally document:

• Plans for performing the different types of evaluations.

Benefits

The typical benefits of an evaluation plan include:

• The evaluation plan helps to enable evaluations to be efficient and repeatable.

Contents

An evaluation plan typically has the following contents:

• Evaluation Overview:
  • Overall Objectives
  • Overall Scope
  • Evaluation Types (Description, Objectives, and Processes):
    • Reviews
    • Inspections
    • Walkthroughs
  • Overall Evaluation Schedule (Allocation of Evaluations to Phases, Builds, and Milestones)
• Evaluation Plans:
  • For each Evaluation (or Type of Evaluation):
    • Evaluation Name, Type, and Description
    • Evaluation Objectives
    • Entrance and Exit Criteria
    • Roles (Stakeholders, Participants) and Responsibilities
    • Work Products:
      • Work Products to be Evaluated
      • Evaluation Checklists
      • Problem Reports
      • Evaluation Reports
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

A evaluation plan typically has the following stakeholders:

• Producers:
  • Quality Team
• Evaluators:
  • Program Management Team
  • Project Management Team
• Approvers:
  • Program Manager or Project Manager
  • Technical Leader
• Maintainers:
  • Quality Team
• Users:
  • Management to understand what evaluations are to be performed in order to schedule and staff them.
  • Evaluation teams to understand how to perform the evaluations that have been assigned to them.
  • Customer Representative, which uses the evaluation plan to understand how evaluations are to be performed.

Phases

An evaluation plan is typically produced and maintained during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Completed
• Business Optimization: Maintained
• Initiation: Completed
• Construction: Maintained
• Delivery: Maintained
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

An evaluation plan can be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The endeavor has been started.
• The quality team has been adequately staffed and trained in quality planning.

Inputs

A evaluation plan typically has the following inputs:

• Work Products:
  • Contract
  • Statement of Work
  • Master Schedule
  • Management
  • Quality Plan
  • Risk Management Plan
  • Application Vision Statement
  • System Requirements Specification
  • System Architecture Document
• Stakeholders:
  • Customer Representative

Guidelines

• The evaluation plan is typically developed, refined, and updated at the same time as the management plan.
• Make sure that all participating organization and teams have a chance to review the evaluation plan before it is implemented.
• As with most document work products, tailoring will consist of removing the unnecessary and cost ineffective parts, making modifications, and adding new parts.

Conventions

Evaluation plans are typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Evaluation Plan