Establish and maintain the project's defined process from project startup through the life of the project.

Refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about the organizational process assets.

Refer to the Organizational Process Focus process area for more information about organizational process needs and objectives and deploying the organization’s set of standard processes on projects.

The project’s defined process consists of defined processes that form an integrated, coherent lifecycle for the project.

The project's defined process should satisfy the project's contractual and operational needs, opportunities, and constraints. It is designed to provide a best fit for the project’s needs. A project's defined process is based on the following factors:

·   Customer requirements

·   Product and product component requirements

·   Commitments

·   Organizational process needs and objectives

·   Organization’s set of standard processes and tailoring guidelines

·   Operational environment

·   Business environment

Establishing the project’s defined process at project startup helps to ensure that project staff and stakeholders implement a set of activities needed to efficiently establish an initial set of requirements and plans for the project. As the project progresses, the description of the project’s defined process is elaborated and revised to better meet the project’s requirements and the organization’s process needs and objectives. Also, as the organization’s set of standard processes change, the project’s defined process may need to be revised.

Typical Work Products

1.    The project’s defined process

Subpractices

1.    Select a lifecycle model from those available from the organizational process assets.

2.    Select the standard processes from the organization's set of standard processes that best fit the needs of the project.

3.    Tailor the organization’s set of standard processes and other organizational process assets according to the tailoring guidelines to produce the project’s defined process.

Sometimes the available lifecycle models and standard processes are inadequate to meet a specific project’s needs. Sometimes the project will be unable to produce required work products or measures. In such circumstances, the project will need to seek approval to deviate from what is required by the organization. Waivers are provided for this purpose.

4.    Use other artifacts from the organization's process asset library as appropriate.

Other artifacts may include the following:

·   Lessons-learned documents

·   Templates

·   Example documents

·   Estimating models

5.    Document the project's defined process.

The project's defined process covers all of the activities for the project and its interfaces to relevant stakeholders.

6.    Conduct peer reviews of the project's defined process.

Refer to the Verification process area for more information about conducting peer reviews.

7.    Revise the project's defined process as necessary.