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In SPMEI, there are three types of questions. In the first type, the respondent is requested to select the statement or statements that apply to the project. This question type is extensively used in the design of SPMEI. An example of this type of question is provided below.

RC6. Check the statement/s that applies to the project. (Check only one.)

Adequate slack time is planned in the schedule for consequences due to risks. There is not any slack time planned for consequences due to risks.

Not enough slack time is planned in the schedule for consequences due to risks. In the second question type, the respondent is asked about an aspect of the project management. A question taken from the communication section of the instrument is presented below.

C2. Who are generally present in the project status meetings? (Check all that apply.)

Project manager Project team leaders Project team members

Customer/s and/or user representatives

Various stakeholders or stakeholder representatives Executive management / Project sponsor

The third type of question uses a statement associated with a Likert scale, which is a psychometric scale that is commonly used in questionnaires. The Likert scale is frequently known as an “agree-disagree” scale (Brace, 2004). This technique is easy to distribute in self-administered questionnaires. Often, responses using the Likert scale are associated with scores. These scores may be from 1 to 5, negative or positive, or -2 to +2 (Brace, 2004). Brace states that “as these are interval data, means and standard deviations can be calculated for each statement.” An example to this type of question is presented below.

RM9

Automated requirements development and management tools are used.

Completely Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Completely Disagree

Not Applicable

Project management efforts naturally employ a set of best, worst and common practices. Jones (2004) analyzed about 250 large software projects for software project management practices. In his analysis, he identified a set of factors associated with successful and failed projects. One of the factors is change control management. He identified that while effective change control management is a factor in achieving success, ineffective change control management is a factor in failure. In this particular example, effective change control management may be considered as an example for a best practice associated with success. Ineffective change control management may be considered as an example for a worst practice associated with failure. For example, SPMEI investigates the project for the existence and quality of change control management related practices in its various sections such as scope management and requirements management. Conducting project status meetings may be considered as an example of common practice. Today, in most projects, project status meetings are held with the participation of various people at various times. With broad involvement of necessary stakeholders, the items discussed in these meetings determine the effectiveness or the quality of project status meetings. SPMEI also investigates such practices.

Project management best, worst and common practices result in a set of activities and entities. SPMEI investigates the effectiveness of activities and entities related to project management in four different approaches. Examples will be provided for each approach.

a. Approach 1: The Existence of an Activity

In this approach, the existence of a certain activity is sought. This activity is generally the result of a best practice. The example below is taken from the configuration management section of SPMEI.

CM3. Check the statement/s that applies to the project. (Check all that apply.)

Baselines and configuration items are identified at the beginning of the project and updated as necessary.

The owner or responsible staff is identified for each configuration item. Every configuration item has a unique identifier.

Important characteristics for each configuration item are identified such as author, type, date, version number etc.

None

In the second statement above, SPMEI gathers project data whether the owner or responsible staff is identified for each configuration item or not. This particular activity is a practice from Capability Maturity Model Integration 1.1 (CMMI v1.1). This practice is listed as a subpractice under the identify configuration items specific practice of configuration management process area in CMMI v1.1 (CMMI v1.1 Continuous Presentation, page 504).

b. Approach 2: The Existence of an Entity

In this approach, the existence of a certain entity is sought. During project development, the best practices result in certain entities. For example, an effective configuration management requires the development of configuration management document, the establishment of a configuration control board, and generation of a configuration item list. SPMEI searches the existence of these entities as follows in the example below.

CM2. Check the statement/s that applies to the project. (Check all that apply.)

There is a configuration management document.

There is a configuration or change control board, committee or team. There is a configuration items list.

None

c. Approach 3: How Well an Activity is Conducted

In this approach, SPMEI gathers data on the rigor or the quality of certain activities. Jones (1998) emphasizes the importance of automation in project management by stating, “…the lagging projects tend to be essentially manual for most project management functions. The leading projects deploy a notable quantity of quality control

and project management automation.” In the example below, the rigor in using the

automating of project management tools in planning the project is inquired.

PPE 22

Various project management tools are used in planning the project.

Completely Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Completely Disagree

Not Applicable

d. Approach 4: The Rigor or the Quality in the Existence of an Entity

In this final approach, SPMEI gathers data on the rigor or the quality of certain entities. Having more experienced project team members than inexperienced project team members is an obvious advantage for project organizations. This aspect is inquired in SPMEI as follows in the example below.

T14

There are more experienced team members than the inexperienced team members.

Completely Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Completely Disagree

Not Applicable