August 06, 2008
Information Process Maturity Model: The Basics
As project management methodologies became standardized, the pressure on information development practitioners to establish processes and quality gave birth to industry best practices.
The rapid changes in project management came with the need to upgrade documentation. However, the word “documentation” alone already had a negative connotation and receives a not-so-pleasant regard from its first practitioners.
For one, documentation is too inward-looking, something that exists almost for its own sake, and is without much thought for end-users. In his book, Information Development: Managing Documentation Projects, Portfolio and People (2007), JoAnn T. Hackos shared:
“Documentation is by its connotations inward looking—tasked with explaining what is. It serves the needs of those that originated the policy, the process, and the procedures, including those processes defined during the development of hardware and software products.
“Unfortunately, process and product documentation is not defined as meeting the needs of people who must use the processes or products to perform functions. People who need information to learn and be productive at work and at home are not well served by content that is focused on how a product was developed or how it is intended to work. Nor are they served by formal legal agreements or statements of contract or policy in learning to perform a procedure efficiently and effectively.”
With the growth of information that serve the need of end-users for valuable knowledge and to perform functions, documentation metamorphosed into information development, a more multi-dimentional approach that was also meant to provide value in terms of quality and cost savings to organizations. As project management methodologies followed industry standards set by such organizations as CMMI or ISO, the pressure on information developers to standardize their craft increased. Thus, the birth of Information Process Maturity Model (IPMM).
In a nutshell, the IPMM exists to gauge the competency of information development teams (or companies) in matching the maturity models that engineering or software development outfits follow. Ultimately, by achieving or going through any of IPMM’s five levels, the end-result is increased productivity, reduced cost, and high quality information.
An organization is evaluated on eight (8) key areas of competency, namely:
- Organizational Structure – Creating an organizational set-up that allows team members to produce high-quality information.
- Quality Assurance – Ensuring that there is a uniform standard of quality gathered through copyediting, peer review, technical review, and usability testing.
- Planning – A series of activities that asses budget, schedule, and content requirements.
- Estimating and Scheduling – An assessment of requirements tracking and the impact that changes have on the overall success of the project.
- Hiring and Training – Information developers are hired by equally or more knowledgeable professionals in the field, as well as exposed to various communication opportunities to be more familiar with best practices.
- Publications Design – Usability testing, interface requirements, and user studies drive the development of publication design.
- Cost Control – Information development activities are evaluated according to their return on investment.
- Quality Management – A set of quality based on customers’ needs and satisfaction with the product, the information’s impact on training and marketing, and overall impact of the technical communication activities are defined at all levels of the organization.
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