Capability Study
The output of a process is expected to meet customer requirements, specifications, or engineering tolerances. Engineers can conduct a process capability study to determine the extent to which the process can meet these expectations.
The ability of a process to meet specifications can be expressed as a single number using a process capability index or it can be assessed using control charts. Either case requires running the process to obtain enough measurable output so that engineering is confident that the process is stable and so that the process mean and variability can be reliably estimated. Statistical process control defines techniques to properly differentiate between stable processes, processes that are drifting (experiencing a long-term change in the mean of the output), and processes that are growing more variable. Process capability indices are only meaningful for processes that are stable (in a state of statistical control).
For Information Technology, ISO 15504 specifies a process capability measurement framework for assessing process capability. This measurement framework consists of 5.5+0.5 levels of process capability from none (Capability Level 0) to optimizing processes (CL 5). The measurement framework has been generalized so that it can be applied to non IT processes. There are currently two process reference models covering software and systems. The Capability Maturity Model in its latest version (CMMI continuous) also follows this approach.
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