Database Evaluation Team

Definition

Database Evaluation Team: the team that performs one or more technical evaluations of the deliverable work products that are produced by the database team and the process by which they are produced

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Database Evaluation Team is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

The typical team-specific responsibilities of a Database Evaluation Team are to:

Evaluate the deliverable work products associated with the databases including:
- Database Design Document
- Implementation of the database (e.g., wrapper objects and stored procedures)
Notify the associated teams of any defects found.
Recommend improvements to the endeavor process including (but not limited to) the:
- Installation, configuration, and performance tuning of the databases.
- Standards, templates, and evaluation checklists for the deliverable work product(s).

The database evaluation team typically inherits the general team responsibilities from the team method component.

The database evaluation team typically consists of persons playing the following roles:

Technical Leader, who facilitates the evaluation meeting and evaluates the databases for technical quality.
Requirements Engineer, who evaluates the databases for conformance to the relevant data requirements.
Database Administrator, who evaluates the database design for technical quality.
System Architect, who evaluates the database design for conformance with the system architecture.
Database Architect, who evaluates the database design for conformance with the system and software architectures.
Database Engineer, who evaluates the database design for implementability and the database implementation for conformance with the database design.
Quality Engineer, who evaluates the work products for quality and conformance to the endeavor process and relevant conventions.
Technical Writer, who:
- Acts as scribe at the evaluation meeting(s).
- Summarizes the evaluation team’s findings in the evaluation summary report.
- Delivers the evaluation summary report to the:

The database evaluation team typically performs the following team-specific tasks in an incremental, iterative, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

Quality Engineering:
- Quality Control – Database Evaluation
  Evaluate the database work products
- Quality Assurance – In-Progress Review
  Audit the database process regarding:
  - The architecting activity, work flows, tasks, and techniques.
  - The standards, templates, and evaluation checklists for the database work products.

The database evaluation team typically inherits the common team tasks from the team method component.

The database evaluation team typically produces the following work products:

Quality Set:
- Evaluation Report, which documents an individual evaluator’s findings.
- Evaluation Summary Report, which summarizes the finding of the entire evaluation team.

Evaluations should not devolve into walkthroughs that require the work products’ developers to explain them to the evaluators. The work products should stand on their own.
To the extent practical, the developers of a work product should:
- Not be the only evaluators of it.
- Also informally inspect it prior to the evaluation.
A single person may play multiple roles on an evaluation team if he or she has the necessary expertise to fulfill multiple roles. This is especially true on small endeavors.
An database evaluation team typically inherits the common team guidelines from the team method component.