What is the CMMI?
WHAT IS THE CMMI?
The CMMI is a model for improving and appraising the performance
of development organizations. It stands for "Capability Maturity
Model Integration". It is published and developed by the
Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh, PA.
The CMM (the original version of the CMMI) was originally
commissioned by the American Department of Defense to help them
qualify software vendors' capabilities. From there it quickly
evolved into a powerful tool to guide process improvement
initiatives, not only for Software Development but for many
related fields such as Systems Engineering, Product Acquisition,
Team Management, Research and Development, etc.
Today the CMMI is used around the world in military, commercial
and government organizations. It has been shown to reduce the
risks associated with development projects, increase efficiency
and improve the overall quality of products and deliverables.
Many civil industries such as transportation and
telecommunications are making it a requirement for submissions
to large tenders. Countries such as India and China are also
using it to position themselves as dependable, trustworthy
providers of world class outsourcing services.
The CMMI is best known for its five levels of organizational
maturity (see figure below). Each level represents a coherent
set of best practices organizations are expected to implement as
they become better at what they do.
Level 1: Initial (Majority of Organizations) Level 2: Managed
Process Level 3: Defined Process Level 4: Quantatively Managed
Process Level 5: Optimizing Process (less than 5% of
Organizations)
To each maturity level are associated a number of related
process areas. The process areas can be viewed as very detailed
checklists of what goals need to be achieved, what activities
performed, and what artifact created and maintained to satisfy
the requirements for a specific part of the overall development
process. The following lists the CMMI process areas organized by
maturity level. (Source: CMMI version 1.1 SW/SE/IPPD Staged
Representation )
Maturity Level 1: No process area associated with the maturity
level 1
Maturity Level 2: Requirements Management Project Planning
Project Monitoring and Control Supplier Agreement Management
Measurements and Analysis Process and Product Quality Assurance
Configuration Management
Maturity Level 3: Requirements Development Technical Solution
Verification Validation Product Integration Organizational
Process Focus Organizational Process Definition Organizational
Training Integrated Project Management for IPPD Integrated
Supplier Management Risk Management Decision Analysis and
Resolution Integrated Teaming Organizational Environment for
Integration
Maturity Level 4: Quantitative Project Management Organizational
Process Performance
Maturity Level 5: Causal Analysis and Resolution Organizational
Innovation and Deployment
The CMMI also include Generic Goals and Generic Practices. These
model elements cover the organization's ability to perform,
manage, share, measure and improve its processes.
A new feature of the CMMI (as opposed to the original CMM) is
the ability to choose between two representations of the model:
Staged or Continuous. Generally speaking, the Staged
representation is better suited to focus the organization
towards tangible yet high level goals, while the Continuous
representation allows for the precise customization of a process
improvement program or appraisal to better meet an
organization's specific requirements.
BENEFITS Here are some of the major benefits you can achieve by
using the CMMI in your organization:
1. KNOWING YOUR TRADE Are you sure everybody involved in your
projects knows exactly what their job is and how it relates with
what everyone else is doing? Just go around the office and ask
these simple questions