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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…
… To the project managers:
a. What is the difference between a plan and a schedule?
b. What do you record about the estimates that are being
made?
c. Do you estimate size as well as effort when doing your
planning? Do you monitor both attributes during the life
of the project?
… To the configuration managers:
a. What is a baseline?
b. What is the purpose of a configuration audit?
c. Who authorizes changes to the configuration units?
… To the quality assurance analysts:
a. What is the object of Quality
Assurance?
b. How is it different from Quality Control? From Testing?
c. Who, in the organization, knows about the Quality Assurance
activities and results?
If people in your organization cannot answer these questions
right away or if nobody knows what these roles are or who
performs them, then your staff has an urgent need for some
education in their respective trade. Why not start with a
primer on the CMMI?
2. UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU STAND
Are you doing better or worst than your peers and competitors?
When it comes to process improvement, are you "cutting edge"
or a laggard organization?
How can you tell?
The CMMI is both complete and universally relevant, allowing
for very precise and detailed benchmarking of process
performance within as well as across organizations and
industry segments.
3. GETTING A STRUCTURE, LOGICAL, TIME-PROVEN ROADMAP FOR IMPROVEMENT
Rather than being a recipe to be followed blindly and
faithfully, the CMMI is a well-organized list of things
that need to be taken care of in order to be systematically
successful in your development projects. Aligning your
improvement plan to the CMMI levels ensures that you don't
forget anything and effectively protects you from the infamous
"tunnel vision" effect.
4. POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A BEST-PRACTICE COMPANY
If your organization develops products, you probably want
your clients (be them internal or external) to look up to you
as a disciplined, knowledgeable, reliable and trustworthy
supplier. Adhering to the principles and practices of the
CMMI will go a long way to achieve this, both in your clients'
perceptions and in reality. Publicly committing to following
the CMMI is like saying "We will do the right things, and we
will do them right".
CONCLUSION: Is the CMMI right for you?
Unless you believe that common sense does not apply to your
context, then the CMMI is a powerful tool to guide your
process improvements efforts. Whether yours is a
mega-corporation with thousands of employees or a small outfit
with just a handful of developers, the CMMI can help you
deliver better products faster.
Studies have shown that companies that invest 5% to 10% of their
operating costs into process improvement typically experience
a return on investment of 100% the first year and upwards of
400% after 3 to 5 years. These returns on investments are based
on reductions in the number of defects, faster time to market,
improvements in estimation capabilities and better project
control resulting in fewer schedule and cost overruns.
If you are under the impression that your company or organization
is too small to benefit from the CMMI, then consider this: Are
you too small for your projects to be late? For your requirements
to be vague and imprecise, resulting in a lot of rework and
unsatisfied customer? Do you sometime worry that your team won't
Be able to deliver in time for the next trade show, yet don't
know how help them out? If you can relate to any of these
situations, then look more closely into CMMI. It's no silver
bullet, but you just might sleep better at night!
=========================================================
For additional information:
• The CMMI web site: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi
• Some return on investment
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00sr003/00sr003chap02.html
• Process Academy's web site: http://www.ProcessAcademy.ca
A PDF version of this article can be found at:
http://www.dovico.com/documents/What-is-the-CMMI-process-improvement-v1-00-20030730.pdf
========================================================
About the Author: Françis Dion is a software development and
process improvement specialist. He is an authorized CMMI trainer
as well as a certified process assessor and auditor. mailto:Francis.Dion@ProcessAcademy.ca.
About the Sponsor: DOVICO Software has been a global market
leader in timesheet and project tracking solutions since 1989,
producing time related products that help clients attain CMMI
standards. An example of such CMMI standards are Timing Devices
through which end-users can track time associated with the
phases they are in to meet PSP and/or TSP guidelines. To
learn more about DOVICO's solutions, go to http://www.dovico.com
About the Author
About the Author: Françis Dion is a software development and
process improvement specialist. He is an authorized CMMI trainer
as well as a certified process assessor and auditor. mailto:Francis.Dion@ProcessAcademy.ca.
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