Capability Maturity Model ( CMM )

What is CMM?

A Capability Maturity Model defines the characteristics of a mature, capable process. It identifies the practices that are basic to implementing effective processes and addresses advanced practices. It also assigns to those practices associated maturity levels ranging from unrepeatable to mature. Typically a path through the various practices is recommended for achieving higher levels of maturity and improving an organization's processes. The implementation of CMM helps an organization in achieving improved quality of the products, processes and systems, improvement in productivity, and reduced cycle time for projects. The software community has developed the SW-CMM with leadership from the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI). The SEI Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) describes a framework that organizations can use to determine their ability to develop and maintain software; it is a model for organizational improvement. The SW-CMM is based on the process management work of W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, and Phillip B. Crosby, and can be applied by organizations to improve their software process through a software process assessment. The SW-CMM also can be applied by acquisition organizations to select qualified software vendors via contractor evaluations. CMM directs software organizations to gain control of their development and maintenance software processes while simultaneously evolving toward software engineering and management excellence. It was designed to guide software organizations in selecting process improvement strategies with current process maturity in mind, and identify the few issues most critical to software quality and process improvement.

The SW-CMM, SE-CMM, and IPD-CMM provide the basis for the initial CMM Integration SM (CMMISM) product suite. The direction is to integrate the development characteristics and delivery methods of these and future capability models (CMs), which will enable users to reduce the cost of performing assessments and implementing improvements. The initial CMM Integration Product Suite includes a framework for generating CMMISM products to meet business objectives/mission needs, and a set of CMMI products produced by the framework. The framework includes the common elements and best features of the current models, as well as rules and methods for generating the CMMI products. Discipline-specific elements (e.g., software, systems engineering) of the CMMI Product Suite will provide the user with the ability to select elements applicable to specific situations.

CMM is organized into five maturity levels:

Except for Level 1, each maturity level is broken down into several key process areas that indicate where an organization should focus to improve its software process. The key process areas at Level 2 focus on the software project's concerns related to establishing basic project management controls. They are Requirements Management, Software Project Planning, Software Project Tracking and Oversight, Software Subcontract Management, Software Quality Assurance, and Software Configuration Management. The key process areas at Level 3 address both project and organizational issues, as the organization establishes an infrastructure that institutionalizes effective software engineering and management processes across all projects. They are Organization Process Focus, Organization Process Definition, Training Program, Integrated Software Management, Software Product Engineering, Inter-group Coordination, and Peer Reviews. The key process areas at Level 4 focus on establishing a quantitative understanding of both the software process and the software work products being built. They are Quantitative Process Management and Software Quality Management. The key process areas at Level 5 cover the issues that the organization and the projects must address to implement continual, measurable software process improvement. They are Defect Prevention, Technology Change Management, and Process Change Management.

Each key process area is described in terms of the key practices that contribute to satisfying its goals. The key practices describe the infrastructure and activities that contribute to the effective implementation and institutionalization of the key process area. The software process for both management and engineering activities is documented, standardized, and integrated into a standard software process for the organization. All projects will use an approved, tailored version of the organization's standard software process for developing and maintaining software.

CMMI

The purpose of Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMISM) is to provide guidance for improving the organization's processes and the ability to manage the development, acquisition, and maintenance of products and services. The CMMI provides a process improvement framework that helps integrate multiple disciplines with the main focus on software engineering and systems engineering. Like the SW-CMM, the CMMI includes 5 Levels to designate process maturity. Level 5, optimizing, is the highest of the 5 levels. Organizations achieving CMMI Level 5 are continuously evaluating, improving, and deploying process and technology. This model includes systems engineering, software engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development, and supplier sourcing.

The Promise of CMMI

Capability Maturity Model-Integration (CMMISM) is for projects or organizations that want to do the following:

Why should you go for CMMI?

Tailored for Your Organization

CMMI is designed to be tailored to the goals set by your business environment, unlike many previous process improvement models. The built-in flexibility of the CMMI provides you the opportunity to:

Compatibility

The CMMI is compatible with a wide variety of capability and process improvement frameworks as shown in the following table: