CMMI

CMMI is created by the Software Engineering Institute and is available in two representations: Staged and Continuous. The CMMI is the successor of CMM, CMM was developed from 1987 until 1997. In 2002 the latest version of CMMI was released: v1.1. The goal of the CMMI project was to improve usability of CMM for software engineering and other disciplines, by integrating all the different models into one model. It was created by members of industry, government and the SEI. The main sponsors included the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Systems Engineering Committee.

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is an approach that provides organizations with the essential elements for effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a single project, a division, or an entire company. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

CMMI builds on and extends the best practices of the Capability Maturity Model for software (SW-CMM), the Systems Engineering Capability model (SECM), the Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) and Supplier Sourcing (SS).

Benefits of CMMI

• Explicit linkage of Management and engineering activities to business objectives
• Improved visibility into the product life cycle and engineering activities
• Leveraging from additional areas of best practices (e.g, measurement, risk management, and supplier management)
• Robust high-maturity practices
• Visibility into additional organizational functions critical to their products and services
• Tighter coupling to relevant ISO Standards such as ISO 9001:2008, ISO 15504