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!



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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/00sr003/00sr

003chap02.html

• Process Academy's web site: http://www.ProcessAcademy.ca



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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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