SEI Technical Initiatives

Initiatives on which the SEI is actively working are summarized below. The current initiatives are divided into the following categories:

• Management
• Engineering
• Acquisition

Management

• Capability Maturity Model Integration
  The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI^®) Initiative builds on the SEI's success in promoting widespread interest in process improvement inspired by the Capability Maturity Model^® (CMM^®) for Software. Staff from the SEI, the DoD, and industry developed an integrated product suite of models, training, and an appraisal method that provides the DoD and industry with support for process and product improvement. The models provide a structured and integrated collection of best practices (capability maturity models) that are used by organizations to improve their technical and management performance in disciplines that affect software. The initiative is currently focused on transitioning the product suite into widespread use. In addition, the SEI is harmonizing this work with appropriate national and international standards.

• Team Software Process
  The Team Software Process^SM (TSP^SM) Initiative extends and refines the CMM and Personal Software Process^SM (PSP^SM) methods to guide engineers in their work on development and maintenance teams. The TSP method shows them how to build a self-directed team and how to perform as an effective team member. It also shows management how to guide and support these teams and how to maintain an environment that fosters high team performance.

• Software Engineering Measurement and Analysis
  The Software Engineering Measurement and Analysis (SEMA) Initiative helps software organizations to develop and use data-driven decision making to enhance their ability to improve and manage their organization and projects. The SEMA team provides measurement and analysis practices and techniques, and collects and disseminates data on the costs and benefits of software engineering practices.

Engineering

• Networked Systems Survivability Program
  The Networked Systems Survivability Program concentrates on ensuring that appropriate technology and practices are used to prevent successful attacks on networked systems and to limit the damage caused by successful attacks. The program includes the CERT^® Coordination Center, which counters intrusions into systems connected to the Internet, identifies security flaws that permit intrusions, and works to eliminate those flaws.

• Product Line Practice
  The Product Line Practice (PLP) Initiative focuses on selecting, refining, and establishing technical practices of demonstrated effectiveness for exploiting commonalities that exist across software systems in particular domains. Some commercial and government systems have been developed using a product line approach and achieved greatly improved quality and, at the same time, significant reduction in cost and time to deployment. This initiative is codifying and disseminating successful software product line practices to lower the cost of adoption for all organizations.

• Software Architecture Technology
  The Software Architecture Technology (SAT) Initiative is aimed at establishing proven techniques for predicting the impact of software architecture decisions on selected product quality attributes such as performance, reliability, modifiability, and usability. This includes technology and validated methods to help organizations define, evaluate, and document software architectures as well as reconstruct architectures from source code.

• Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components
  The Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components (PACC) Initiative is aimed at developing repeatable techniques for predicting properties of assemblies of components before the components are actually developed or purchased. Using a combination of empirical and formal reasoning, it seeks to ensure that the builders of systems have the ability to select software components on the basis of their predicted runtime behavior within specific assemblies and therefore to predict the runtime behavior of these assemblies or systems.

• Integration of Software-Intensive Systems
  The Integration of Software-Intensive Systems Initiative is aimed at identifying and maturing software engineering methods and techniques for broad-based and sustained integration and interoperability across components, systems, and systems-of-systems. This includes identifying best practice for interoperability and integration to DoD and other organizations as their systems migrate to an increasingly network-centric world; identifying leading indicators that predict success in organizational, constructive and operational interoperability; and providing guidance on the selection and use of technologies and methods to field and sustain interoperable systems both at the syntactic and semantic level.

• Performance-Critical Systems
  The Performance-Critical Systems Initiative creates and applies technology addressing the need to ensure that critical systems are highly dependable, that is, able to meet user needs despite implementation faults, design faults, and deliberate attacks.

Acquisition

• Acquisition Support Program
  The newly established Acquisition Support Program is helping the DoD and other government acquirers make evolutionary and revolutionary improvements in the acquisition of software-intensive systems. It provides opportunities for SEI initiatives to create, apply, and amplify new technologies.

 

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