Some government organizations consider maturity level ratings when making their acquisition decisions. Some of these organizations accept the results of appraisals conducted by the organization being evaluated for a contract. Other organizations request government-run evaluations.

No. The SEI collects appraisal data provided by organizations that have had a valid appraisal conducted by an SEI-authorized Lead Appraiser. The SEI reports this information in aggregate form in maturity profiles.

The SEI protects the confidentiality of each organization's appraisal data and will not, without permission, identify an organization and its maturity level achievement. The SEI will not confirm or deny that a particular organization has had an appraisal. If an organization chooses to discuss its appraisal results in a public forum or publish such results, the SEI may refer to such presentations or publications since it is then public knowledge. Appraisal results belong to the appraisal sponsor within the organization that is appraised.

The SEI will, if requested, publish appraisal results of individual organizations on the Published CMMI Appraisal Results Web page.

CMMI users drive all requirements by submitting change requests. However, full implementation and expansion decisions derived from these requirements are made by the CMMI Steering Group.

Commercial industry product developers who use CMMs have participated as members of the product team, the CCB, and the Steering Group. If your company wishes to participate in the future evolution of the CMMI Product Suite, contact

Bob Rassa Raytheon Electronic Systems Phone 310 / 334-0764 FAX 310 / 334-5770 E-mail rcrassa@raytheon.com

A good first step is to visit the SEI Web site to gather information about CMMI and to review your organization's current processes. Attend CMMI training and decide when you are ready for a SCAMPI appraisal. Details about getting started with CMMI are available at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/start/.

 You can submit change requests and comments about CMMI using the CMMI User Feedback Process. Use the change request forms or the comment form. See the instructions at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/tools/cr/.

Each Service provides members to participate on the CMMI Steering Group, the product team, and the CMMI CCB.

The SEI does not certify the results of any appraisal nor is there an official accreditation body for CMMI. True certification of appraisal results would involve the ongoing monitoring of organizations' capabilities, a shelf life for appraisal results, and other administrative elements.

The SEI does not have a defined requirement for periodic follow-up after appraisals, nor does it accept legal responsibility for the performance of appraised organizations. All of these characteristics are required for a program that would provide certification of appraisal results.

The SEI urges customers to request a copy of an Appraisal Disclosure Statement (ADS) when evaluating suppliers. The ADS not only documents the achieved maturity level or capability level profile but also documents which parts of the organization were appraised.

Organizations can report their CMMI-based achievements to the SEI to be published on the List of Published SCAMPI Appraisal Results Web page. See that page for more information.

For more information on appraisal methods and for a directory of authorized appraisers who can perform them, see the SEI Appraisal Program Web page at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/tools/appraisals/.

The CMMI project was formed to improve the usability of CMM technology for a set of disciplines including and extending beyond software engineering. As the CMMI concept developed, the scope of the project was restricted to a few disciplines most needed by government and industry until the concept was proven.

The selection of software engineering, systems engineering, and integrated product development CMMs was made by industry and government participants for the initial proof-of-concept phase. However, the product suite was designed to accommodate expansion of its discipline coverage and product and project lifecycle coverage.

The Steering Group guides and approves the plans of the Product Team, provides consultation on significant CMMI project issues, and ensures involvement from a variety of interested communities.

The Product Team writes, reviews, revises, discusses, and agrees on the structure and technical content of the CMMI Product Suite, including the framework, models, training, and appraisal materials. Development activities are based on multiple inputs. These inputs include an A-Specification and guidance specific to each release provided by the Steering Group, source models, change requests received from the user community, and input received from pilots and other stakeholders.

The Configuration Control Board is the official mechanism for controlling changes to the CMMI models and Introduction to CMMI training. As such, this group ensures integrity over the life of the product suite by reviewing all proposed changes to the baseline and approving only those changes that satisfy the identified issues and meet the criteria for the upcoming release.

The CMMI steward (i.e., the SEI) ensures the quality and widespread availability of the CMMI Product Suite, supports its adoption, and facilitates its maintenance and evolution.

CMMI stands for Capability Maturity Model Integration. CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. 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.

The CMMI Framework is the basic conceptual structure that organizes CMMI model, appraisal, and training components as well as rules and methods for generating individual CMMI models, appraisal materials, and training materials.

The CMMI Product Suite is a set of CMMI-related products that enables users to improve their processes. These products include CMMI models, a guidebook, SCAMPI appraisal methods, and CMMI training courses.

CMMI models and the guidebook are accessible from the CMMI Tools page at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/models/.

SCAMPI information is accessible from the CMMI Appraisals Web page at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/tools/appraisals/.

Descriptions of CMMI courses and registration information are accessible from the CMMI Training Web page at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/training/.

The purpose of the CMMI Product Suite is to improve efficiency, return on investment, and effectiveness of process improvement. CMMI integrates interdependent disciplines that are related to a particular area of interest. For example, the CMMI for Development model integrates the disciplines that comprise processes that develop and maintain products and services

The purpose of the CMMI project is to support the development and maintenance of the CMMI Product Suite in a way that meets the needs of its users.

As the steward of all CMM-related intellectual property (including the CMMI products) produced within Carnegie Mellon, the SEI does the following:

• supports the transition of CMMI into broad use across government and industry
• maintains and evolves CMMI in a way that best meets the needs of the community
• ensures that the quality of present and future CMMI products is protected for the Department of Defense, its suppliers, and users of the products
• ensures a reliable, valid, and consistent set of products and services for users

Requirements are published in a specification developed by the CMMI Steering Group entitled A Specification for the CMMI Product Suite (A-Spec).

he most complete and up-to-date source of information about CMMI products, publications, and more is the CMMI Web site, which is located at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/.

The following models were used as sources in the development of the first set of CMMI models:

• SW-CMM Version 2 Draft C
• EIA/IS 731 (SECM)
• IPD-CMM Version 0.98

The SEI does not publish the names of specific individuals, organizations, or projects without permission from the appraisal sponsor.

The SEI maintains a public database of Published SCAMPI Appraisal Results at http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/. Once an appraisal has passed quality checkpoints, an authorization form is sent to the Lead Appraiser. When an organization wishes its appraisal results to be published on the SEI Web site, the appraisal sponsor must authorize it by signing and returning the authorization form. Once this form is received the appraisal detail will be displayed.

Appraisal information reported to the SEI is treated as proprietary and confidential. An appraisal's results are owned by the appraisal sponsor (usually a person within the organization that was appraised). The sponsor may publicize this information at his or her discretion.

If the organization prefers to formalize the confidentiality of the appraisal being reported to the SEI, the Lead Appraiser can use the Non-Disclosure Letter and the SEI Non-Disclosure Agreement.

The CMMI Steering Group, CMMI Product Team, and CMMI Configuration Control Board maintain the CMMI Product Suite. The CMMI Product Suite is maintained on behalf of its sponsors, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) sponsors.

Members of industry, government, and the SEI were involved. The project was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Systems Engineering Committee.

Project members belonged to one or more groups, including the Steering Group, product team, stakeholders/reviewers, configuration control board, and CMMI steward.

The CMMI Project was initiated based on a 1997 review of Software Engineering Institute (SEI) activities by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) and interest expressed to the SEI by the CMM user community.