NEWS AT SEI

In 1987, the SEI released a software process maturity framework and maturity questionnaire to support organizations in improving their software processes. Four years later, the SEI released the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM). Since its release, the SW-CMM has significantly influenced software process improvement worldwide.

However, not all problems in product development and maintenance are caused by lack of attention to the software engineering process. A broader, system-wide view of problems and approaches to process improvement is necessary. In recent years, the SEI became involved in helping to develop additional capability maturity models in other functional disciplines, including systems engineering [The Electronic Industries Alliance’s Interim Standard 731, Systems Engineering Capability Model, (SECM)] and integrated product development (IPD-CMM), to establish a common frame of reference for accelerating broader organizational learning.

The need for CMM integration

The SW-CMM is a "roadmap" that describes "evolutionary stages" consisting of key practices that guide organizations in improving their software capability. The SECM, in contrast, shares many of the same principles, but was written to address the needs of a different community: the systems engineering community. This had two consequences. First, the SW-CMM and SECM overlap; for example, both deal with requirements, project management, process definition, etc. The two models provide somewhat different guidance in places where they overlap, but the reason for the difference isn't always clear. Second, the SECM is based on a different representation, one that describes the entire "process area terrain" with less emphasis on exactly how an organization might mature through that terrain. Process areas span levels rather than being defined within a maturity level as in the SW-CMM. This is referred to as a "continuous" representation. The SW-CMM is said to have a "staged" representation.

Ideally, CMMs should work together harmoniously for the benefit of organizations wishing to apply more than one CMM to improve product quality and productivity. However, the overlap in content and difference in architecture and guidance have made it difficult to apply both models in integrated process improvement. To meet this need, industry, government, and the SEI are now involved in the development of a framework to harmonize and efficiently incorporate the practices of different capability maturity models. Through the CMM integration (CMMI) effort, capability maturity modelers in other engineering communities will be able to develop models that are compatible with those already established.

In a recent article in CROSSTALK, Mark E. Schaeffer, Deputy Director for Systems Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Acquisition and Technology (OSD/A&T), explains the rationale for CMMI:

It became apparent in the development of these…models that they all contained common processes, e.g., configuration management, quality, and requirements management, supporting the various functional disciplines, software engineering, and systems engineering. Improvements in these common processes could benefit other disciplines. Further, it became apparent that process improvement resources applied to one functional discipline, e.g., software engineering, could be beneficial to another functional discipline. The common elements used in a software CMM appraisal could be used for a systems engineering appraisal, and there would be no need to redo the appraisal of common elements. In addition, improvement efforts based on unique CMMs could result in suboptimization, confusion, and potentially unnecessary expenditure of process improvement resources.

The CMM integration effort

The CMMI Project is a collaborative effort sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Acquisition and Technology (OSD/A&T), Systems Engineering, with participation by government, industry, and the SEI. The project's objective is to develop a product suite that provides industry and government with a set of integrated models and related improvement products to support process and product improvement.

The initial outputs from this project will include