Complete
The purpose of Capability Maturity Model (CMM®)
IntegrationSM is to provide guidance for improving an
organization's processes and its ability to manage the development,
acquisition, and maintenance of products and services. CMM
Integration places proven practices into a structure that helps an
organization assess its organizational maturity and process area
capability, establish priorities for improvement, and guide the
implementation of these improvements.
CMM Integration was conceived to sort out the problem of using
multiple Capability Maturity Models (CMMs). Three source
models&emdash;(1) Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM)
v2.0 draft C, (2) Electronic Industries Alliance/Interim Standard
(EIA/IS) 731, and (3) Integrated Product Development Capability
Maturity Model (IPD-CMM) v0.98&emdash;were combined into a single
model to be used in enterprise-wide process improvement and
integration activities.
A common framework to support the future integration of other
discipline-specific CMMI models was developed. In addition, all CMMI
products were developed to be consistent and compatible with the
International Organization for Standardization/International
Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 15504 technical report for
software process assessment.
Like other CMMs, CMMI models provide guidance for organizations to
use when they develop or revise their processes. CMMI models are not
processes or process descriptions. The actual processes used in an
organization depend on many factors, including application domain(s)
and organization structure and size.
The companion assessment method developed thus far for CMMI models
is the Standard CMMI Assessment Method for Process Improvement
(SCAMPI). This method is based on the CMM-Based Appraisal for
Internal Process Improvement (CBA IPI) V1.1 assessment method and the
Electronic Industries Alliance/Interim Standard (EIA/IS) 731.2
Appraisal Method. SCAMPI satisfies the Assessment Requirements for
CMMI (ARC) V1.0.
The SCAMPI method is a diagnostic tool that supports, enables, and
encourages an organization's commitment to process improvement. The
method helps an organization gain insight into its process area
capability and organizational maturity by identifying strengths and
weaknesses of its current processes relative to one or more of the
CMMI models, including the Capability Maturity
Model&emdash;Integrated for Systems Engineering and Software
Engineering (CMMI-SE/SW).
The phrase "CMM Integration" refers to a concept that has
translated into a group of products called the CMMI Product Suite.
This product suite consists of the CMMI Framework, CMMI models, an
assessment method, and training materials.
Each CMMI model, because it is developed within the CMMI Framework
and therefore has the architectural requirements of the framework, is
designed to be used in concert with other CMMI models. Each model
consists of required, expected, and informational elements that aid
those pursuing process improvement in their organization.
An organization may choose to approach process improvement from
either a process area capability perspective or an organizational
maturity perspective. This decision influences the organization's
choice of model representation they will use. The continuous
representation supports the process area capability approach; whereas
the staged representation supports the organizational maturity
approach. The differences between these representations are mainly
architectural (i.e., how the practices are organized and which are
selected for emphasis). However, these differences imply advantages
to using one representation over another depending on the
organization's approach to process improvement.
Each CMMI model consists of an overview section, process areas,
and appendixes. Organizations using a model for process improvement
will primarily use the contents of the process areas to guide their
improvement efforts. Each process area is a group of related best
practices organized into elements such as the purpose, introductory
notes, specific goals, generic goals, specific practices, generic
practices, subpractices, work products, generic practice
elaborations, and discipline amplifications.
The assessment method currently available for use with CMMI models
is the Standard CMMI Assessment Method for Process Improvement
(SCAMPI). Although SCAMPI is the only assessment method currently
available, the intent is to support development of several different
assessment methods that differ in cost, time to execute, and rigor.
All assessment methods must conform to appropriate clauses of the
most current Assessment Requirements for CMMI (ARC). To help ensure
useful and credible results are obtained from SCAMPI assessments, a
certification and authorization process has been developed for SCAMPI
lead assessors.
CMMI training courses are also available. Introductory courses for
the CMMI model (either staged or continuous representation), an
Intermediate Concepts of CMMI course, SCAMPI Lead Assessor Training,
and a SCAMPI Lead Assessor Upgrade Training are currently
available
There are two basic transition scenarios to the CMMI Product
Suite. The first assumes an organization has begun its improvement
efforts using either the Software CMM or the EIA/IS 731. The second
scenario assumes that an organization has not used either the SW-CMM
or EIA/IS 731 reference model for its improvement efforts, or that
there have been no improvement efforts to date.
Those organizations that fall into scenario one may need to decide
the best timing for transition to preserve the value of their
existing plans toward, for example, a particular maturity level
achievement. Organizations may also wish to consider the versatility
offered by the continuous and staged representations in planning
their long-term process improvement strategy. If the costs of total
transition appear high, an interim strategy might be to augment the
current plan with selected process areas having greatest business
value. In any case, the current improvement effort will not be
wasted, as the content of the CMMI models was carefully selected and
derived from that of the Software CMM and EIA/IS 731.
Those organizations that fall into scenario two may have process
improvement efforts under other quality initiatives such as ISO 9000
or Malcolm Baldrige. Such organizations can leverage their process
improvement infrastructure and investment to more rapidly adopt the
CMMI Product Suite. They also gain a reference model of effective
practices that can be applied&emdash;across the value chain&emdash;to
enhance the development of software-intensive products and associated
services.
These organizations may wish to begin by considering whether
approaching improvement is better served by emphasizing process area
capability or organizational maturity. Each approach is
complementary. A focus on process area capability allows the building
of organizational maturity, and a focus on organizational maturity
allows concentration on particular process area capabilities. Neither
is mutually exclusive, but the choice will determine which
representation of the model (continuous or staged) will best fit the
needs of the organization for training and assessment.
Once a representation is chosen, planning can begin with an
improvement strategy such as the IDEAL (initiating, diagnosing,
establishing, acting, learning) model. Given sufficient senior
management sponsorship, establishing a specific, technically
competent group to guide and coordinate process improvement efforts
has proven to be a best practice.
Regardless of scenario, training is a key element in the ability
of any organization to adopt CMMI and is therefore a key part of the
CMMI Product Suite. While an initial set of courses is provided by
the SEI and its transition partners, organizations may wish to
supplement these courses with internal instruction. This approach
allows the focus of organizational attention to be placed on the
areas marked for greater attention due to their linkage to the
product development value chain.
CMMI is established technology evolved to a new level that enables
the continued growth and expansion of the CMM technology to multiple
disciplines. The CMMI Product Suite is new, Version 1.0 was released
in August 2000. Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) was
added in October 2000. Acquisition has been added to the CMMI Product
Suite in draft form and is currently under public review. In late
2001, an updated version of the management, software engineering,
systems engineering, and IPPD components of the model will be
available as Version 1.1.
The model is in excellent condition for its intended role as a
tool to stimulate enterprise-wide process improvement. Nevertheless,
there remains a need to use such process tools to benchmark process
area capability and organizational maturity. Refinements from actual
use will be made to the model, just as refinements were made to the
Software CMM when it was introduced. Thus, CMMI long-term plans
include updates to the model that are designed to capture needed
improvements to ensure that CMMI models continue to provide a rich
usable set of best practices that can be the basis for accurate and
reliable process assessments.
Successful process improvement initiatives must be driven by the
business objectives of the organization. Thus, process improvement
objectives are derived from the business objectives. Process
improvement objectives identify the processes and their outcomes that
the organization wishes to improve.
Process improvement is a significant undertaking that requires
senior-level management sponsorship and a firm commitment of
resources to be successful. Further, it is a long-term commitment for
the organization that cannot be approached and accomplished
quickly.
The costs vary depending on the organization and its goals.
However, the support of process improvement requires some additions
to the organizational structure, such as an engineering process
group.
Complementary process improvement technologies include process
improvement reference models such as SW-CMM, EIA/IS 731, IPD-CMM, and
other CMMs ( e.g., FAA-iCMM, SA-CMM, People CMM) as well as systems
engineering and software engineering standards such as ISO 9000, ISO
12207, ISO 15504, and ISO 15288. The IDEAL (initiating, diagnosing,
establishing, acting, learning) model is another related technology
that characterizes process improvement as a sequence of life cycle
activities beginning with obtaining senior management commitment and
continuing through leveraging what has been learned from deployed
improvements to feed into a new cycle of process improvement. IDEAL
enables organizations to use a variety of reference models for
improvement.
This technology is classified under the following categories.
Select a category for a list of related topics.
CMMI Product Development Team. CMMI -SE/SW, V1.0 Capability
Maturity Model&endash;Integrated for Systems Engineering/Software
Engineering, Version 1.0 Staged Representation
(CMU/SEI-2000-TR-018). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Software Engineering
Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Available WWW <URL:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00tr018.html
> August 2000.
CMMI Product Development Team. CMMI -SE/SW, V1.0 Capability
Maturity Model&endash;Integrated for Systems Engineering/Software
Engineering, Version 1.0 Continuous Representation
(CMU/SEI-2000-TR-019). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Software Engineering
Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Available WWW <URL:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00tr019.html
> August 2000.
CMMI Product Development Team. Assessment Requirements for CMMI
(ARC): Method Description (CMU/SEI-2000-TR-011). Pittsburgh, Pa.:
Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Available
WWW <URL: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00tr011.html
> August 2000.
CMMI Product Development Team. Standard CMMI Assessment Method
for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) Method Description, Version 1.0
(CMU/SEI-2000-TR-009). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Software Engineering
Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Available WWW <URL:
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/00.reports/00tr009.html
> October 2000.
CMMI Official Web Site. Available WWW <URL: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/>,
August, 2000.
Dunaway, D. & Masters, S. CMM-Based Appraisal for Internal
Process Improvement (CBA IPI): Method Description
(CMU/SEI-96-TR-007). Pittsburgh, PA: Software Engineering
Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, April 1996.
Electronic Industries Association. Systems Engineering
Capability Model (EIA/IS-731). Washington, D.C.: Electronic
Industries Association, 1998. Available WWW <URL: http://geia.org/sstc/G47/page6.htm
>
Paulk, M. C., Weber, C. V., Curtis, B., & Chrissis, M. B.
The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the
Software Process, (SEI series in software engineering.)
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. 1995.
Software Engineering Institute. Software CMM, Version 2 (Draft
C). Available WWW <URL: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/draft-c/c.html>,
Oct. 22, 1997.
Software Engineering Institute. CMMI A-Specification, Version
1.4 Available WWW <URL: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/org-docs/aspec1.4.html
>, April 19, 1999.
Sandy Shrum, SEI
Mike Konrad, SEI
Dennis Ahern, Northrop Grumman
Mike Phillips, SEI
Bill Peterson, SEI
20 Mar 2001: Update
10 Oct 2000: Original
