Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

The

Capability Maturity Model

(

CMM

), also known as the

Software CMM

(

SW-

CMM), was first described by Watts Humphrey in his book Managing the Software

Process

. The CMM is a process model based on software best-practices effective inlarge-scale, multi-person projects.The CMM has been retired and not been updated in over 10 years. CMM has beensuperseded by CMMI

(Capability Maturity Model Integrated)

.The CMM has been used to assess the maturity levels of organization areas as diverse assoftware engineering, system engineering, project management, risk management, systemacquisition, information technology (IT) or personnel management, against a scale of

five key processes, namely: Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimized.

CMM was developed by theSoftware Engineering Institute (SEI) atCarnegie Mellon UniversityinPittsburgh. It has been used extensively for avionics softwareand government projects around the world.

What is the Capability Maturity Model?

There are many different applications of the Capability Maturity Models. Some of these models target software development, staffing, etc. In this series I will focus onthe Systems Engineering Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The CMM is servicemarked by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon Universityand was developed by the SEI, the Department of Defense and a host of otherentities.

Why is the CMM Valuable?

The CMM is valuable for several reasons.

It is simple and easy to understand; therefore, it speaks to the executives of a corporation. Many corporate executives are already familiar with this modeland it is probable that your company’s executives are also familiar with it.Over the years I have been able to successfully use this model to illustratemajor IT issues/concepts to senior executives.CMM to be a very valuable toolfor attaining project funding for key initiatives like enterprise data assetmanagement and meta data repository development.2-Second, as you view the model it is intuitive that a company cannot currentlybe ranked at a level 2 and directly jump to level 4. Instead, an organizationmust first develop a strategy to elevate themselves to level 3.

Many large companies and government institutions are actively using thismodel to compare themselves with other entities. In fact, many corporationshave goals centered on the CMM levels. Fourth, the model gives companies amechanism to compare themselves with other companies within theirindustry.



What is CMM?

•

Framework that describes five (5) levels of maturity within thesoftware process

•

Each maturity level within CMM is divided into Key Process Areas(KPAs)

•

Evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immatureorganization to a mature, disciplined organization

•

CMM provides the framework. Each organization determines how tomeet the criteria of the framework