Chapter No:4

Question
What is CMMI?
The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process and
behavioral model that helps organizations streamline process improvement
and encourage productive, efficient behaviors that decrease risks in
software, product, and service development.

The CMMI was developed by the Software Engineering Institute at

Carnegie Mellon University as a process improvement tool for projects,
divisions, or organizations. The DoD and U.S. Government helped develop
the CMMI, which is a common requirement for DoD and U.S. Government
software development contracts. The CMMI is currently administered
by the CMMI Institute, which was purchased by the ISACA in 2016

CMMI model
The CMMI is designed to help improve performance by providing
businesses with everything they need to consistently develop better
products and services. But the CMMI is more than a process model; it’s
also a behavioral model. Businesses can use the CMMI to tackle the
logistics of improving performance by developing measurable benchmarks,
but CMMI can also help create a structure for encouraging productive,
efficient behavior throughout the organization.

Evolution of CMMI
The CMMI was developed to combine multiple business maturity models
into one framework. It was born from the Software CMM model developed
between 1987 and 1997. CMMI Version 1.1 was released in 2002, followed
by Version 1.2 in 2006, and Version 1.3 in 2010; V1.3 was replaced by
V2.0 in March 2018

Every iteration of the CMMI aims to be easier for businesses to understand

and use than the last, and each model is designed to be more cost-
effective and easier to integrate or deploy. It encourages businesses to
focus on quality over quantity by establishing benchmarks for vetting
vendors and suppliers, identifying and resolving process issues, minimizing
risk and building a corporate culture that will support the CMMI model.

CMMI Maturity Levels

The CMMI model breaks down organizational maturity into five levels. For
businesses that embrace CMMI, the goal is to raise the organization up to
Level 5, the “optimizing” maturity level. Once businesses reach this level,
they aren’t done with the CMMI. Instead, they focus on maintenance and
regular improvements.

CMMI’s Maturity Levels are:

 Maturity Level 0 – Incomplete: At this stage work “may or may not

get completed.” Goals have not been established at this point and
processes are only partly formed or do not meet the organizational
needs.

 Maturity Level 1 – Initial: Processes are viewed as unpredictable

and reactive. At this stage, “work gets completed but it’s often delayed
and over budget.” This is the worst stage a business can find itself in
— an unpredictable environment that increases risk and inefficiency.

 Maturity Level 2 – Managed: There’s a level of project

management achieved. Projects are “planned, performed, measured
and controlled” at this level, but there are still a lot of issues to
address.

 Maturity Level 3 – Defined: At this stage, organizations are more

proactive than reactive. There’s a set of “organization-wide standards”
to “provide guidance across projects, programs and portfolios.”
Businesses understand their shortcomings, how to address them and
what the goal is for improvement.

 Maturity Level 4 – Quantitatively managed: This stage is more

measured and controlled. The organization is working off quantitative
data to determine predictable processes that align with stakeholder
 needs. The business is ahead of risks, with more data-driven insight
into process deficiencies.

 Maturity Level 5 – Optimizing: Here, an organization’s processes

are stable and flexible. At this final stage, an organization will be in
constant state of improving and responding to changes or other
opportunities. The organization is stable, which allows for more “agility
and innovation,” in a predictable environment.

CMMI Capability Levels

The CMMI also has capability levels that are used to appraise an
organization’s performance and process improvement as it applies to an
individual practice area outlined in the CMMI model. It can help bring
structure to process and performance improvement and each level builds
on the last, similar to the maturity levels for appraising an organization.

The capability levels are:

 Capability Level 0 – Incomplete: Inconsistent performance and an

“incomplete approach to meeting the intent of the practice area.”

 Capability Level 1 – Initial: The phase where organizations start to

address performance issues in a specific practice area, but there is
not a complete set of practices in place.

 Capability Level 2 – Managed: Progress is starting to show and

there is a full set of practices in place that specifically address
improvement in the practice area.

 Capability Level 3 – Defined: There’s a focus on achieving project

and organizational performance objectives and there are clear
organizational standards in place for addressing projects in that
practice area.
Question

What is process mapping?

Process mapping visually represents a workflow, allowing team to understand a process
and its components more clearly. There are a variety of process maps, and you may
know one by a different name, such as a flowchart, a detailed process map, a document
map,  a high-level process map, a rendered process map, a swimlane, a value-added
chain diagram, a value-stream map, a flow diagram, a process flowchart, a process
model or a workflow diagram. These visual diagrams are usually a component of a
company’s business process management (BPM).

A process map outlines the individual steps within a process, identifying task owners
and detailing expected timelines. They are particularly helpful in communicating
processes among stakeholders and revealing areas of improvement. Most process
maps start at a macro level and then provide more detail as necessary.

Types of process maps

There are several different types of process maps. Some of mapping techniques
include:

 Basic flowcharts are visual maps, which provides the basic details of a

process such as inputs and outputs.
 Deployment maps, also known as cross-functional flowcharts, display the
relationships between different teams. These maps often use swimlane
diagrams to illustrate how a process flows across the company, making it easier
to spot bottlenecks or redundancies.
 Detailed process maps show a drill-downed version of a process, containing
details around any sub-processes.
 High-level process maps, also known as value-chain or top-down maps, show
a macro view of a process, including key process elements such as a supplier,
input, process, output, or customer (SIPOC).
 Rendered process maps represent a current state and/or future state
processes to show areas for potential process improvement.
 A value stream map (VSM) is a lean six sigma technique, which documents
the steps required to develop a product or service to an end user.

Process mapping symbols

Process maps use visual representations, such as basic symbols to
describe each element in the process. Some of the most common symbols
are arrows, circles, diamonds, boxes, ovals and rectangles. These symbols
can come from the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)
or Unified Modeling Language (UML) (link resides outside IBM), which are
graphical methods of notation for process maps.

Most organizations will need to use only a few of the most common
symbols to complete a process map. Some of these symbols include:

 A rectangle is used to represent a specific process and its activities

and functions.
 An arrow is used to show both the direction of flow and the
connection between steps.
 An oval is often used to show the beginning or end points of a
process flow.
 A diamond is used to indicate a decision point. The process will
continue by following a predefined path depending on the decision.
 A rectangle with one end rounded is often used as a delay symbol,
showing a pause in the process before the flow continues.

How to create a process map

When developing your own business process map, you’ll want to leverage
this methodology:

1. Choose a process to focus on. To make the biggest impact, you

may want to prioritize a process that’s struggling to achieve
outcomes or a process that impacts customer satisfaction.
2. Get the right people involved. Gather those who have deep
knowledge of the process that you’re looking to optimize. These
subject matter experts (SMEs) will help you determine the critical
information within the entire process, such as stakeholders,
sequence of steps, timelines, resources, etc. They can also highlight
some of the problem areas, such as bottlenecks and redundancies,
which may compromise efficiency. During this stage of the process,
you want to document all relevant information around the process.  
3. Outline the process map. During this step, you’ll want to determine
where the current process starts and end and the sequence of steps
in between. While the level of detail can vary, information around
inputs, outputs, metrics, and stakeholders are typically included.
4. Use basic flowchart symbols to enhance the process
map. Refine the current process map by leveraging basic flowchart
 symbols. Process mapping software is generally used to complete
this step.
5. Get feedback. Validate the enhanced process map with team
members to confirm accurate process documentation, ensuring that
steps are not repeating or missing. When stakeholders have agreed
on the process steps within the current state, start to solicit feedback
around potential process optimizations. This can involve the
elimination of steps for simplification purposes or the incorporation
of new ones to allow for more collaboration or quality assurance.  
6. Implement and observe the impact of process changes. Conduct
a proof of concept (POC) with a subset of the team prior to scaling
any changes broadly across the organization. This minimizes the
risk to the business, and it provides the opportunity to incorporate
additional feedback to optimize the process, allowing management
to transition to a new process at scale more smoothly. Regular
monitoring of processes will allow for continuous improvement over
time.

Why is process mapping important?

The primary purpose of business process mapping is to assist
organizations in becoming more efficient and effective at achieving a
specific task or goal. It does this by providing greater transparency around
decision-making and process flow which in turn helps to identify
redundancies and bottlenecks within and between processes. Since
process maps leverage visual cues and symbols, they make it easier to
communicate a process to a broad audience. This can lead to increased
engagement, as long-form documentation can be more tedious for both
owners to create and for end users to consume.

By leveraging pre-made templates within process mapping software, teams

can easily collaborate and brainstorm ways to streamline work processes,
enabling business process improvement. In doing so, businesses can also
better address specific challenges, such as employee onboarding and
retention or declining sales.

Some specific benefits of process mapping include:

 Better enablement for scenario tests and assessments
 Increased standardization and awareness of roles and
responsibilities
 Easier identification vulnerable aspects of a process
 Improved team performance and employee satisfaction
 Shorter learning curve for employees during training