CMMi® stands for Capability Maturity Model® Integration and it is a process improvement maturity model that has been developed by the Software Engineering Institute, SEI, at Carnegie Mellon. It is important to note that CMMi defines what processes and activities need to be done and not how these processes and activities are done. The goal of CMMi is process improvement and CMMi can be thought of as a Software Process Improvement, SPI, framework.
MOdels
Here are models defined
CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV), Version 1.2 was released in August 2006. It addresses product and service development processes.
CMMI for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), Version 1.2 was released in November 2007. It addresses supply chain management, acquisition, and outsourcing processes in government and industry.
CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC), will be included in next release (January 2009). It addresses guidance for delivering services within organization and to external customers.
22 Process Area
The 22 process areas of CMMi for Development are:-
Causal Analysis and Resolution
Configuration Management
Decision Analysis and Resolution
Integrated Project Management
Measurement and Analysis
Organizational Innovation and Deployment
Organizational Process Definition
Organizational Process Focus
Organizational Process Performance
Organizational Training
Project Monitoring and Control
Project Planning
Process and Product Quality Assurance
Product Integration
Quantitative Project Management
Requirements Management
Requirements Development
Risk Management
Supplier Agreement Management
Technical Solution
Validation
Verification
Specific Goals
For each process area a list of practices (or capabilities) is given. The idea being that a software development organization improves their capability by implementing the practices documented. There are a number of levels of capability which are achieved by applying more definition and control to the key development processes. The level of capability (of a given software development organization) can be assessed by an independent auditor, usually external
By way of example the practices (which are grouped by goals) for the Requirements Management (REQM) process area are:-
Specific Goal 1 (SG 1) Manage Requirements.
Specific practice 1.1 (SP 1.1) Obtain an Understanding of Requirements.
Specific practice 1.2 (SP 1.2) Obtain Commitment to Requirements.
Specific practice 1.3 (SP 1.3) Manage Requirements Changes.
Specific practice 1.4 (SP 1.4) Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements.
Specific practice 1.5 (SP 1.5) Identify Inconsistencies Between Project Work and Requirements.
Generic Goals
For any level of process capability, beyond the basic incomplete or initial, all of the specific practices have to be implemented. In addition to the Specific Practices (SP), as illustrated above, there are Generic Practices (GP). It is the generic practices that determine what capability level an organization has reached, with respect to a given process.
Extending the Manage Requirements process area, to include the generic practices, we would include the following (arranged by goal, or in this case generic goal (GG)):-
Generic Goal 1 (GG 1) Achieve Specific Goals.
Generic Goal 2 (GG 2) Institutionalize a Managed Process.
Generic Goal 3 (GG 3) Institutionalize a Defined Process.....
Generic Goal 4 (GG 4) Institutionalize a Quantitatively Managed Process.
Generic Goal 5 (GG 5) Institutionalize an Optimizing Process.
Continuous Representation
In the continuous representation of a CMMI model, the summary components are process areas. Within each process area there are specific goals that are implemented by specific practices. Also contained in the continuous representation of a CMMI model are generic goals that are implemented by generic practices.
Specific goals and practices are unique to individual process areas, whereas generic goals and practices apply to multiple process areas. Each practice belongs to only one capability level. To satisfy capability level 2 for a process area, Foo Toys must satisfy the specific goals and level-2 practices for that process area as well as the level-2 generic goals for that same process area.
Stagged Representation
A clear pattern can be seen, with reference to the Manage Requirements process area, across all the 22 process areas of CMMi. That is each process area has specific goals with practices that must be implemented. When the specific practices are implement then the first generic goal is achieved, the first generic goal in all the process areas is perform specific practices. This will get the organization to a level 2 capability. Then to gain higher capability levels the organization needs to apply the generic practices which will bring the process under increasing control, moving from capability 0, incomplete, thru to capability 5, optimizing.
0- The specific practices are not fully implemented.
1-The specific practices for a given process area have been implemented, that is generic goal 1 has been achieved.
2-Generic goal 2 (GG 2) Institutionalize a Managed Process, is implemented. Note the levels are incremental, that is they build on each other so level 2 implies level 1 and level 2.
3-Generic goal 3 (GG 3) Institutionalize a Defined Process, is implemented.
4-Generic goal 4 (GG 4) Institutionalize a Quantitatively Managed process, is implemented.
5-Generic goal 5 (GG 5) Institutionalize an Optimizing process, is implemented.
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