CMMI

What Is CMM?

CMM stands for “Capability Maturity Model.” CMM provides a template for evaluating the process maturity of an organization by comparing that organization against a series of well-defined levels. Each level is a plateau on the path toward becoming a mature organization. The characteristics of the level are easily described, as is the set of actions required to reach the subsequent level. The model formalizes the process of determining organizational maturity and provides a road map for improvement.

Before meaningful improvements can be made, a baseline of the current state of the organization is required. The current state is a summation of the states of all of the organization’s processes. Process availability, quality, level of redundancy and consistency of use are all factors that contribute to the baseline. It is this summation that truly defines the organization’s capability to deliver high quality services in a timely manner.

The organization’s culture and ability to assimilate new processes are equally important. Introducing new improved processes is a pointless exercise unless those processes can be institutionalized. Advanced organizations have the mechanisms to quickly update existing processes and deploy new processes, while “ad hoc” organizations can at best accomplish change in a haphazard manner. An organization is as limited by its maturity for handling its processes as it is by the capabilities of the existing processes.

The CMM was originally developed by Watts Humphrey and other researchers at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as part of an Air Force funded project. The objective of this study was to provide a method for evaluating the effectiveness of software contractors. As part of this study, researchers analyzed the strengths and weakness of the organizations that they evaluated to ascertain which characteristics best determine organizational capabilities. They discovered that the maturity of an organization’s processes were directly related to its performance. As expected, those organizations that follow formal, well-defined processes are far more effective than ad hoc organizations. Further they found that organizations could be arranged into well-defined categories based upon their level of process maturity. These categories became the levels of the CMM.

Although the model was originally built to evaluate software contractors, its value to IS and services organizations was quickly recognized. In addition to providing a framework for analyzing organizational maturity, the model provides a road map for progressing to higher levels of maturity. To reach the next level, an organization must implement the characteristics of that level.

• Levels of CMMI