The related process area section lists references to related process areas and reflects the high-level relationships among the process areas. The related process area section is an informative component.
An example of a reference found in the related process area section of the Project Planning process area is “Refer to the Risk Management process area for more information about identifying and managing risks.”
The introductory notes section of the process area describes the major concepts covered in the process area and is an informative component.
An example from the introductory notes of the Project Planning process area is “Planning begins with requirements that define the product and project.”
The purpose statement describes the purpose of the process area and is an informative component.
For example, the purpose statement of the Organizational Process Definition process area is “The purpose of Organizational Process Definition (OPD) is to establish and maintain a usable set of organizational process assets and work environment standards.”
There are twelve model components of CMMI and they are the following:
A process area is a cluster of related practices in an area that, when implemented collectively, satisfies a set of goals considered important for making significant improvement in that area.
There are twenty-five process areas, presented in alphabetical order by acronym:
Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR)
Configuration Management (CM)
Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR)
Integrated Project Management (IPM)
Integrated Supplier Management (ISM)
Integrated Teaming (IT)
Measurement and Analysis (MA)
Organizational Environment for Integration (OEI)
Organizational Innovation and Deployment (OID)
Organizational Process Definition (OPD)
Organizational Process Focus (OPF)
Organizational Process Performance (OPP)
Organizational Training (OT)
Product Integration (PI)
Project Monitoring and Control (PMC)
Project Planning (PP)
Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA)
Quantitative Project Management (QPM)
Requirements Development (RD)
Requirements Management (REQM)
Risk Management (RSKM)
Supplier Agreement Management (SAM)
Technical Solution (TS)
Validation (VAL)
Verification (VER)
Process area components are grouped into the following three categories that reflect how to interpret them:
Required components describe what an organization must achieve to satisfy a process area. This achievement must be visibly implemented in an organization’s processes. The required components in CMMI are the specific and generic goals. Goal satisfaction is used in appraisals as the basis for deciding if a process area has been achieved and satisfied.
Expected components describe what an organization will typically implement to achieve a required component. Expected components guide those who implement improvements or perform appraisals. Expected components include the specific and generic practices.
Before goals can be considered satisfied, either the practices as described or acceptable alternatives to them are present in the planned and implemented processes of the organization.
Informative components provide details that help organizations get started in thinking about how to approach the required and expected components. Subpractices, typical work products, discipline amplifications, generic practice elaborations, goal and practice titles, goal and practice notes, and references are all informative model components.
Since 1991, CMMs have been developed for a myriad of disciplines. Some of the most notable include models for systems engineering, software engineering, software acquisition, workforce management and development, and integrated product and process development.
Although these models have proved useful to many organizations, the use of multiple models has been problematic. Many organizations would like to focus their improvement efforts across the disciplines in their organizations. However, the differences among these discipline-specific models, including their architecture, content, and approach, have limited these organizations’ ability to focus their improvements successfully. Further, applying multiple models that are not integrated within and across an organization is costly in terms of training, appraisals, and improvement activities.
The CMM Integration project was formed to sort out the problem of using multiple CMMs. The CMMI Product Team’s mission was to combine three source models:
The Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) v2.0 draft C
The Systems Engineering Capability Model (SECM)
The Integrated Product Development Capability Maturity Model (IPD-CMM) v 0.98
The combination of these models into a single improvement framework was intended for use by organizations in their pursuit of enterprise-wide process improvement.
These three source models were selected because of their widespread adoption in the software and systems engineering communities and because of their different approaches to improving processes in an organization.
Using information from these popular and well-regarded models as source material, the CMMI Product Team created a cohesive set of integrated models that can be adopted by those currently using the source models, as well as by those new to the CMM concept. Hence, CMMI is a result of the evolution of the SW-CMM, the SECM, and the IPD-CMM.
The three critical dimensions that organizations typically focus on to improve its business are the following:
But what holds everything together? It is the processes used in your organization. Processes allow you to align the way you do business. They allow you to address scalability and provide a way to incorporate knowledge of how to do things better. Processes allow you to leverage your resources and to examine business trends.
This is not to say that people and technology are not important. We are living in a world where technology is changing by an order of magnitude every ten years. Similarly, people typically work for many companies throughout their careers. We live in a dynamic world. A focus on process provides the infrastructure necessary to deal with an ever-changing world and to maximize personnel and technology to be more competitive.
Manufacturing has long recognized the importance of process effectiveness and efficiency. Today, many organizations in manufacturing and service industries recognize the importance of quality processes. Process helps an organization’s workforce meet business objectives by helping them work smarter, not harder, and with improved consistency. Effective processes also provide a vehicle for introducing and using new technology in a way that best meets the business objectives of the organization.
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is the integrated approach to process and product development. Over the past several years, numerous Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) have been developed. Software emgineering, systems engineering, integrated teams, risk management, and acquisition each had its own model. So industry and government collaborated to establish one model with common terminology, common appraisal methods, and common disciplines.
CMMI, although a collection of multiple models, is most closely associated with the Software and Systems Engineering Models. Therefore, it has been adopted primarily by software development organizations. The model is not prescriptive, but is a collection of best practices that, when interpreted in a specific organization, imply a quality product. There is no guarantee of quality but there is an expectation of product quality as it relates to performance.