Organizational maturity
Introduction
The Capability Maturity Model or CMM (Capability Maturity Model) is a model for the evaluation and improvement of an organization's processes, especially those related to the development and implementation of software. It was developed by Carnegie Mellon University for the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a research center sponsored by the United States Department of Defense and managed by the university itself. "CMM" is a registered trademark of SEI.
History and evolution of the CMM model
Starting in 1986, the SEI, at the request of the Federal Government of the United States (especially the Department of Defense), developed a first version of a process maturity model for software development, published in 1987. This work evolved into the CMM or SW-CMM model (CMM for Software), whose final version (v1.1) was published in 1993.
The SW-CMM model
This model defines a set of key practices or processes grouped into Key Process Areas (KPA - Key Process Area). For each KPA, good practices are established that must be:.
These KPAs are grouped into five maturity levels, indicating the degree of maturity of the organization in its software development processes:
Each maturity level (except level 1) is made up of several KPAs. Each KPA identifies interrelated activities and practices that, together, achieve the process goals. KPAs are classified into three types: Management, Organizational and Engineering.
The practices of each KPA are organized into five Common Characteristics, which indicate whether the implementation and institutionalization of a key process is effective, repeatable and durable:.
Organizations use CMM to improve their processes and can obtain an SEI certification that assesses their level of maturity. This certification is required by the United States Department of Defense and used by many organizations worldwide to evaluate their software subcontractors.
It is estimated that it takes an organization about 18 months on average to advance a maturity level, although some achieve it more quickly. The process requires considerable effort and commitment from management.