Preface
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) models are collections of best practices that help organizations to improve their processes. These models are developed by product teams with members from industry, government, and the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).
This model, called CMMI for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), provides a comprehensive integrated set of guidelines for acquiring products and services.
Purpose
The CMMI-ACQ model provides guidance for applying CMMI best practices in an acquiring organization. Best practices in the model focus on activities for initiating and managing the acquisition of products and services to meet the needs of customers and end users. Although suppliers can provide artifacts useful to the processes addressed in CMMI-ACQ, the focus of the model is on the processes of the acquirer.
The CMMI-ACQ V1.3 model is a collection of acquisition best practices from government and industry that is generated from the CMMI V1.3 Architecture and Framework.1 CMMI-ACQ is based on the CMMI Model Foundation or CMF (i.e., model components common to all CMMI models and constellations2), the CMMI Acquisition Module, and the Software Acquisition Capability Maturity Model (SA-CMM) [SEI 2002]. CMMI-ACQ also incorporates work by acquisition organizations to adapt CMMI for use in an acquisition organization.
CMMI-ACQ provides a comprehensive set of best practices for acquiring products and services. CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV) can be treated as a reference for supplier-executed activities in an acquisition initiative [SEI 2010a]. In those cases where the acquirer also has a role as a product or service developer (e.g., taking responsibility for the first few layers of product development and integration), CMMI-DEV (in particular the Requirements Development, Technical Solution, and Product Integration process areas) should also be used to improve the acquirer’s product or service development processes.
Model Acknowledgments
Many talented people were involved in the development of the V1.3 CMMI Product Suite. Three primary groups were the CMMI Steering Group, Product Team, and Configuration Control Board (CCB).
The Steering Group guided and approved the plans of the Product Team, provided consultation on significant CMMI project issues, and ensured involvement from a variety of interested communities.
The Steering Group oversaw the development of the Acquisition constellation, recognizing the importance of providing best practices to acquirers.
The Product Team wrote, reviewed, revised, discussed, and agreed on the structure and technical content of the CMMI Product Suite, including the framework, models, training, and appraisal materials. Development activities were based on multiple inputs. These inputs included an A-Specification and guidance specific to each release provided by the Steering Group, source models, change requests received from the user community, and input received from pilots and other stakeholders.
The CCB is the official mechanism for controlling changes to CMMI models, appraisal related documents, and Introduction to CMMI training. As such, this group ensures integrity over the life of the product suite by reviewing all proposed changes to the baseline and approving only those changes that satisfy identified issues and meet criteria for the upcoming release.
Members of the groups involved in developing CMMI-ACQ V1.3 are listed in Appendix C.
Audience
The audience for CMMI-ACQ includes anyone interested in process improvement in an acquisition environment. Whether you are familiar with the concept of Capability Maturity Models or are seeking information to begin improving your acquisition processes, CMMI-ACQ will be useful to you. This model is also intended for organizations that want to use a reference model for an appraisal of their acquisition related processes.3
Organization of This Document
This document is organized into three main parts:
• Part One: About CMMI for Acquisition
• Part Two: Generic Goals and Generic Practices, and the Process Areas
• Part Three: The Appendices and Glossary
Part One: About CMMI for Acquisition, consists of six chapters:
• Chapter 1, Introduction, offers a broad view of CMMI and the Acquisition constellation, concepts of process improvement, and the history of models used for process improvement and different process improvement approaches.
• Chapter 2, Process Area Components, describes all of the components of the CMMI-ACQ process areas.4
• Chapter 3, Tying It All Together, assembles the model components and explains the concepts of maturity levels and capability levels.
• Chapter 4, Relationships Among Process Areas, provides insight into the meaning and interactions among the CMMI-ACQ process areas.
• Chapter 5, Using CMMI Models, describes paths to adoption and the use of CMMI-ACQ for process improvement and benchmarking of practices in an acquisition organization.
• Chapter 6, Essays on CMMI-ACQ in Government and Industry, contains essays from invited contributors about topics related to CMMI-ACQ.
Part Two: Generic Goals and Generic Practices, and the Process Areas, contains all of this CMMI model’s required and expected components. It also contains related informative components, including subpractices, notes, examples, and example work products.
Part Two contains 23 sections. The first section contains the generic goals and practices. The remaining 22 sections each represent one of the CMMI-ACQ process areas.
To make these process areas easy to find, they are organized alphabetically by process area acronym. Each section contains descriptions of goals, best practices, and examples.
Part Three: The Appendices, consists of four sections:
• Appendix A: References, contains references you can use to locate documented sources of information such as reports, process improvement models, industry standards, and books that are related to CMMI-ACQ.
• Appendix B: Acronyms, defines the acronyms used in the model.
• Appendix C: CMMI Version 1.3 Project Participants, contains lists of team members who participated in the development of CMMI-ACQ V1.3.
• Appendix D: Glossary, defines many of the terms used in CMMI-ACQ.
Finally, the Book Contributors section, provides information about the book’s authors and those who contributed essays for Chapter 6.
How to Use This Document
Whether you are new to process improvement, new to CMMI, or already familiar with CMMI, Part One can help you understand why CMMI-ACQ is the model to use for improving your acquisition processes.
Readers New to Process Improvement
If you are new to process improvement or new to the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) concept, we suggest that you read Chapter 1 first. Chapter 1 contains an overview of process improvement that explains what CMMI is all about.
Next, skim Part Two, including generic goals and practices and specific goals and practices, to get a feel for the scope of the best practices contained in the model. Pay close attention to the purpose and introductory notes at the beginning of each process area.
In Part Three, look through the references in Appendix A and select additional sources you think would be beneficial to read before moving forward with using CMMI-ACQ. Read through the acronyms and glossary to become familiar with the language of CMMI. Then, go back and read the details of Part Two.
Readers Experienced with Process Improvement
If you are new to CMMI but have experience with other process improvement models, such as the Software Acquisition CMM, you will immediately recognize many similarities in their structure and content [SEI 2002].
We recommend that you read Part One to understand how CMMI is different from other process improvement models. If you have experience with other models, you may want to select which sections to read first. Read Part Two with an eye for best practices you recognize from the models that you have already used. By identifying familiar material, you will gain an understanding of what is new, what has been carried over, and what is familiar from the models you already know.
Next, review the glossary to understand how some terminology can differ from that used in the process improvement models you know. Many concepts are repeated, but they may be called something different.
Readers Familiar with CMMI
If you have reviewed or used a CMMI model before, you will quickly recognize the CMMI concepts discussed and the best practices presented. As always, the improvements that the CMMI Product Team made to CMMI for the V1.3 release were driven by user input. Change requests were carefully considered, analyzed, and implemented.
Some significant improvements you can expect in CMMI-ACQ V1.3 include the following:
• High maturity process areas are significantly improved to reflect industry best practices, including a new specific goal and several new specific practices in the process area that was renamed from Organizational Innovation and Deployment (OID) to Organizational Performance Management (OPM).
• Improvements were made to the model architecture that simplify the use of multiple models.
• The informative material was improved, including adding guidance about using preferred suppliers in SSAD and AM.
• Glossary definitions and model terminology were improved to enhance the clarity, accuracy, and usability of the model.
• The level 4 and 5 generic goals and practices were eliminated as well as capability levels 4 and 5 to appropriately focus high maturity on the achievement of business objectives, which is accomplished by applying capability levels 1–3 to the high maturity process areas (Causal Analysis and Resolution, Quantitative Project Management, Organizational Performance Management, and Organizational Process Performance).
For a more complete and detailed list of improvements, see www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/tools/cmmiv1-3/.
Additional Information and Reader Feedback
Many sources of information about CMMI are listed in Appendix A and are also published on the CMMI website—www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/.
Your suggestions for improving CMMI are welcome. For information on how to provide feedback, see the CMMI website at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/tools/cr/. If you have questions about CMMI, send email to [email protected].