Research has shown that the most powerful initial step toward process improvement is to build organizational support through strong senior management sponsorship. To gain senior management sponsorship, it is often beneficial to expose senior management to the performance results experienced by others who have used CMMI to improve their processes [Gibson 2006].

For more information about CMMI performance results, see the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Web site at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/results.html.

The senior manager, once he or she is committed as the process improvement sponsor, must be actively involved in the CMMI-based process improvement effort. Activities performed by the senior management sponsor include, but are not limited to, the following.

Given sufficient senior management sponsorship, the next step is to establish a strong, technically competent process group that represents relevant stakeholders to guide process improvement efforts.

For an organization with a mission to develop software-intensive systems, the process group might include engineers representing the different technical disciplines across the organization and other selected members based on the business needs that are driving improvement. For example, a system administrator may focus on information technology (IT) support, whereas a marketing representative may focus on integrating customers’ needs. Both members could make powerful contributions to the process group.

Once your organization decides to adopt CMMI, planning can begin with an improvement approach such as the Initiating, Diagnosing, Establishing, Acting, and Learning (IDEAL) model [McFeeley 1996]. For more information about the IDEAL model, see the SEI Web site at www.sei.cmu.edu/ideal/.

Use the CMMI Product Suite to help establish your organization’s process improvement program. Using the product suite for this purpose can be a relatively informal process that involves understanding and applying CMMI best practices to your organization. Or it can be a formal process that involves extensive training, creation of a process improvement infrastructure, appraisals, and more.

You must make three selections to apply CMMI to your organization for process improvement.

Selecting the projects to be involved in your process improvement program is critical. If you select a group that is too large, it may be too much for the initial improvement effort. Your selection should also consider how homogeneous the group is (i.e., whether all members are software engineers, whether they all work on the same product or business line, etc.).

The process of selecting the representation to be used has some guidelines because of how CMMI models are built. If your organization likes the idea of maturity levels and the staged representation, your improvement road map is already defined. If your organization likes the continuous representation, you can select nearly any process area or group of process areas to guide improvement, although dependencies among process areas should be considered when making such a selection.

As the process improvement plans and activities progress, other important selections must be made, including which appraisal method should be used, which projects should be appraised, how training for personnel should be secured, and which personnel should be trained.

CMMI models describe best practices that organizations have found to be productive and useful to achieving their business objectives. Regardless of your organization, you must use professional judgment when interpreting CMMI best practices for your situation, needs, and business objectives. Although process areas depict the characteristics of an organization committed to process improvement, you must interpret the process areas, using an in-depth knowledge of CMMI, your organization, the business environment, and the specific circumstances involved.

As you begin to use a CMMI model to improve your organization’s processes, map your real-world processes to CMMI process areas. This mapping enables you to initially judge and later track your organization’s level of conformance to the CMMI model you are using and to identify opportunities for improvement.

To interpret practices, it is important to consider the overall context in which these practices are used and to determine how well the practices satisfy the goals of a process area in that context. CMMI models do not prescribe or imply processes that are right for any organization or project. Instead, CMMI describes the minimum criteria necessary to plan and implement processes selected by the organization for improvement based on business objectives.

CMMI practices purposely use nonspecific phrases such as relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, and as necessary to accommodate the needs of different organizations and projects. The specific needs of a project may also differ at various points in the project’s life.

Many organizations find value in measuring their progress by conducting an appraisal and earning a maturity level rating or a capability level achievement profile. These types of appraisals are typically conducted for one or more of the following reasons:

Appraisals of organizations using a CMMI model must conform to the requirements defined in the Appraisal Requirements for CMMI (ARC) document. Appraisals focus on identifying improvement opportunities and comparing the organization’s processes to CMMI best practices. Appraisal teams use a CMMI model and ARC-conformant appraisal method to guide their evaluation of the organization and their reporting of conclusions. The appraisal results are used (e.g., by a process group) to plan improvements for the organization.

The Appraisal Requirements for CMMI (ARC) document describes the requirements for several types of appraisals. A full benchmarking class of appraisal is defined as a Class A appraisal method. Less formal methods are defined as Class B or Class C methods. The ARC document was designed to help improve consistency across appraisal methods and to help appraisal method developers, sponsors, and users understand the tradeoffs associated with various methods [SEI 2006c].

Depending on the purpose of the appraisal and the nature of the circumstances, one class may be preferred over the others. Sometimes self-assessments, initial appraisals, quick-look or mini-appraisals, incremental appraisals, or external appraisals are appropriate; at other times a formal benchmarking appraisal is appropriate.

A particular appraisal method is declared an ARC Class A, B, or C appraisal method based on the sets of ARC requirements that the method developer addressed when designing the method.

More information about the ARC is available on the SEI Web site at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/appraisals/index.html.

The Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) A appraisal method is the generally accepted method used for conducting ARC Class A appraisals using CMMI models. The SCAMPI A Method Definition Document (MDD) defines rules for ensuring the consistency of SCAMPI A appraisal ratings [SEI 2006b]. For benchmarking against other organizations, appraisals must ensure consistent ratings. The achievement of a specific maturity level or the satisfaction of a process area must mean the same thing for different appraised organizations.

The SCAMPI family of appraisals includes Class A, B, and C appraisal methods. The SCAMPI A appraisal method is the officially recognized and most rigorous method. It is the only method that can result in benchmark quality ratings. SCAMPI B and C appraisal methods provide organizations with improvement information that is less formal than the results of a SCAMPI A appraisal, but nonetheless help the organization to identify improvement opportunities.

More information about SCAMPI methods is available on the SEI Web site at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/appraisals/index.html.

Choices that affect a CMMI-based appraisal include the following:

The SCAMPI MDD allows the selection of predefined options for use in an appraisal. These appraisal options are designed to help organizations align CMMI with their business needs and objectives.

CMMI appraisal plans and results must always include a description of the appraisal options, model scope, and organizational scope selected. This documentation confirms whether an appraisal meets the requirements for benchmarking.

For organizations that wish to appraise multiple functions or groups, CMMI’s integrated approach enables some economy of scale in model and appraisal training. One appraisal method can provide separate or combined results for multiple functions.

The appraisal principles for CMMI are the same as those used in appraisals for other process improvement models. Those principles are as follows:

Whether your organization is new to process improvement or is already familiar with process improvement models, training is a key element in its ability to adopt CMMI. The SEI and its Partners provide an initial set of courses, but your organization may wish to supplement these courses with its own instruction. This approach allows your organization to focus on areas that provide the greatest business value.

The SEI and its Partners offer a course that provides a basic overview of CMMI-ACQ. The SEI also offers the Intermediate Concepts of CMMI course to those who plan to become more deeply involved in CMMI adoption or appraisal—for example, those who will guide improvement as part of a process group, those who will lead SCAMPI appraisals, and those who will teach the Introduction to CMMI course.

Current information about CMMI-related training is available on the SEI Web site at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/training/.