Capability Maturity Model Integrated

The Capability Maturity Model Interation (CMMI) is an integrated model that can be used as a reference model by organizations wishing to better control their product development processes. Although the term “product” is most often used, the scope of the model is the development of both products and services. Organizations can choose the combination of disciplines—systems engineering, software engineering, concurrent engineering (which is a set of practices and an environment that facilitate interdisciplinary team work within projects), or acquisition, as well as the architectures—staged or conti nuous—that best suit their culture and business needs. The basic elements of the CMMI are practices, the activities that are performed when developing a product or service, as well as the activities needed to ensure that the practices are effective, repeatable, and lasting. Related practices are grouped in process areas (PAs). Practices that are unique to a process area are called specific practices. Practices geared to institutionalizing the process are called generic practices. These practices are the same in all process areas. Each process area has a number of goals that describe the outcomes expected from an effective implementation of the corresponding practices. The process areas are organized in either of two model architectures, called representations—the staged or the continuous. This article describes the purpose and expected outcomes of each process area (PA). Since the staged and continuous representation orders the PAs differently, they are presented in alphabetical order. The actual placement in both the staged and continuous representation is also provided. The section starts with the process areas for the core model, i.e., the CMMI for systems engineering and software engineering. The modifications and additions to for IPPD and subsequently Acquisition are then discussed. Keywords: structure; capability maturity model integration (CMMI); process areas; integrated product; process development; CMMI use; staged representation; bench marking; process improvement; acquisition