Introduction to CMMI..2 ( CMMI for Dummies)

This article is in continuation with my last article. At last article I introduced you with CMMI. Here we will see more details to understand CMMI Model.

(if you are very new to CMMI you can directly jump to read what does each level of CMMI mean)

CMMI Model -

A CMMI model contain multiple Process Areas (PAs). Each Process Areas (PAs) contains several practices grouped under goals. Practices are goals applicable to individual PA are called as specific goals and specific practices. In addition to this there are some practices and goals applicable to all PAs. They are called as Generic Goals and Generic Practices. A PA has 1 to 4 goals, and each goal is comprised of practices. Below picture should give an idea of what I am talking about.

CMMI models -

There are three CMMI models:
* CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV), Version 1.2 was released in August 2006. It addresses product and service development processes.
* CMMI for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), Version 1.2 was released in November 2007. It addresses supply chain management, acquisition, and outsourcing processes in government and industry.
* CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC), is released in March 2009. It addresses guidance for delivering services within organization and to external customers.

There are 5 levels of CMMI. They have different meaning as below -

1. Performed. This is where everyone starts: your company is making products and you’re earning money, so evidently you’re doing something right. But you’d have a hard time describing precisely how you’re doing it. Your project teams may be managing by the book, but they certainly can’t tell you which book. You’re performing, but you don’t really know why or how well.
2. Managed. At this level, your company’s project teams are well-functioning according to ordered methods that are well-documented. There’s no guarantee that one project team is managed by the same methods as another team, however, and each time a new project is started, you may find the team reinventing the wheel.
3. Defined. This is where all of the methods are well-defined across your company, and all of the projects perform according to those methods rather than figuring them out on their own.
4. Quantatively Managed. The projects perform according to the same methods as at the “defined” level, but at the quantitatively managed level the projects will have plenty of hard data to back their decisions and performance. This enables the projects to make sound decisions and quickly identify deviations, and it obviously requires that the defined processes have been followed for a while.
5. Optimizing. At the last level, the organization continuously focuses on optimizing its work processes. This requires plenty of statistics from the quantitatively managed level.

Hey, So next time when anyone says their company is at CMMI Level 3 or 4, you now know what does that mean.

Above we learned what are Process Areas. For qualifying each level you have to satisfy certain process areas. There are total 22 Process Areas up to Level 5 in CMMI-DEV which most of the organizations refer.