CMMI Process Improvement: Continuous vs. Staged Models

CMMI Representations: Continuous vs. Staged Models

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) offers two primary representations for process improvement: Continuous and Staged. Each provides a distinct approach to enhancing organizational processes and achieving higher levels of capability or maturity.

Understanding CMMI Representations

The Continuous Representation focuses on grouping process areas by category, allowing for a flexible evaluation of capability levels for individual process areas. This approach is ideal for organizations aiming to improve specific processes based on their unique business goals.

The Staged Representation, conversely, groups process areas into predefined maturity levels. It provides a structured path for assessing the overall maturity of an organization or organizational unit, offering a clear roadmap for comprehensive process improvement.

Continuous Representation Details

In the Continuous Representation, specific goals organize specific practices, and generic goals organize generic practices. Each practice (whether specific or generic) corresponds to a capability level. Specific goals and practices apply to individual process areas, while generic goals and practices apply to multiple process areas.

Advantages of Continuous Representation

• Provides greater flexibility by focusing on specific process areas according to business goals and objectives.
• Allows the comparison of process areas across different organizations.
• Offers a structure familiar to those migrating from the systems engineering community.
• Provides a well-defined focus on risks within specific process areas.
• Features a structure compatible with ISO/IEC 15504.

Staged Representation Details

A maturity level in the Staged Representation provides a clear plan for an organization to become more mature. There are five distinct maturity levels, with each level representing a foundational layer for continuous process improvement.

Advantages of Staged Representation

• Provides a clear route through implementation by grouping process areas and implementing them in sequence.
• Each maturity level serves as the foundation for the next, ensuring progressive improvement.
• Offers a structure familiar to those migrating from SW-CMM.
• Enhances the ability to manage processes across the entire organization.
• Allows for direct comparison between organizations by assigning a clear maturity level during an assessment.

CMMI Process Areas and Categories

CMMI Process Areas (PAs) are organized into four main categories, each addressing a critical aspect of organizational operations:

Process Area Categories

• Process Management

  Activities related to the definition, planning, resource allocation, application, implementation, monitoring, control, evaluation, measurement, and improvement of processes.

• Project Management

  Project management activities specifically related to planning, monitoring, and controlling projects.

• Engineering

  Development and maintenance activities that are shared across various engineering disciplines, such as systems engineering and software engineering.

• Support

  Activities that provide essential support for the development and maintenance of products and services.

Staged Representation: Process Areas by Maturity Level

The Staged Representation defines specific Process Areas (PAs) that must be achieved at each maturity level:

Maturity Level 2 Process Areas

• Requirements Management
• Project Planning
• Project Monitoring and Control
• Process and Product Quality Assurance
• Supplier Agreement Management
• Configuration Management
• Measurement and Analysis

Maturity Level 3 Process Areas

• Integrated Project Management
• Organizational Process Definition
• Organizational Process Focus
• Organizational Training
• Requirements Development
• Technical Solution
• Product Integration
• Verification
• Validation
• Risk Management
• Decision Analysis and Resolution

Maturity Level 4 Process Areas

• Quantitative Project Management
• Organizational Process Performance

Maturity Level 5 Process Areas

• Causal Analysis and Resolution
• Organizational Innovation and Deployment