Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Project
Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) are the current commonly accepted methodology for assuring complete, efficient, and comprehensive Continuous Process Improvement within companies and organizations. The benchmark CMM was the Software capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) issued in June 1991 and managed by the Software Engineering Institute. A Systems Engineering CMM was written by INCOSE, updated by the EIA and released as EIA/IS 731 in early 1999. In late 1997 the Department of Defense initiated an integration activity to integrate these two stand-alone models, add the discipline of Integrated Product and Process Development, into an expandable product suite called Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The DoD sought an industry co-sponsor and asked the NDIA SED to fulfill that role.
The CMMI project is a major undertaking involving numerous companies, DoD organizations, the SEI, and other individuals. Initial drafts were released as of the end of 1999, with the first formal release occurring in 2000 (CMMI-SE/SW/IPPD) and the current version, CMMI v1.2, was released in August 2006. At that release, the focus of CMMI changed from Discipline-specific (i.e. Systems Engineering, Software, etc reflected as CMMI-Se, CMMI-SW, CMMI-SE/SW)) to Activity-specific (i.e. Development, Acquisition, and Services reflected as CMMI-DEV, CMMI-ACQ and CMMI-SVC). Most major aerospace companies, and many thousands of commercial companies, were users of CMMs and moved to adopt CMMI shortly after the CMMI release when the current "stovepipe" models were be "sunset".
As of March 2009, the 3rd CMMI “constellation” as the activity-specific models are now known was released, and the new constellation, called CMMI-SVC, applies to the delivery of Services such as Equipment Maintenance, Financial activities, IT support, Help Desks, and similar. To participate or for further information, contact CMMI Steering Group Chair Bob Rassa (RCRassa@Raytheon.com). You can also obtain additional information from the CMMI Website at http://www.sei.cmu.edu and click on "CMMI" in the main menu.
Committee Chairs:
Mr. Bob Rassa
Raytheon Company
(310)334-0764
RCRassa@raytheon.com