CMMI and Process Improvement Guide for Software and Hardware Development

In the high-technology environment brought by the twenty-first century, almost all organizations must cope with the production of increasingly complex products and services. Today, when a single organization attempts to develop all components of a complex product or service, highly complex business processes come into play. If organizations do not have the ability to manage and control this complex development and maintenance process, disruptions may occur in development and production activities.

The problems encountered are related to an organizational structure that requires an integrated approach. Proper management of assets has a direct impact on business success. Fundamentally, organizations—especially if they are R&D centers—must adapt the way they manage development activities, which are part of achieving business goals, to changing conditions in order to sustain their existence.

In this context, various standardization-based institutions around the world offer maturity models, standards, methodologies, and guidelines that can help organizations improve their business processes. However, most existing improvement approaches focus on a specific part of the business. They cannot provide a systematic approach to the problems faced by most organizations. Models that focus only on improving one area of the business have unfortunately continued to preserve existing inefficiencies and obstacles within organizations.

What Is CMMI?

CMMI offers an opportunity to avoid or eliminate faulty processes and obstacles that arise during development and production steps. CMMI consists of best practices that address development activities applied to products and services. It covers production and lifecycle activities from conceptual thinking to design, production, delivery, and maintenance. The emphasis is on the work required to build and sustain the total product.

CMMI includes 22 process areas. Of these process areas, 16 are core process areas, 1 is a shared process area, and 5 are development-specific process areas. All CMMI-DEV model applications focus on the activities of the developing organization. Five process areas focus on development-specific practices: requirements development, technical solution, product integration, verification, and validation.

It is difficult to summarize the CMMI model in just a few sentences. Therefore, by examining its functions and implementation steps in detail, we can obtain a clearer picture of CMMI.

Process Components in CMMI

All CMMI models are developed based on the CMMI framework. This framework contains all goals and practices used to produce CMMI models. However, all CMMI models share a set of core process areas. These areas cover concepts that are fundamental to process improvement in any sector, such as acquisition, development, production, and services.

Some materials in the core process areas are identical across all constellations. Other materials are arranged in a way that can be adapted to address a specific area of interest.

Component Types

Model components are divided into three categories that reflect how they should be interpreted: required, expected, and informative.

Required Components

Required components are CMMI components that are essential for achieving process improvement in a specific process area. This achievement must be clearly implemented in an organization’s processes.

The required components in CMMI are specific and generic goals. The satisfaction of goals is used in appraisals to determine whether a process area has been fulfilled.

Expected Components

Expected components are CMMI components that describe activities important for achieving the required CMMI components. Expected components guide those implementing improvements or conducting appraisals. The expected components in CMMI are specific and generic practices.

For goals to be considered satisfied, either the described practices or acceptable alternatives to them must be present in the organization’s planned and implemented processes.

Informative Components

Informative components help model users understand the required and expected components in CMMI. These components may include example boxes, detailed explanations, or other supporting information. Subpractices, notes, references, goal titles, practice titles, sources, sample work products, and generic practice elaborations are informative model components.

Informative material plays an important role in understanding the model. It is often not possible to adequately explain the behavior expected or required from an organization with only a single goal or practice statement. The model’s informative material provides the necessary information to ensure that goals and practices are correctly understood; therefore, it should not be ignored.

Main Components of CMMI Models in General Terms

Interrelated model components include the fundamental inquiries of CMMI processes:

The Process Area shown in Figure 1 is a set of activities that satisfy a series of goals considered important for achieving improvement in that area. These activities, with their abbreviations in CMMI literature, can be listed as follows:

What Are CMMI Maturity Levels and What Do They Mean?

All CMMI models implemented to support quality and process management in organizations stand out with specific maturity levels. A maturity level consists of relevant specific and generic practices for a predefined set of process areas that improve the organization’s overall performance.

An organization’s maturity level is intended to define its performance. Studies have shown that organizations perform best when they approach process improvement efforts through continuous development.

A maturity level is a defined evolutionary step for organizational process improvement. Each maturity level matures an important subset of organizational processes. It then prepares the organization for the transition to the next maturity level.

Maturity levels are measured by achieving the specific and generic goals associated with a predefined set of process areas. [2]

The five maturity levels are arranged as layers that form a foundation for continuous process improvement:

• Initial — CMMI Level 1
• Managed — CMMI Level 2
• Defined — CMMI Level 3
• Quantitatively Managed — CMMI Level 4
• Optimizing — CMMI Level 5

CMMI Level 1

At CMMI Maturity Level 1, processes are generally ad hoc and chaotic. The organization usually does not provide a stable environment to support processes. In such organizations, success depends more on the competence and dedication of people within the organization than on the use of proven processes. Despite this chaos, maturity level 1 organizations often produce working products and services; however, they frequently exceed the budget and schedule specified in their plans. [3]

Maturity level 1 organizations are characterized by a tendency to overcommit, abandon their processes during times of crisis, and fail to repeat their successes.

CMMI Level 2

At CMMI Maturity Level 2, projects ensure that processes are planned and executed in accordance with policies. Projects use competent people with sufficient resources to produce controlled outputs. Relevant stakeholders are involved in projects. Projects are monitored, controlled, and reviewed, and they are evaluated in terms of compliance with process descriptions.

The process discipline reflected by maturity level 2 helps maintain existing practices during times of stress. When these practices are in place, projects are executed and managed according to their documented plans.

Additionally, at maturity level 2, the status of work products becomes visible to management at defined points, such as important milestones or the completion of major tasks. Commitments are established among relevant stakeholders and revised when necessary. Work products are appropriately controlled. Work products and services are carried out in accordance with specified process descriptions, standards, and procedures. [4]

CMMI Level 3

At CMMI Maturity Level 3, processes are well defined, understood, and described through standards, procedures, tools, and methods. The organization’s set of standard processes, which forms the basis of maturity level 3, has been established and improved over time. These standard processes are used to ensure consistency across the organization. Projects create their defined processes by tailoring the organization’s set of standard processes according to tailoring guidelines.

One of the critical differences between maturity levels 2 and 3 is the scope of standards, process descriptions, and procedures. At maturity level 2, standards, process descriptions, and procedures may vary considerably in each process instance, such as in a specific project. At maturity level 3, standards, process descriptions, and procedures for a project are tailored from the organization’s set of standard processes and customized to fit a specific project or organizational unit. Thus, they are more consistent, except for the differences allowed by the tailoring guidelines.

CMMI Level 4

At CMMI Maturity Level 4, the organization and projects establish quantitative objectives for quality and process performance and use them as criteria in managing projects. Quantitative objectives may vary depending on the needs of the customer, end users, organization, and process implementers.

Quality and process performance are understood in statistical terms and standardized in a way that allows them to be managed throughout the project lifecycle.

For selected subprocesses, specific measurements of process performance are collected and statistically analyzed. When selecting subprocesses for analysis, it is critical to understand the relationships among different subprocesses and their effects on achieving quality and process performance objectives. This approach ensures that subprocess monitoring is applied where statistical and other quantitative techniques provide the greatest business value.

Process performance baselines and models can be used to establish quality and process performance objectives and to help achieve business goals.

CMMI Level 5

At CMMI Maturity Level 5, an organization continuously improves its processes based on a quantitative understanding of its business objectives and performance needs. The organization uses a quantitative approach to understand the natural variation in processes and the causes of process results.

Maturity level 5 focuses on continuously improving process performance through incremental and innovative process and technological improvements. The organization’s quality and process performance objectives are explicit. They are continuously revised to reflect changes in business objectives and organizational performance and are used as criteria in process improvement management.

The effects of implemented process improvements are measured using statistical and other quantitative techniques and compared with quality and process performance objectives. The project’s defined processes, the organization’s standardized quality processes, and supporting technology innovations are all included in measurable improvement activities.

Process Improvement Guide in the BioAffix Case

This guide is based on the policies implemented by Ones Technology at BioAffix to improve quality standards in areas such as business development, process improvement, design, software, and production. The topics discussed in this section consist of processes that are actively being implemented in practice.

Ones Technology does not conduct its process improvement activities by targeting any certification model alone, including the CMMI model. However, it aims for continuous improvement by remodeling the benefits provided by globally accepted standardization models, including CMMI, within its own corporate structure.

You can also increase your quality and success parameters to the desired levels by developing unique solutions within your own corporate structure.

Let us take a closer look at Ones Technology’s planned infrastructure, methods, and projects, which serve as a guide in this field and continue to develop actively.

Process Improvement Infrastructure

Operating as an R&D center, Ones Technology demonstrates rational and innovative approaches in business development and process improvement. Taking into account the needs that arise in process improvement, the company aims to place the process on an institutional foundation through the department it has established, the vision documents it has prepared, and the projects it has implemented.

These include:

Vision Documents

• Ones Technology Constitution
• R&D Projects Maintenance Scrum Law
• Technical Units Law

The Ones Technology Constitution is a set of fundamental rules that defines the main framework for matters concerning employees and addresses a range of topics such as internal rules, guidelines, and working conditions.

The “R&D Projects Maintenance Scrum Law” clarifies the methodology to be applied throughout the business lifecycle. It consists of executive instructions and guidelines in which units, employees, and procedures expected to be applied in R&D processes are determined, bounded, and defined.

Units

• Process Management Unit
• Business Development Unit
• Project Management Unit

The Process Management Unit, Business Development Unit, and Project Management Unit are responsible for achieving Ones Technology’s current progress objectives, determining new objectives and performance criteria, and transforming all these processes into project standards in a coordinated manner.

The analysis and statistical processes expected from organizations within CMMI Level 5 criteria are also among the topics handled with great seriousness. At Ones Technology, these processes have been transformed into an academic field of activity. Together with the Process Management Unit, analyses prepared by expert academics from whom consultancy services are received shed light on quality and process improvement stages.

Projects Implemented for Process Improvement

• Ones Academy
• Ones Certificate

Under the umbrella of Ones Academy, training and application services related to the BioAffix product ecosystem are provided. The training programs implemented at Ones Academy support the individual development of personnel and also provide technical and managerial training to field staff, business partners, and dealers in areas such as installation, implementation, and crisis management.

These trainings are certified through the Ones Certificate system, another process improvement application of Ones Technology, enabling participants to be directed to subsequent stages.

Use of Metrics

The processes related to data analysis and performance management specified in CMMI Level 5 standards consist of customizable criteria that can be determined according to your own needs.

In the analysis and evaluation processes applied at BioAffix, the Definition of Done steps and the calculation of the Defect Ratio are implemented with strict discipline. The Scrum methodology used, along with the metrics applied to determine the priority and severity of items, helps ensure that the process is managed and audited according to objective criteria.

See also: “Priority – Severity in Scrum Methodology and BioAffix Priority & Severity Calculator.”

Three different formulas are used in the calculation of the Defect Ratio. At BioAffix, the “Defect Removal Efficiency” method is preferred. Details about metrics can be found in the article titled “Calculating Defect Ratio from the CMMI Perspective and Its Place in BioAffix Projects.”

This article mainly benefits from Carnegie Mellon University’s articles, papers, and guides on CMMI; internal R&D regulations, especially the Ones Technology R&D and Scrum Law; and articles published on bioaffix.blog. There are many articles and conference papers written on this subject.

[1,2] Univercity of Carnegie Mellon, CMMI® for Development, Version 1.3, Page 22, https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/documents/853/2010_005_001_15287.pdf

[3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Univercity of Carnegie Mellon, Page, 39, https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/documents/853/2010_005_001_15287.pdf

See also;

bioaffix.blog, Calculating Defect Ratio from a CMMI Perspective and Its Role in BioAffix Projects

bioaffix.blog, What is Definition of Done? How is it Used in BioAffix Projects? – bioaffix.blog

Univercity of Carnegie Mellon, CMMI® for Services (CMMI-SVC) Overview for Workshop https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/documents/2975/2008_017_001_22790.pdf

Univercity of Carnegie Mellon, CMMI for Services: Introducing the CMMI for Services Constellation, https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/documents/3090/2007_017_001_23242.pdf