Multi-Industry Applications of Software Capability

Multi-IndustryApplicationsofSoftwareCapabilityMaturityModelIntegrationHuei-ZhenGuDepartmentofInformationManagement,LunghwaUniversityofScienceandTechnologyHsiu-YinLuGraduateSchoolofBusiness&Management,LunghwaUniversityofScienceandTechnologyAbstractTheCapabilityMaturityModelIntegration(CMMI)iscurrentlythemostwidelyadoptedandinfluentialprocessimprovementframeworkwhichhasbeenrecognizedworldwide,ittotallycontains25processareascoveringarangeofsuppliersourcing,productconcepttoproductdelivery,andmaintenanceofthewholeproductionlifecycle,continuousorstagedmodelsmaybeusedforrepresentationduringapplication.Todate,thegovernmentofTaiwanisenthusiasticallylaunchingCMMI-relatedplans,inordertoboostthecompetitivenessofsoftwareindustry.Nevertheless,itshouldbenotedthattheCMMIframeworkisnotonlyprovidingasthebasisofprocessimprovementforsoftwareindustry,butalsoavaluablereferenceforotherorganizationswhichintendtoengageinprocessimprovement.Therefore,thispaperintendstodiscussandanalyzeoninterpretingCMMImodel,multi-industrialapplicationsofCMMImodeltailoring,IDEALmethodologyforimplementation,andprocessimprovementappraisal,hopefullytoprovideasanenlightenmentreferenceforthoseindustrialorganizationsthatintendtoapplytheCMMImodelforprocessimprovement.Keywords：CapabilityMaturityModelIntegration(CMMI),StagedRepresentation,ContinuousRepresentation1.IntroductionSince1991,theSoftwareEngineeringInstituteofCarnegieMellonUniversity(CMU/SEI)hasdevelopedtheCapabilityMaturityModelforSoftware(SW-CMM),underthesponsorshipoftheU.S.DepartmentofDefense(DoD).Fromthattimeon,manydifferentmaturitymodelshavebeendevelopedforandappliedinamyriadofdisciplines,suchasSystemsEngineering,SoftwareAcquisition,IntegratedProductandProcessDevelopment.Althoughthesemodelshavebeenproveduseful,butthedifferences,intermsofarchitecture,content,andimplementationpractice,existamongthesediscipline-specificmodelswouldrestricttheseorganizations’capabilitiesinimplementingprocessimprovement(CMU/SEI,2002).Inotherwords,toapplydifferentmodelsforoneenterprisewouldsignificantlyincreasethecostsoftrainingandevaluation.Therefore,itwasnecessarytointegratedifferentmodelsintooneintegratedsinglemodel;CMMIntegrationwasdevelopedunderthishistorical-2-backgroundtosolvesuchproblemsofusingmultipleCMMs.CapabilityMaturityModelIntegration(CMMI)wasdevelopedbytheCMMIProjectTeam,whichwasformedtogetherbyDoD,NationalDefenseIndustrialAssociation,andCMU/SEI.Todate,CMMIofferedfourdisciplinesasthereferenceframeworkofprocessimprovementincluding,SystemsEngineering(SE),SoftwareEngineering(SW),IntegratedProductandProcessDevelopment(IPPD),andSupplierSourcing(SS).Nowadays,CMMIisaninternationallyrecognizedandwidelyusedprocessimprovementframeworkthathasprovidedsystems/softwareorganizationswithsustainedimprovementinsoftwaredevelopmentandmanagementcapability,enhancedtheirsoftwareproductivityandquality,andboostedtheircompetitiveness(Chrissiset.al.,2003).In2004,CMU/SEIperformedaninvestigationamong13companieswhichimplementedCMMIprocessimprovement,anditwasfoundthatallofthesecompaniesgainedimprovementsonaspectsofcost,scheduling,productivity,productquality,customersatisfactionandreturnofinvestment.Amongtheinvestigationonthese6aspects,thecostaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof83%,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedby5%；theschedulingaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof95%,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedby15%；theproductivityaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof60%,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedby11%；theproductaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof72%,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedby20%；thecustomersatisfactionaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof55%,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedby10%；thereturnofinvestmentaspectisshownwithhigherbenefitof13timesthanbefore,whilethelowestbenefitisenhancedbydouble.Therefore,thegovernmentofTaiwanisactivelylaunchingCMMIplans,andencouragingmanysoftwareservicecompaniestoobtainCMMIcertification,inordertoboosttheirR&Dcapabilitiesinsoftwaredevelopment.Fromtheillustrationabove,itisreflectingthattheprocessimprovementofCMMIwouldactuallyresultinquiteremarkableoutcome.Although,CMMIwasinitiallydesignatedonlyforsoftwareindustry,but,afterthoroughunderstanding,itiseventuallyalsoverysuitableforotherindustries.However,accordingtoLin(Lin,2004),CMMIframeworkshouldnotbemisunderstood,itispurelyandsimplyamanagementtoolfororganizationalprocessimprovementandthisframeworkisnotconfinedtosoftwareindustryorganizationsorsoftwareproductssuchasdigitalcontents,games,customizedsoftwareorCOTS(CommercialOffTheShelf).Inaddition,CMMIcontainssomeofthebestpatternsforengineeringandengineeringmanagement.Whenappliedproperlyandeffectively,itwouldmultiplyproductqualityandalloworganizationtoreceivebenefitsonpursingexcellenceandperpetualgrowth.However,currently,thereareonlylimitedimplementationmethodologies,relevantresourcesandknowledgeontheapplicationsofotherindustries,anditisfarshortofsuccessfulimplementationcasesfromnon-softwareindustrialorganizations(III,2002).Therefore,thispaperfocusesontheinterpretationoftheCMMImodel,thecrossindustrialapplicationofCMMImodeltailoring,IDEAL