Each process area and corresponding goal entails specific practices. It is common that organizations have already invested time and resources for fulfilling specific processes and procedures or tools may cover multiple process areas during a CMMI implementation.
Since many organizations have implemented partial processes to meet customer requirements, the most practical way to implement CMMI is to evaluate your current processes against each of the required process areas, practices, and goals.
After instituting the CMMI framework guidance, the CMMI SCAMPI (CMMI appraisal) is a method in which a company can prove that they have successfully implemented the requirements. After documenting processes and performing reviews, a company can then look to a lead appraiser to work with internal appraisers to review its processes and ensure that the company is adhering to the both the specific and generic goals and practices.
At the end of a successful CMMI SCAMPI (CMMI appraisal), the company gets a report from the CMMI Institute that it can provide to existing and potential customers.
Challenges of a CMMI Implementation and CMMI Appraisal
The challenge that many organizations experience when employing the CMMI framework is the expertise, timeline, and the level of depth that needs to be implemented to meet the principles of the framework and gather artifacts for conformance.
When an organization begins to apply the model to their organization, determining the appropriate model for implementation, the scope of the project, and applying redundant or overly documented solutions for common areas and issues can cause the timeline to increase or circumvent user buy-in.
By over-engineering processes, creating process without employee involvement, or not providing sufficient explanation to the reason behind the implementation, organizations may expend precious resources and time, and have a less favorable opinion of the benefits of the CMMI implementation methodology.
Collectively, these process areas are practices inside an organization that want to achieve a certain level of process maturity and appraisal rating. An organization must implement all the requirements and components (the goals) of the applicable framework.
Additionally, an organization must implement the expected component which are the practices typically needed to accomplish a goal. An organization may demonstrate that they meet a goal without implementing all practices if they can demonstrate a goal is fully “working” by another path of implementation. However, it is atypical that an organization would not implement all of the required and expected components of each process area within their level of maturity. An organization must demonstrate each process’s implementation through evidence in the forms of artefacts (records) and affirmations (interviews) during the appraisal.
CMMI Frameworks
CMMI has multiple frameworks and levels of maturity which can be complicated to understand how to implement at your organization. Organizations need to decide what area(s) of their business should implement the framework, which constellation to select, the maturity of the model to apply for an appraisal, the types of tools and methods to use for an effective and maintainable system, employee participation, and how to navigate through an appraisal to demonstrate conformance. Based on the level of effort and perceived complexity, many organizations are looking for consultants to:
- Reduce the timeframe for implementation to meet customer and bid requirements;
- Understand how to implement best practice methodology and establish metrics to monitor and improve performance;
- Understand the best approach to integrate the CMMI framework with existing processes;
- Implement guidance to ensure that process improvement facilitates efficiencies instead of adding unnecessary documentation
- Select the lead appraiser that provides the most value to the organization and ensure successful achievement of appraisal rating.