CMMI - Continuous Representation

CMMI stands for "Capability Maturity Model Integration". It is a quality model, published and developed by the Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. CMMI has two representations, Staged and Continuous. In this article, I will give an overview of the continuous representation of CMMI.

The main components in the structure of CMMI are Process Areas. A process area is a cluster of related practices in an area that, when performed collectively, satisfy a set of goals considered important for making significant improvement in that area.

Each process area has some specific goals and generic goals, which in turn have specific practices and generic practices respectively. These specific and generic practices are categorized under different Capability Levels.
The capability levels for each process area are as follows:
- Level 0: Not Performed
- Level 1: Performed
- Level 2: Managed
- Level 3: Defined
- Level 4: Quantitatively Managed
- Level 5: Optimizing

In the continuous representation, all process areas are segregated under the following domains:
- Process Management (Examples of process areas: Organizational Process Focus and Organizational Training)
- Project Management (Examples of process areas: Project Planning and Project Monitoring and Control)
- Engineering (Examples of process areas: Requirements Management and Requirements Deployment)
- Support (Examples of process areas: Configuration Management and Process & Product Quality Assurance)

Specific goals and generic goals are required model components. They must be achieved by an organization's planned and implemented processes. They are essential to rating the achievement of a process area.
Specific practices and generic practices are expected model components. They describe what an organization will typically implement to achieve a required component. Either the practices as described or acceptable alternatives to them are expected to be present in the planned and implemented processes of the organizations before goals can be considered satisfied.

Sub-practices, typical work products, discipline amplifications, generic practice elaborations, goal and practice titles, goal and practice notes, and references are informative model components. These help model users understand the goals and practices and how they can be achieved. According to the specific and generic practices followed by an organization, the process area can be said to be in a particular capability level. Thus according to this model, different process areas can be in different capability levels.

Some of the main benefits achieved from adopting this quality model:
- Knowing your trade: Everybody involved in the projects knows exactly what their job is and how it relates with what everyone else is doing.
- Understanding where you stand: CMMI is both complete and universally relevant, allowing for very precise and detailed benchmarking of process performance within as well as across organizations and industry segments.
- Getting structured, logical, time-proven roadmap for improvement: Aligning your improvement plan to the CMMI levels ensures that you don't forget anything and effectively protects you from the infamous "tunnel vision" effect.
- Positioning yourself as a best-practice company: Adhering to the principles and practices of the CMMI will make your clients look up to you as a disciplined, knowledgeable, reliable and trustworthy supplier.