Introduction to CMM

CMM is a software process Capability Maturity Model (Capacity maturity models), is the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute in order to meet the United States federal government to assess the ability of suppliers, the model started in 1986, and in 1991 formally launched the CMM Version 1.0. Since its inception, CMM has been widely used in some developed countries and regions, and it has become an important reference factor to measure software company's software development management level and the actual industrial standard of software Process improvement. It is understood that the United States, India, Japan and other countries have dozens of companies through the CMM different levels of certification.

In November 1986, SEI, at the request of the U.S. federal government, with the assistance of Mitre company, developed a software Capability maturity framework and a software maturity questionnaire in September 1987 to assess the capabilities of software vendors. This is one of the first tools to explore software process maturity.

Four years later, in 1991, Sei summed up the practical experience of CMM Maturity Framework and first Edition maturity questionnaire, and launched the civil CMM1.0 version on this basis.

Two years after the CMM1.0 edition, SEI held a workshop on CMM in April 1992, with about 200 experienced software experts at the workshop. After extensive listening to their views, SEI launched the CMM1.1 edition in 1993. This is also the current world's more popular and common version of the CMM.

For more than more than 10 years, this work has been ongoing. According to the SEI's original plan, the improved version 2.0 of the CMM should be completed in November 1997, and then the quasi-CMM2.0 version would be completed in 1999 after obtaining the practical feedback from version 2.0. But the Pentagon's office has asked Sei to postpone the release of the CMM2.0 version, but to complete a more urgent project CMMI.

The CMMI (Capability Maturity Model integration) is an integration of capability maturity models, a vision of the US Department of Defense, which wants to integrate all of the capabilities maturity models that are now and will be developed into one framework. This framework has two functions, first, the reform of software acquisition methods; Secondly, a process improvement is established from the perspective of integrated product and process development, including sound system development principles.

With the continuous deepening of the research on CMM, other disciplines also combine the characteristics of this system, and then launch their own CMM models. For example, human resource Capability Maturity Model, system engineering capability Maturity Model, etc. In order to show the difference, a lot of data at home and abroad called CMM SW-CMM.

The improvement of software process maturity is a gradual process, which needs a long-term and sustainable development process as a guarantee. Some software companies may take a lot of effort and time to build a foundation and culture for a process-oriented continuous improvement. But this kind of effort is very necessary for any software enterprise.

CMM represents a kind of thinking of software development at present, and a way to improve software process capability. Although it has some deficiencies. For example, the maturity level, key process domain, public properties, and key practices also need to be discussed and revised further in the software industry, but it does provide a good framework for the development of the software industry and a useful tool for improving the capability of concentration software processes.

To enhance the competitiveness of China's software enterprises, improve the level of domestic software is the common aspiration of the people, but at present our software level, especially the software development capabilities and software production capacity is still poor, this is an indisputable fact. So, how to improve our software development and production capacity, so as to improve the overall level of software? It may be an effective way to implement CMM in software enterprises.

The software capability of an enterprise depends more on the process capability of the enterprise, especially on the maturity of software development and production. The more mature the process capability, the more guaranteed the software production capacity of the enterprise. At present, some software companies in China are trying to implement CMM.

Of course, the CMM is not omnipotent, and not necessarily for all software enterprises are suitable, the implementation of CMM enterprises have failed examples. We hope that through this column to enable more enterprises to understand the CMM, as soon as possible to find suitable for the development of the enterprise, so as to improve the competitiveness of Chinese software enterprises.