CMMI for Development (Version 1.2):Introduction

 Introduction
   
    Now,more than ever,companies want to deliver products and services better,faster and cheaper.At the same time,in the high-technology environment of the twenty-first century,nearly all the organizations have found themselves building increasingly complex products and services.Today, a single company usually does not develop all the components that compose a product or service.more commonly,some components are built in-house and some components are acquired;then all the components are integrated into the final product or service.Organization must be able to manage and control this complex development and maintenance process.
    The problems these organizations address today involve enterprise-wide solutions that require an integrated approach.Effective management of organization assets is critical to business success.In essence,these organizations product and service developers that need a way to manage an integrated approach to their development activities as part of achieving their business objectives.
    In the current marketplace,there are maturity models,standards,methodologies,and guidelines that can help an organization improve the way it does business.However,most available improvement approaches focus on a specific part of the business and do not take a systemic approach to the problems that most organization are facing.By focusing on improving one area of a business,these models have unfortunately perpetuated the stovepipes and barriers that exist in organizations.
    Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) provides an opportunity to avoid or eliminate these stovepipes and barriers through integrated model that transcend disciplines.CMMI for development consists of best practices that address development and maintenance applied to products and services.It addresses practices that cover the product's lifecycle from conception through delivery and maintenance.The emphasis is on the work necessory to build and maintain the total product.
    In its research to help organizations develop and maintain quality products and services,the Software Engeering Institute (SEI) has found serveral dimensions that an organization can focus on to improve its business.Figure 1.1 illustrates the three critical dimensions that organizations typically focus on:people,procedures and methods, tools and equipment.

    But what holds everything together?It is the processes used in your organization.Processes allow you to align the way you do business.They allow you to address scalability and provide a way to incorporate knowledge of how to do things better.Processes allow you to leverage your resources and examine business trends.
    This is not to say that people and technology are not important.We are living in a world where technology is changing by an order of magnitude every ten years.Similarly,people typically work for many companies throughout their careers.We live in a dynamic world.A focus on process provides the infrastructure necessary to deal with an ever-changing world,and to maximize the productivity of people and the user of technology to be more competitive.
    Manufacturing has long recognized the importance of process effectiveness and efficiency. Today, many organizations in manufacturing and service industries recognize the importance ofquality processes. Process helps an organization’s workforce meet business objectives by helping them work smarter, not harder, and with improved consistency. Effective processes also provide a vehicle for introducing and using new technology in a way that best meets the business objectives of the organization.