Capability Maturity Model Integration For Development Research Articles

4PCDT: A Quantifiable Parameter-based Framework for Academic Software Project Management

Many authorities like Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI-Dev) lend a hand to software development organizations in management of their crucial projects. Though this area needs focused research, such models are not dedicatedly available for the academic projects developed by students of computer science and engineering where software project development is considered as one of the criteria for the award of degree to the future professionals of the IT industry. With this motivation, we explored 4PTRB, 3PR and software project management practices, approaches as well processes framed and provided by PMBOK and CMMI-Dev. The main aim of this research is to introduce and propose a software project management framework for the academic domain. The proposed framework contains identification and description of 7 and 26 quantifiable parameters and sub-parameters respectively. The framework is called 4PCDT for People, Process, Product, Project, Complexity, Duration and Technology for the academic software projects. To validate the proposed framework, an online survey of 113 faculties was conducted to rank and weigh the quantifiable parameters. The results show that People, Process and Technology management parameters are top 3 ranked parameters. The robustness of the approach is further evident from the results of experimentation on 18 actual academic software projects of final year post graduate students of the IT domain. Not only the proposed work is first of its kind, but also it is bound to generate an excellent ripple effect in the research community.

Investigating Agreement Among HCI Researchers About Human–Computer Interaction in CMMI-DEV Model: A Case Study

AbstractDo human–computer interaction (HCI) researchers agree about which HCI approaches should be used in the development of an interactive system? To address this question, we performed a study based on the engineering process areas (requirements development, technical solution, product integration, verification and validation) of the CMMI-DEV (Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development), a software engineering model commonly used in the industry. To carry out this study, a literature review was performed, a specific instrument was designed based on CMMI-DEV and interviews with 20 researchers from the HCI domain were conducted. Analyzing the interview data with monovariate and multivariate statistical approach (Multiple Correspondence Analysis - MCA), we find the greatest agreement occurred among researchers for HCI approaches that support verification and validation phases and the use of functional prototypes in some activities of the last phases of software development (technical solution and product integration). However, we identified lack of agreement among researchers regarding requirements development activities.

The challenges of capability maturity model integration application in the dynamic environment

The capability maturity model integration for development (CMMI-DEV) model is a software process improvement (SPI) model designed to leverage the level of software products' quality. Through modelling highly organised, controlled and continuously improved processes, CMMI-DEV enhances the organisational and functional capabilities to guarantee a competitive advantage. However, software organisations face strong competitive dynamic environment challenges due to the fast-fierce changing environmental variables such as the instable customer perspectives. Without resolving such challenges, the sustainability of software organisations is questionable. CMMI-DEV v1.3 model cannot deal with the changing dynamic environment, thus, lacks dynamic capabilities (DC). These capabilities can handle dynamic environmental factors and thus adding economic value to the organisation. However, DC with CMMI-DEV v1.3 are either not integrated or are applied in isolation. To address this issue, we propose a new model that integrates CMMI-DEV v1.3 and the DC model. DC component adds knowledge absorbing and sensing processes, which helps organisations to reshape and reallocate their resources to seize opportunities and manage threats. The model was validated using knowledge literature review and experts' judgement via Delphi technique. Results show that the new model addressed the shortcomings of CMMI-DEV v1.3 and is applicable in today's environment.

Identifying HCI approaches to support CMMI-DEV for interactive system development

Software process capability maturity models are currently widely used in industry. To perform the practices defined in these models, software engineering approaches are applied. We have experimented the definition of a large number of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards for the conception, design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive systems focusing on Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) issues. Nevertheless, it is well-known that HCI approaches are not largely used in industry. In order to take advantage of the widespread use of capability maturity models, we have worked on the identification of appropriate HCI approaches for each practice of the engineering advocated by the most known model - the CMMI-DEV (Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development). By exploring the CMMI-DEV and the literature, we identified a set of HCI approaches for the development of interactive systems. Twenty HCI experts were interviewed for the Validation and improvement of this initial set. As a result, we identified 14 HCI categories of approaches with examples of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards adequate for performing engineering practices of the CMMI-DEV when developing interactive systems.

Exploring capability maturity models and relevant practices as solutions addressing information technology service offshoring project issues

This research investigated Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) / Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) best practices and their effects on managing and mitigating critical issues associated with offshore development. Using a web-based survey, data were collected from 451 Information Technology (IT) and software development firms in the US. The results of the analysis show that IT companies applying CMM/CMMI models have fewer issues associated with IT offshoring. When US IT companies utilizing and incorporating different practices from Team Software Process (TSP) and People CMM into CMMI-DEV/SVC is CMMI for Development and Services (CMMI-DEV/SVC) and CMMI for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), they have fewer offshoring issues related to language barriers and cultural differences.

A case study of software process improvement with CMMI‐DEV and Scrum in Spanish companies

ABSTRACTOne of the most commonly used agile methods is Scrum. Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI‐DEV) is currently the de facto framework for process improvement and for determining the organizational maturity of software development companies. CMMI‐DEV and Scrum share certain characteristics, and even though they were developed for different purposes, they can be complementary to each other; and as such, they are not in competition. This paper presents a case study of the relationship between level 2 of CMMI‐DEV 1.3 and Scrum. This research has focused on the relationships between Scrum and level 2 of CMMI‐DEV 1.3. The objective of this research paper is to evaluate how Scrum helps implement a process model such as CMMI‐DEV.A detailed case study was conducted among Spanish IT companies. The case study was designed according to established guidelines for cases studies. There were eight principal activities: case study design, case selection, case study procedures and roles, data collection, analysis, plan validity, study limitations, and reporting.The results obtained show that most of the process areas of CMMI‐DEV level 2 had been improved by using Scrum. Other issues detected arose during the formal appraisals and illustrated how it is possible to verify with Scrum that the specific goals of CMMI‐DEV have been implemented. In addition, it highlights how the use of open‐source tools was useful in improving the process in the companies involved. Based on the case study carried out, the addition of Scrum methodologies may improve the increase in quality of software processes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

COMPARISON OF OPEN SOURCE TOOLS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Software projects often fail, because they are not adequately managed. The establishment of effective and efficient project management practices still remains a key challenge to software organizations. Striving to address these needs, "best practice" models, such as, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) or the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), are being developed to assist organizations in improving project management. Although not required, software tools can help implement the project management process in practice. In order to provide comprehensive, low-cost tool support for project management, specifically, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in this paper we compare the most popular free/open-source web-based project management tools with respect to their compliance to PMBOK and CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV). The results of this research can be used by organizations to make decisions on tool adoptions as well as a basis for evolving software tools in alignment with best practices models.

A New Maturity Model for Requirements Engineering Process: An Overview

It is widely acknowledged that Requirements Engineering (RE) has an important implication for the overall success of software or system development projects. As more and more organizations consider RE as the principal problem areas in the projects, improving RE process therefore appears critical for future business success. Moreover, nowadays there are evidences that support improving RE process maturity can contributes to improved business performance. There exist generic Software Process Improvement (SPI) standards, specialised RE process improvement models as well as guidance and advices on RE. However, they suffer from various issues that limit their adoption by organizations that are interested to assess and improve their RE process capability. Therefore, the research presented in this paper proposes a new RE process improvement model. The model is built by adapting and expanding the structure of the continuous representation of the formal maturity framework Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI-DEV) developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) through three rounds of development and validation stages, which involved RE and CMMI expert panel in the software industry. This paper aims to provide an overview on what, why and how we build the maturity model for RE. The intention is to provide a foundation for future development in the area of RE process improvement.

A Comparative Analysis between BPMN and SPEM Modeling Standards in the Software Processes Context

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the representativeness of the SPEM (Software Process Engineering Metamodel Specification) and the BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) standards in the software processes modeling context. To perform this analysis, it was adopted a standard structure to define a software process based upon a process ontology. Then, the SPEM and BPMN standards notations and their semantically corresponding elements in the default process were identified. This mapping also includes components of the CMMI-DEV (Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) and MR-MPS (Reference Model for Software Process Improvement) quality models. This was necessary to assist in the mapping evaluation through a case study which models the best practices of these quality models. Finally, we carried out an analysis of these standards through specific characteristics considered necessary to model and to represent software processes.

Defining a catalog of indicators to support process performance analysis

AbstractTo achieve high‐level maturity in software process improvement, organizations must change the project management focus from the empirical assessment of process performance to quantitative management of the software process based on performance measures and statistical techniques. To this purpose, managers need to work with years of measurement data to establish control limits and conduct performance analyses. In this context, some difficulties are encountered: Which measures should be used, considering that early definition is important? Which statistical technique is more adequate in each case? How should we work with the data? We found more than 500 different measures in the literature applicable to software process performance and a number of different statistical techniques to analyze and choose from. This article aims at defining a catalog of indicators with their related measures in answer to the above questions, in a way that can help managers perform process performance analysis of the Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI‐DEV) engineering processes. This article presents how we define and use this catalog and the complete specification of two indicators. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.