The office of the under secretary of Defense for acquisition and technology (OUSD(A&T;)) recently recommended that Capability Maturity Model (CMM-Registered Trade Mark) Integration (CMMI) be the number one Software Engineering Insitute's (SEI) priority in its Process Management work. The Software Engineering Institute is located at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. The Department has recommended that SEI construct tailored CMMs from both common building blocks and discipline-specific elements. This approach will ensure consistency among all tailored CMMs, and will eliminate the need to apply a variety of CMMs to a single organization.

"The Department of Defense vision is that existing and future CMMs will be integrated into one framework which addresses Acquisition Reform, process improvement from an integrated product and process development perspective and contain sound principles of systems development," said Mark Schaeffer, deputy director, systems test, systems engineering and evaluation, OUSD(A&T;).

The new approach for CMM integration is different from that of the SEI's first release of the Common CMM Framework. The SEI is pursuing this new strategic approach to meet its sponsor's and customers needs for integrated CMMs that range from single domain to enterprise-wide within the same framework. The SEI developed the Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM), which has been widely adopted and used throughout both the government and corporate worlds. The SEI's sponsor requested the SEI to delay the release of SW-CMM Version 2.0 for several months until the CMMI Framework can be defined and approved. This is also intended to reduce confusion among customers as develop a process improvement framework for multiple disciplines is developed.

Meanwhile, the SEI continues to support SW-CMM Version 1.1 and its associated products. The information contained in Draft C of SW-CMM Version 2.0, which is currently available on the SEI web site, will provide industry partners advanced notice of the changes to Level IV and V processes, and allow comments to be fed back for incorporation into CMMI. The Department of Defense and the SEI encourage all involved in software process improvement to review and provide feedback on Draft C of the SW-CMM Version 2.0 publication, which is on the SEI Web site at the URL - http://www.sei.cmu.edu/ technology/cmm/cg.html.

For further information concerning CMMI, please contact Terrence McGillen, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, (412) 268-7394. The DoD Public Affairs point of contact is Lt. Col. Bob Potter, (703) 697-3189.

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