Dear CMMI Consultant, we have CMMI for Services for our main Unit and now we want to have CMMI for Development for one of our unit. Does it involve all the Process Related Work again?

CMMI FAQ 0

20th May, 2013

Many of the organizations, we work with, have asked this question to us. They want to know “Can they combine CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC) with CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV)?”. Their primary job is Service Delivery and they have one Software Development Unit and want to combine their existing CMMI for Services with CMMI for Development, which is required for their Software Development Unit.

Such organizations can be benefitted from the CMMI Approach of the overlapping Process Areas in Different CMMI Models – CMMI for Development, CMMI for Services and CMMI for Acquisition. Now with the introduction or CMMI Model version 1.3, all CMMI models share 16 core process areas. These process areas are tailored for each model, but contain essentially the same information in each.

Of course mapping of these 16 Common Process Areas require a careful study of existing activities of the organization with respect to Service Delivery and Software Development and then mapping each of the Process Area with the Organizational Processes in such a way that the roadmap for the CMMI Implementation for both the models would handle the Specific Processes required for CMMI-SVC and CMMI-DEV and also manages the Commonality between them. This way organization will be able to use most of their existing processes with little tweaking and less changes. That means less resistance from implementers and quick adaptability of these processes in the organization.

Conclusively, CMMI-SVC and CMMI-DEV, both originating from CMMI common framework and having 16 process areas in common, can be treated as references for each other and can be used alternatively for development of service system which could be a software (solution) service system also. In cases in which the service system is large and complex, the CMMI-DEV model can be effectively used to develop such a system. However, the CMMI-SVC model provides an alternative, streamlined approach to evaluating and improving the development of service systems that can be more appropriate in certain contexts.

Organizations which are having services [example, Project Management Office (PMO) Service or Management Consulting Service)] in addition to software (system engineering) services are more conducive to using CMMI-SVC because in this way they cover their entire organization. Such organizations can use, the Service System Development (SSD) of CMMI-SVC, process area as an alternative means of achieving similar end by covering requirements development as well as service system development, integration, verification, and validation in a single process area and use CMMI-DEV for complex systems in the area of software.

With this approach to its processes and services, an organization can select CMMI-SVC or CMMI-DEV as Appraisal Framework.

Want help from CMMI Consultants for integration of CMMI-SVC and CMMI-DEV Models in your organization

We at DQS India (an Authorised SEI Partner), have CMMI Consultants who can provide expert guidance for managing the different CMMI Models like CMMI-SVC and CMMI-DEV. They can help with establishing the combined QMS with existing processes tweaked with both models requirements. They can prepare you with the CMMI implementation, Internal Assessment, Interviews, Formal SCAMPI Assessment etc.