Attaining Level 5 in CMM process maturity

In November 1998, the Systems, Engineering, and Analysis Support Center of the Computer Sciences Corporation became the sixth organization in the world to attain the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Level 5 and the first CSC organization to be both CMM Level 5 and ISO registered. SEAS's achievement was the culmination of an aggressive process improvement initiative that began in mid 1994, when CSC recognized the growing business importance of establishing process maturity in software-intensive organizations. SEAS has twice reaffirmed its high maturity performance through independent assessments. To guide the new initiative in 1994, CSC created a process improvement plan with specific goals for product improvement as well as process improvement. SEAS began capturing, tracking, and analyzing detailed records of cost, impacts, activities, and its overall approach so that other CSC programs could capitalize on its efforts and experiences. This article is a direct result of collecting and analyzing that process experience data. Our recommendations can help any organization, of any size, plan a process improvement program.