Created: Friday, 22 May 2015 07:02
By Dr Pieter van Zyl, High Maturity Lead Appraiser, 3 March 2015
Every company that has reached a Capability Maturity Model for Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level rating of 2 or above, will within 3 year face the question of re-appraisal. There are really only 3 scenarios. Below is a quick summary of what the appraisal sponsor can expect.
Scenario 1: We lost process focus (Rewind)
Scenario 2: Focus was maintained on process improvement (Play)
Scenario 3: Focus was maintained and a next level of maturity is sought (Forward)
In answering the 3 scenarios, we need to make the sponsor aware that there are 3 types of appraisals, called Standard CMMI Appraisal for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) that are used. They are called C, B and A. The SCAMPI C is a quick check and can include document reviews and/or interviews. It can be conducted in a few days. A SCAMPI B is more in depth and will look at both documents and interviews as a source of objective evidence. It typically can take 2-6 weeks to conduct in duration (not actual effort). With the SCAMPI B and C, no Maturity Level ratings may be provided. This is left for the SCAMPI A which is the most rigorous of the appraisal methods and is used to actually determine the Maturity Level of the organisation. A SCAMPI A can take anything form 4 weeks to 8 weeks to plan and conduct.
There is actually a 4th appraisal method, which is the action re-appraisal. This is used in scenarios where the company has essentially all practices in place, but failed some unforeseen elements during the SCAMPI A. In this case, an improvement plan can be put in place to run the action re-appraisal within a short duration after the SCAMPI A.
rewind largeWe lost process focus (rewind)
After the appraisal was completed and the desired rating was achieved, there was a loss of focus on the process improvement initiative. In this case, the organisation may have stopped performing certain best practices which the CMMI would expect. The recommendation is to first check if your internal Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA) is still regularly reporting on compliance, and then plan for a SCAMPI C. This is to assess the current degree of conformance and non-conformance. Based on this the improvement plan can be setup and a decision can be made on appropriate dates for a SCAMPI B before a final SCAMPI A. An important question that the organisation should ask itself is why was there regress? Why did the processes not work for the organisation? If it did, then it should have been adopted.
Focus was maintained on process improvement (play)
In this case, there are typically two important process management areas that was well maintained and that is Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA) and Organisational Process Focus (OPF). If these two process areas continued to function strongly, then chances are good that all the process areas in the previous appraisal are still well entrenched, the organisation is still at the expected maturity level, and as a matter of fact, probably already progressing into the next maturity level. It is recommended that the SCAMPI A be performed at a desired time. If for some unforeseen and highly unlike situation where the organisation does fail one or two of the goals during the SCAMPI A, then an action re-appraisal can be planned if appropriate.
Focus was maintained and a next level of maturity is sought (forward)
In this case, the company is similar to scenario 2, but have embarked on new territory by adopting new processes areas. In this case it will be highly recommended that the company first conduct a SCAMPI B to make sure all gaps are identified and addressed, before embarking on a SCAMPI A.
