LOGICSOFT’s CMM INITIATIVE

The three main characteristics of a project are its cost, schedule, and quality, where "quality" represents how well the product satisfies the customer. A project is generally initiated when some estimates for these parameters are established. A project is successful if it meets or exceeds the expectations on all three fronts-cost, schedule, and quality.

Possible reasons for project failures include improper estimation, loose requirements management, weak project management, improper risk management, and poorly engineered solutions, among others. Many of these reasons can be combined in one category called "process failure." That is, a software project often fails because the process followed in the project was not suitable. For example, the major reasons for runaways are unclear objectives, bad planning, new technology, no project management methodology, and insufficient staff . At least three of these five reasons can be considered as "process failure". For a project to succeed, a key success parameter is the set of processes followed in the project. If suitable process models are chosen for the important tasks in the project, and the chosen processes are executed properly, then the chances of a project succeeding become extremely high.

As having a high productivity can generally reduce cost and minimize the schedule for a project, high quality and productivity (Q&P) can be viewed as the twin aims of a project for delivering a software product. It is not enough that a project have high Q&P; the organization also seeks a predictable Q&P. Without predictability, good estimation is not possible, and building reasonable estimates is essential to any project-oriented business.

Q&P of an organization depends on three factors: process, people, and technology. As the process has major effect on the Q&P delivered by an organization, one way to improve Q&P is to improve the processes used by the organization.

One objective of the CMM is to distinguish mature process from immature or ad hoc processes. In a software organization that has immature software processes, projects are executed without many guidelines, and the outcome of a project depends largely on the capability of the team and the project leader. Consequently, the result is not predictable.

On the other hand, in an organization with mature processes, a project is executed by following various processes that the organization has set up for software projects. In this case, the outcome of the project is less dependent on the team capability and more controlled by the processes. It follows, then, that the more mature the processes, the better the control on the projects and more predictable the results.

In level 1, an organization executes a project in a manner that the team and project manager see fit. The repeatable level (level 2) applies to an organization in which project management practices are well established, although organization-wide processes may not exist. At the defined level (level 3) the software process for the organization have been precisely defined and regularly followed. With organization-wide processes, the organization may learn from different projects and subsequently improve the processes to benefit future projects. At the managed level (level 4), quantitative understanding of the process capability makes it possible to quantitatively predict and control the process performance on a project. Once the foundation of quantitative process management exists, then the process capability can be improved in a controlled manner and the improvement can be evaluated quantitatively. At the optimizing level (level 5), the process improves continuously.

The company though not formally evaluated for CMM ,is presently at level 2 with a target to achieve level 3 within a year. In this front the company’s SEPG team and the company management are driving hard at the introduction of new processes integral of CMM level 3.Through this effort tangible results are already visible with the CMM now becoming an organisation wide effort. Some of the continuing efforts towards this end have been the establishment of an organisation process focus, training program, Software product engineering ,intergroup coordination and introduction of peer reviews.

The company has also applied to a NASSCOM initiative on this front ,namely being an integral part of a cluster of level 3 CMM companies in the Delhi region. This would entail the clusters being formally audited by an external agency KPMG and systematic improvements being initiated to achieve the final goal of the company reaching a level satisfying all the prerequisites of a Level 3 company.