The Process Areas for Maturity Level 5: Optimizing

This chapter is designed to help the reader understand the basic tenets of Maturity Level 5 in the staged representation of the CMMI . However, because this chapter consists of summaries of the process areas, anyone wishing to get a better idea of the model, no matter which representation is to be used, can benefit from this chapter. Once again, we are not attempting to teach the CMMI; we simply offer a condensed version of the various areas and key points to consider.

Moving from Level 4 to Level 5

At Maturity Level 5, an organization has achieved all of the goals of Levels 2, 3, and 4. Level 5 concentrates on improving the overall quality of the organization's processes by identifying common causes of variation (as opposed to special causes of variation at Level 4), determining root causes of the conditions identified, piloting process improvements, and incorporating the improvements and corrective actions into the organization's set of standard processes or, as appropriate, just the project's defined process. While innovative, radical approaches to introduce change into an organization are often undertaken, most organizations have found that an incremental approach works better, and has longer- lasting results.

There are two process areas for Level 5:

1. Organizational Innovation and Deployment

2. Causal Analysis and Resolution

Note that there are no additions to the list of generic goals at Level 5 from Level 3. What makes this Maturity Level different is the two process areas. The generic goals are listed below. We use the abbreviations GG for Generic Goal and GP for Generic Practice. The Common Features (Commitment to Perform ” CO, Ability to Perform ” AB, Directing Implementation ” DI, and Verifying Implementation ” VE) are also abbreviated.

• GG3: Institutionalize a defined process

  • GP2.1 (CO1): Establish an organizational policy

  • GP3.1 (AB1): Establish a Defined Process

  • GP2.2 (AB2): Plan the process

  • GP2.3 (AB3): Provide resources

  • GP2.4 (AB4): Assign responsibility

  • GP2.5 (AB5): Train people

  • GP2.6 (DI1): Manage configurations

  • GP2.7 (DI2): Identify and involve relevant stakeholders

  • GP2.8 (DI3): Monitor and control the process

  • GP3.2 (DI4): Collect improvement information

  • GP2.9 (VE1): Objectively evaluate adherence

  • GP2.10 (VE2): Review status with higher-level management

To satisfy the goals for Level 5, the goals for Levels 2, 3, and 4 must be satisfied as well. This rule holds true for both the specific goals and the generic goals listed above.

The following pages discuss each process area for Maturity Level 5. We use the abbreviations SG for Specific Goal and SP for the corresponding Specific Practices.