Chapter 7. CMMI Case Study: United Space Alliance, LLC

Note: This case study was written in 2001 when United Space Alliance was in the early stages of investigation and adoption of CMMI. As you would expect, they have continued their process improvement efforts, so this case study reflects only their early decisions, issues, and activities. We hope this will help you with the opportunities and challenges that you may face with adopting CMMI.

United Space Alliance (USA) is a limited liability company owned equally by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation. USA was formed as a result of the consolidation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contracts for the Space Shuttle program. USA is chartered for space operations: operating and maintaining space systems (hardware/software) after they have been put into use. The USA principal markets are those space operation tasks identified within human space-flight operations. The core competencies of USA include space hardware processing, launch and recovery, on-orbit operations, and space systems training. USA is currently performing work on the NASA Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, with a staff of more than 10,000 employees.