The Initiating Phase

The first critical step to adopting CMMI is the involvement of management. Among the first to be involved was USA senior management, including the USA Software Process owner and the Flight Software Program Element Associate Program Manager. In addition, the NASA Technical Management Representative was involved in discussions and decisions regarding this effort.

Involving these key players enabled USA to establish goals and expectations, determine the scope of the effort, communicate plans, establish sponsorship, and obtain commitment of resources. To ensure the success of the CMMI case study, it was managed as a project. Schedules were established and planning was conducted to obtain commitments, resources, tools, personnel, and training.

A detailed project plan was created. Such a plan is important for successful execution of such projects, and is especially critical for early identification of risks. Internal meetings were held to select projects, to identify and assign project members to tasks, and to determine the appropriate scope of support required for the case study. Relevant stakeholders participated in the development and review of the plan.

The goals of the case study were established in the planning stages:

• Provide awareness of CMMI throughout USA.

• Determine the extent of compliance with CMMI in a high-maturity software environment.