CMMI

Systematic has achieved CMMI 5

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is an internationally acknowledged maturity model, which is globally adopted by thousands of companies. CMMI is based on worldwide best practices for software development and has five maturity levels designed to lift companies from being ad-hoc based and immature to disciplined and mature. Companies are ranked according to their maturity level, where level five is the highest level.

The CMMI model consists of a list of tools which improve the processes utilised in developing, engineering and maintaining software systems and products.

The primary focus of the model is to enable organisations to handle projects in a manner that provides the customer with the desired systems in the right quality and on time. Organisations that are certified according to the CMMI model must master all processes on the previous levels in order to be certified to the next maturity level.

Worldwide, approximately 150 organisations are certified to the highest possible maturity level. Only eight of these companies are European - including Systematic.

Systematic's certification

Systematic is certified to the highest possible maturity level, which includes hundreds of criteria ensuring efficient and disciplined software engineering.

Our journey towards CMMI Level 5 certification, achieved in November 2005, took eight years and more than 100,000 hours. The process confirms international experiences, which show that it generally takes two years to lift an organisation from one maturity level to the next, and that each step in the process requires a considerable number of hours - and stamina.

The progression from CMMI Level 1 to 5 has yielded distinct improvements in areas such as estimation capability, ability to supply, efficiency and quality. An example which may illustrate how our estimation capability has improved is that the difference between the actual number of hours used and the estimated number of hours was reduced to less than half when we went from Level 3 to Level 4 and then halved again when we went from Level 4 to Level 5. The ability to deliver on time has been improved also and is now stable at a level where 90% of all milestones are delivered on time.

In other words, the certification ensures our customers a predictable delivery process including delivery of a quality product on time and at the agreed price. Furthermore, the CMMI based process learning during the lifespan of the project is of value to many of our customers.