Systematic recertified at CMMI Level 5
Software delivered on time and to the quality and price agreed – this is the positive result of Systematic’s continuous efforts to optimse its procedures. The software company has taken another giant leap by combining CMMI with agile processes and has been recertified at the highest maturity level.
24 June 2009
Systematic remains among the select group of companies that can boast of being certified at Level 5 – the highest level according to the internationally recognised Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). Only approximately 200 companies worldwide, with seven in Europe, are CMMI Level 5 certified.
”The certification is a recognition of our intensive efforts to continuously optimise and enhance our software processes with a view to delivering quality software on time and to the price agreed,” says President and CEO Michael Holm.
CMMI gives the customers higher security when selecting supplier
ichael Holm believes that CMMI gives the customers higher security when selecting their supplier. Customers assess the maturity of software suppliers because they can or will not accept unsuccessful IT projects and exceeded deadlines. For Systematic the CMMI certification is a crucial competitive advantage as they deliver mission critical software to the defence and health sectors, where errors may potentially be a matter of life or death.
Since Systematic started to follow the CMMI model, the company has invested more then 160,000 hours in software process improvement.
”The investment in CMMI has been worth all the money. The customers can trust that they get value for money when they engage in large, complex development projects with Systematic,” says Michael Holm.
Significant improvements in punctual delivery
Systematic’s CEO refers to the company’s significant improvements in delivery; Systematic delivers 94 per cent of all milestones on time, which is significantly better than the industry standard. Less than one per cent had a delay of more than four weeks.
With the CMMI model all processes are systematised. From a common standard the individual projects select and adapt their own processes to their need and purpose. Systematic’s employees need not start from scratch each time, which allows room and time for innovation.
Get rid of bureaucracy!
Some people think that the CMMI model may render companies heavy and bureaucratic. After twelve years of working with CMMI Systematic has learned from experience.
”In Systematic we focus not on establishing heavy work processes. We constantly work to ensure that our processes create value for our customers. We will not accept unnecessary red tape,” Michael Holm says.
For Systematic, CMMI ensures a constant focus on improving and optimising existing processes, and the company sees great opportunities in continuing working with CMMI. In recent years the company has combined CMMI with principles from agile software development; i.e. software development characterised by a dynamic planning proces and high customer interaction.
”The way we combine CMMI with principles from agile software development has aroused great interest in the software industry because we have succeeded in implementing the best from two worlds – the process discipline of CMMI and the flexibility of agile software development. In projects where we have combined the two principles we have doubled productivity compared to traditional development teams and seen a 40 per cent reduction in the number of errors in the final tests,” says Michael Holm.
The journey does not end here
Despite the positive results the CMMI work is not at journey’s end. Systematic will continue to invest in software process improvements over the next years as Michael Holm believes there is a large potential in combining agile processes and CMMI.
”By using agile methods we stick to our belief that our success is first of all based on the talent, competencies and diligence of our employees. Our focus is to direct future work towards a simpler and more efficient set of processes, and we have already identified a number of promising improvements that will give further competitive advantage,” states Michael Holm.
CMMI was developed by the Software Engineering Institute from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, USA. ’Examiners’ from the Software Engineering Institute have spent weeks in Systematic in Aarhus to follow the use of the CMMI model in the company, and based on their experience Systematic can continue to boast of a CMMI Level 5 certification. To maintain this accreditation the work processes will be reassessed in 2012.