This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
CMMI for Services
CMMI-SVC draws on concepts and practices from CMMI and other service-focused standards and models, including the following:
- Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
- ISO/IEC 20000: Information Technology—Service Management
- Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CobiT)
- Information Technology Services Capability Maturity Model (ITSCMM)
Familiarity with these and other service-oriented standards and models is not required to understand and use CMMI-SVC, and the Services constellation is not structured in a way that is intended to conform to any of them (except CMMI, of course). However, knowledge of other standards and models may provide a richer understanding of CMMI-SVC models and content.
The Services constellation covers services of many different types. Although the standards and models used to develop CMMI-SVC predominately cover IT services, this model was purposely written more broadly to be useful by a wide variety of different service types. These service types include information services, engineering services, maintenance, operations, logistics, and research services.
As defined in the CMMI context, a service is an intangible, nonstorable product. The CMMI-SVC model has been developed to be compatible with this broad definition. CMMI-SVC goals and practices are therefore potentially relevant to any organization concerned with the delivery of services, including enterprises in sectors such as defense, information technology (IT), health care, finance, and transportation.
Early users of CMMI-SVC, who used the model during its development and piloting, deliver services as varied as training, logistics, maintenance, refugee services, lawn care, book shelving, research, consulting, auditing, independent verification and validation, human resources, financial management, health care, and IT services.
The Services constellation contains practices that cover project management, process management, service establishment, service delivery, and supporting processes. The CMMI-SVC model shares a great deal of material with CMMI models in other constellations. Therefore, those familiar with another CMMI constellations will find much of the CMMI-SVC content familiar.
In the context of CMMI-SVC, the term project is interpreted to encompass all of the resources required to satisfy a service agreement with a customer. Thus, the concept of project management in this context is intended to be similar to the concept of service management in other standards and models, although the correspondence may not be exact. See more about the meaning of "project" in the Important CMMI-SVC Concepts section of this chapter.
Organizations interested in evaluating and improving their processes to develop systems for delivering services may use a CMMIDEV model. This approach is especially recommended for organizations that are already using CMMI-DEV or that must develop and maintain complex systems for delivering services. However, some organizations instead may choose to use the Service System Development (SSD) process area. This process area consolidates some of the practices in the CMMI-DEV model and interprets them for service systems. In fact, we recommend that even if you use CMMI-DEV to develop your service system, you review SSD for some of its service-specific guidance.