SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific first Navy organization to achieve CMMI Maturity Level 3

Photo By Norman Tancioco | A sample of SSC Pacific personnel that supported the Center as it moved toward the goal of a Level 3 rating of the Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development.  

SAN DIEGO , CA, UNITED STATES

08.10.2012

Story by Ashley Nekoui 

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR)

SAN DIEGO - The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) has been formally rated at Level 3 of the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Software Engineering Institute's (SEI's) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) for Development (DEV).

SSC Pacific is the first Navy organization to be successfully appraised against version 1.3 of the Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) A.

The Level 3 CMMI DEV rating was granted by the SEI as a result of the SCAMPI Class A event, conducted in May through June of this year.

CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance.

An appraisal at Maturity Level 3 (ML3) indicates taht SSC Pacific is performing at a level where processes are well-characterized, understood, and are described in standards, tools, and methods.

SSC Pacific's rating validates that the Organizational Set of Standard Processes (OSSP) , the basis of ML3, are established and mechanisms are in-place to be improved over time. This allows the Center to make systematic improvements to processes and assets in a repeatable manner, directly involving the competency aligned stakeholders.

The Center's appraisal encompased a comprehensive review of project management, engineering, engineering support, organizatioanal, and process management practices for 18 process areas implemented by sampled SSC Pacific Integrated Product Teams and the organization itself.

The appraisal team was comprised of personnel from the SEI, the U.S. Air Force, SSC Atlantic, and SSC Pacific. The team was presented with more than 12,000 pieces of documentation and interviewed 46 SSC Pacific staff members over a four-week period to complete this detailed review against industry-wide standards.

Personnel throughout the organization supported the three-year deployment of this process and implementation of the OSSP and its infrastructure.

"This accomplishment is the result of many teams working towards the common goal of improving our system engineering and integration processes with the ultimate objective of reducing the cost of developing and maintaining our products, increasing quality, and reducing the rework of our products," said Carmela Keeney, executive director of SSC Pacific.

"Our CMMI-DEV ML3 rating demonstrates that SSC Pacific has an established, roboust, and sustainable process infrastructure and OSSP in place to support information dominance and warrior decision-making, in alignment with the Center's and SPAWAR's primary mission to the warfighter."

The results of SSC Pacific's rating can be viewed at the SEI's Published Appraisal Results System, lcoated at http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/pars.aspx, under United States Navy, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific. The SEI is a Department of Defnese federally funded research and adevelopment center operated by CMU. The SEI supports measured improvements in organizations engineering and management capabilities by providing technical leasdership to advance the practice of engineering. For more information about the SEI, visit http://www.sei.cmu.edu

• Date Taken: 08.10.2012
• Date Posted: 08.15.2012 20:45
• Story ID: 93289
• Location: SAN DIEGO , CA, US