Carnegie Mellon and GM Launch CMMI Project -- ADTmag

Carnegie Mellon and GM Launch CMMI Project

By Matthew Schwartz, Enterprise Systems
November 16, 2005

The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute and GM announced on Tuesday a collaboration to create a business process improvement model for companies looking to source information technology capabilities from third-party suppliers.

The SEI and GM will co-develop the initial model for use by government and industry organizations. The initial model will be based on the existing CMMI Acquisition Module, created for the U.S. Department of Defense in 2004.

"We have been successful in driving common IT process standards across GM's global organization and introducing this concept to our many IT suppliers," says Ralph Szygenda, GM’s group VP and CIO. "Together with the SEI and the CMMI Steering Group, we believe we can develop a third-generation sourcing model that will not only bring benefit to General Motors, but to the information technology industry in general."

CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division or an entire organization. The model helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, sets process improvement goals and priorities, provides guidance for quality processes and provides a point of reference for appraising current processes.

GM anticipates an initial draft by December, and an SEI special report of the initial model for public release will be published by the end of the first quarter of 2006.