Better Vs Best Companies

How do you want your company to be ranked – as just a good company or the best company? The answer is obvious. All of us wish our companies to rank at number one position in their respective areas. But, how to attain the top slot is a major question that needs to be addressed.  

Most companies follow standard practices in their day-to-day activities. Every activity is streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and achieve optimum results. In this context, it is important to note that companies are ranked on the basis of their CMM certifications. 

CMM “Capability Maturity Model” is the maturity model that can be described as a structured collection of elements that describe certain aspects of maturity in an organization. CMM is the core of the software development process, and in accordance with the principles of software development and maintenance, it standardizes the process of the organization, enabling enterprises to better achieve business goals in an efficient manner. 

There are five levels defined along the continuum of the CMM:  

Level 1 - Ad hoc

Level 2 – Repeatable

Level 3 – Defined

Level 4 – Managed

Level 5 – Optimized 

Predictability, effectiveness, and control of an organization’s software processes are believed to improve as the organization moves up these five levels. 

At maturity level 5, processes are concerned with addressing statistical common causes of process variation and changing the process to improve process performance. As soon as an organization improves its standard practices and scales up in the CMM level, it improves its ranking and becomes the best company from being a good company.  

CMM helps software enterprises improve their performance because it is based on all past software engineering process improvement results and allows the companies to learn from their past experiences which are based on process improvement.  

Digital Sabre Solutions executes a proven Software Development Process to conduct off-shore Development projects for clients in the USA and Europe. CMM can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. 

Digital Sabre’s use of CMM is most evident in two key areas: the Software Development Life Cycle, and Project Monitoring and Control and Measurements.

There are three major components in the process of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

Requirement Management: During this phase a Size Estimation is developed, a proposal is submitted, and an authorized stake holder from the Client’s end will be assigned to coordinate projects activities and validate requirements.  

Project Planning Phase: The Project Manager (PM) prepares the Project Plan and identifies the skill requirement for project execution. CMM thus helps in undertaking budget control and meeting deadlines. 

Software Engineering Phase: In this Phase, the Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) is created and is maintained throughout the project life cycle to monitor bidirectional trace-ability of initial and evolving requirements. 

Change Management: Requirements can arise anytime throughout the project and Change Requests (CR’s) are raised for any changes that are made to baseline requirements. Change Control Coordinator will conduct Impact Analysis after identifying all Impacted Configuration Items (CI’s). 

Then comes the Project Monitoring & Control and Measurements stage. Process Quality Engineers conduct process audits and configuration management audits to ensure project adherence and compliance to the Organizational Quality Management Process. This further helps companies in controlling their budget and meeting their deadlines.