Comparative Study of Tangible and Intangible Benefits of CMMI to Selected Project, Product and Service-Based Organizations

Abstract

Two decades after 1990 have seen many ups and downs in Software Industry in India. Companies have been making huge investments in process improvement in terms of time and money in process improvement models. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)-based process improvement is no exception. Many organizations are  considering using CMMI whereas many are still skeptical about it. Considering the current meltdown situation across the world, companies are even more conscious about any investments in such models. It is difficult to quantify the value of such models. Evidence needs to be built for understanding the tangible and intangible benefits of CMMI to software industry. Current study is an attempt to understand the perception of selected software industries about benefits of CMMI. The study deals with impact of CMMI-based process improvement on issues like software quality, defect prevention, cost and schedule control, employees’ confidence level and customer satisfaction in a comparative manner for project, product and service based select IT organizations. Current study becomes more important and relevant because of the fact that Software Engineering Institute (SEI) plans to release the CMMI-SVC i.e. CMMI guideline for service-based industry in March 2009.