Process Improvements

Situation: The Department of State is working to achieve process improvements within the Department’s Systems Development and Maintenance Division located at the Charleston Financial Service Center. In this effort, MIL is using the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) version 1.2 as the process improvement infrastructure while utilizing Project Management Institute (PMI) methodologies for the approach. When applicable, associated work instructions and work products are drafted using ISO 9001 documentation standards.

Action: After consulting with the Department, MIL chose a staged approach, targeting existing processes currently under the Department's Global Financial Framework Architecture.  MIL designed procedures covering project management, requirements analysis, software design, quality assurance, configuration management, and process auditing.  The processes were designed to integrate seamlessly into the Systems Development and Maintenance organization while also aiding in CMMI certification be being fully CMMI 2.1 compliant.

Result: MIL successfully implemented the redesigned processes and achieved an organization-wide CMMI Maturity Level 2 certification in April, 2009.  The process improvement effort continues as CMMI Maturity Level 3 certification is the team's goal for 2010.