sjaladurgam

 Profile Answers by sjaladurgam 

• Jun 15th, 2008

 

Six Sigma :Is an overall enterprise improvement methodology that uses data to monitor, control, and improve operational performance by eliminating and preventing ‘defects' in products and associated processes. Six Sigma emphasizes producing better, faster, and lower cost product and services than the competition and stresses breakthrough improvement, for improved bottom line results.

CMM1:Capability Maturity Model is unpredictable and often chaotic beacuse the s/w process is constantly changed as the work preogresses.The process is,essentially ,ad hoc and generally Undisciplined ,making the organization an unstable environment for developing s/w.

kurtz182

 Profile Answers by kurtz182 Questions by kurtz182

• Dec 20th, 2009

 

Both Six Sigma and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) are process improvement methodologies designed to add value to organizations.  The Six Sigma approach was not originally designed with the software industry in mind.  In contrast, CMMI was developed by representatives from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) as well as others from the manufacturing sector and government. 

Six Sigma advocates two methodologies; one for projects aimed at improving existing business programs and another aimed at creating new product or processes.  I will describe the latter methodology here:

1) Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.  
2) Measure and identify characteristics that are critical to quality
3) Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design.
4) Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations.
5) Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owners.

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is an approach to quality improvement that focuses on acheiving effective processes to improve performance. CMMI helps integrate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.  It is used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.

There are five levels of an organization's maturity as defined by CMMI from highly reactive organizations being the least mature to organizations focusing on process improvement being the most mature.  In addition, there are 16 process areas in CMMI that can be tailored to meet the needs of an organization.  Eight of these areas are:

1) Requirements Management
2) Project Monitoring and Control
3) Project Planning Project
4) Configuration Management
5) Measurement and Analysis Support
6) Process and Product Quality Assurance
7) Organizational Process Definition Process
8) Causal Analysis

Whether one methodology is preferable over another depends on an organization's needs. 

(source: 'Six Sigma' and 'CMMI' in wikipedia)