CMMi for acquisitions versus eSCM, ISPL and other standards, part 1
- CMMi for acquisitions (Carnegie Mellon University)
- ISO/IEC 12207 (International Standards Organisation)
- Information Services Procurement Library (European Community)
- e-Sourcing Capability Model (Carnegie Mellon University)
- ISlite (Gartner)
CMMi for acquisitions, ISO/IEC 12207 and ISPL were created to provide a structured approach to get:
- the right service/product,
- for the best price,
- at the desired quality levels,
- from the best vendor,
- at or within the risk appetite of the company
In other words, these standards/methodologies provide companies insight in procuring/acquiring/sourcing products and/or services from an external vendor. The two other models are related to contract management/ sourcing governance, so basically the activities which have to be performed after the contract has been signed.
CMMi for acquisition consists of 22 process area’s: 16 core processes and 6 process area’s which are specific for acquisition. It originates from CMMI for Development v1.2 (2006) and Software Acquisition CMM v1.03 (2002) and has thus its roots in the software development area. The 22 process area’s of CMMI® for Acquisition, version 1.2 are described in 441 pages of text and to me this means it should be deployed in its full scope only for the largest and most complex/dynamic of software acquisition projects.
The standard goes (understandably) very in-dept into all kinds of (software) specific stuff and most processes will thus have only limited use for other types of acquisitions. The most generic process described is ‘solicitation and supplier agreement development’ and it provides an overview of typical steps undertaken to come from the wish to acquire to a signed contract. Other also more generic processes go into the project and risk management side of acquisitions and might thus also be applicable to other types of acquisitions/outsourcing. CMMi 4 Acq is furthermore focussed primarily on discrete software projects and it is thus not directly aimed at facilitating the outsourcing of the software development department of lets say company X.
ISO12207 is an ISO standard for software lifecycle processes and has quiet some similarities with CMMi for acquisitions as it also describes the processes and activities applied during the acquisition phase. It aims to be 'the' standard related to managing the lifecycle of software (developing and maintaining software). There are 23 processes, 95 activities, 325 tasks and 224 outcomes. Like with CMMi is the aim of this standard to create a common ground so that the client, suppliers, developers and other stakeholders can use a common language. In many other ISO standards is acquisition also a subject which is being dealt with (e.g. ISO 3977 for the design and procurement of gas turbine systems).
Both standards provide definitely elements which can be useful when acquiring other types of IT services (e.g. outsourcing network support) and even for BPO/KTO. But in that case one needs a large cup of coffee and do some cherry picking. I actually wonder whether there is still a positive business case if an organisation wants to a) perform all prescribed CMMi processes/activities at b) the highest maturity level. Like with the traditional CMM(i) used to manage internal software development projects I believe the optimum maturity level is around 3. Above level 3 the additional cost of the paper work adds less value than it costs.
Where it comes to the ISO, I agree with those which embrace it as a means to improve quality and not something to get certified against as soon as possible. I see too many companies which just ‘implement’ it in order to pass the certification and only look into their hand books three weeks before the auditors come again for a re-certification. Like with CMMi 4 Acq. pick the elements which help you to improve quality further, ignoring the rest.
More on other acquisition and sourcing models in another post.
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