CMMI Important for Public Sector
29 July 2008
Process is vital for government software development projects, given that twenty percent of all software development projects are likely to end in outright failure, says Professor Barry Dwolatzky, Director of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at Wits University.
Speaking at the State IT Agency (Sita) GovTech Conference on Tuesday, Dwolatzky says that according to the Chaos Report issued by the Standish Group in 2006, two out of ten software development projects globally never see the light of day. A further four projects out of every ten are likely to come in late and/or over budget while the remaining four projects will come in on time, to budget and meet specifications.
"If one applies these figures to some of the major government IT projects like Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) estimated at a cost of R2.5 billion, the National Treasury's multi-billion rand Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) - where HR alone will cost around R800 million - and other projects like e-Natis, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), SARS's eFiling, the Batho Pele Gateway and more, then one begins to see that if the Chaos report's statistics are true then the prospects are somewhat alarming," he says.
The good news is that the 2006 report shows significant improvement from previous reports, with fewer projects failing outright and more coming in on time and to budget. Jim Johnson, founder and chairman of the Standish Group says the reason for this comes down to three main factors.
Firstly iterative development contributes to a more precise process and less revisions within the software development process. Secondly, the Internet has facilitated improved communication between developers and users and thirdly process has improved.
Honing in on the third reason, Dwolatzky says according to the process management premise: the quality of a product or service is determined by the quality of the process used to develop or deliver it.
"The success of a software development project is therefore determined by the maturity of the process used to deliver it. The more "immature" the process, the higher the risk to the development project. There is therefore a general move internationally among software development companies to reduce risk by improving process," he says.
CMMI matures processes:
One of the main ways in which risk is being averted in development projects internationally is by implementing the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) process improvement product suite, which was developed at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.
SEI figures show that when CMMI is implemented by development companies, their ability to estimate cost improves by an average of 34 percent, there is a 50 percent improvement in scheduling and a 61 percent increase in productivity.
The JCSE brought CMMI to South Africa in 2006 and began training local resources so that it could begin to offer CMMI consulting to the local market at local prices.
It launched a CMMI pilot with companies like the State IT Agency (Sita), First National Bank, IBM, Wits University and a number of small to medium enterprises. The aim of the pilot is to take a number of companies through the CMMI process to make a compelling case for implementing CMMI on a broader scale within South Africa.
Government involved:
Government is already involved in the process through the participation of Sita in the pilot as well as a contribution by the Department of Trade and Industry of around R1.5 million to the JCSE's CMMI programme in 2007.
Government has also acknowledged the importance of CMMI for South Africa. Speaking at the CoMMIt conference last year, the Minister of Trade and Industry (DTI), Mandisi Mpahlwa threw Government's support behind CMMI, saying that process improvement would be critical in assisting local software development companies in becoming more competitive internationally.
According to the Minister, the growth of the local software development market will depend on strong domestic demand, skills within the sector, a supportive infrastructure environment and international standards.
"South Africa's software development sector is lagging behind other countries which are using CMMI to position themselves internationally," he said. "We should see this as an opportunity to grow our own software development sector which currently has an estimated value of around R13 billion. CMMI will be a critical success factor to increase exports and thereby assist in growing the industry. To do this, we will have to create an environment that produces CMMI rated companies," he says.
Dwolatzky says that they key to answering the Minister's call will be for the ICT sector, and particularly development companies, to focus on process improvement and positioning themselves to compete side-by-side with international companies.
"To be able to compete internationally on the software development stage will require involvement and investment from both the public and private sectors. Given that South Africa's counterparts in developing countries like India, Mexico and Brazil have already committed themselves to process improvement and are competing successfully internationally, its time for South Africa to step up to the plate and do the same," Dwolatzky says.
CMMI background:
CMMI is a process improvement model that defines the maturity of companies' processes, Dwolatzky says. CMMI rates companies' processes on a scale of one to five.
"The five maturity levels of CMMI are: initial, repeatable, defined, managed, and optimising. CMMI assists lower level companies with issues like planning, project monitoring and control, measurement, requirements management and putting in place proper contracts with clients and suppliers.
"It then moves on in the higher levels, helping companies to define policy frameworks and introduce best practise. Furthermore, it increases improves the predictive power of an organisation, optimises quality, reduces costs and increases efficiency," he says.
Why CMMI?
The CMMI model is being used extensively in the US and Europe to assist companies in countering risk when awarding tenders. Because CMMI rates the maturity of companies' process, it gives a level of assurance that the company being given the work will be able to complete the job in the time and price quoted for the project.
Dwolatzky says in order for the local software development industry to become more competitive on a global scale, it will need to fall into line with international standards, so that local companies seeking international contracts will be able to meet the CMMI level specified by international companies.
There is also the aspect of self improvement. Companies will be able to use CMMI as a way of differentiating themselves locally and by achieving a level of CMMI, will have naturally improved their processes which will make them more competitive.