Eileen C. Forrester

As a long-time user of the CMM(I) models, I was pleased to see a book on CMMI for services (CMMI SVC). This third CMMI model addresses organizations that make service development, delivery, and support their main business. In the introduction, authors Forrester, Buteau, and Shrum note that services now make up 80 percent of the world economy, so many companies can benefit from the CMMI SVC model.

CMMI for Services targets readers both new to and experienced with process improvement and CMMI. For those who are new to the CMMI approach, the book explains capability and maturity levels and how they manifest in CMMI SVC. It defines the process-improvement approach, including sponsorship, and the kinds of assessments that an organization can do to determine their current performance and potential improvements. It includes Internet references to current information on lead assessors and additional training.

Process area descriptions specific to services make it easy for readers with CMMI experience to understand how services differ from software development and acquisition (the two other endeavors for which capability maturity models exist). Discussions of service life cycles will help organizations manage the introduction, support, and removal of services. In addition, discussions of projects, service systems, service requests, and incidents show how the life cycles relate to each other, supporting organizations in developing, delivering, and managing services.
The book also includes a lot of information on how to deploy the CMMI SVC model. There’s a whole chapter with essays, many of them in domains that haven’t traditionally used CMMI. In fact, I see one of CMMI SVC’s greatest benefits in helping to align IT services with non-IT domains, where so many IT applications and services are used.

The detailed process-area descriptions might overwhelm readers new to CMMI. However, once you become familiar enough with it, you’ll start using this book as a reference guide. I found the relationship diagrams especially valuable. They show how the process areas support each other with two views: establishing and delivering services, and managing services. These two views help to understand and deploy the process areas effectively.

Applying the well-known CMMI approach to services reveals IT systems from the user perspective. Users want more than software or a system; they want services that help them do their work. This perspective has many benefits. CMMI for Services can help you get started in it and also serve as a reference guide for your process-improvement journey.
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