Mv2421182120

Sairam Vakkalanka, Ranjith Engu / International Journal of Engineering Research and
Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com
Vol. 2, Issue4, July-August 2012, pp.2118-2120
The quintessential Quality Management Systems CMM & ISO
9000-2001
Sairam Vakkalanka*, Ranjith Engu**
*(School of Computing, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Karlskrona, Sweden-37179
** (School of Computing, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Karlskrona, Sweden-37179

ABSTRACT
The main aim of this article is to gain an II. QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
understanding on two different quality Let us now have a look into the two prime
improvement models namely, ISO and CMMI, quality management systems available, which are
with a prime focus on TickIT. Through this being used by organizations round the world for
report, we have discussed the how these process process improvement.
improvement models work by identifying their i.
aims, characteristics and differences. Also, a ii. TickIT
discussion is presented on the benefits and TickIT, which is well known as ISO
shortcomings of these models. 9000:2001 standard is a quality management
Keywords – CMMI, ISO 9000, TICKIT, certification programme which is supported by
Differences, characteristics, quality improvement Industries across US and Europe [3]. It helps in
models, process improvement models. knowing how quality becomes crucial in the process
of developing a software and how can one improve
I. INTRODUCTION their quality standards [3].
In a competitive world, organizations try to a.
work on improving their process, in order to face the b. Why TickIT?
challenge among their competitors, stand out as an The main motto of TickIT is to increase the
organization which can deliver to the needs of the quality and performance of the process. Also, it
customer, face market risks and testing times in the ensures the output of the process by identifying the
business with ease. To gain the satisfaction of the requirement of quality management systems in order
customer and to taste success in the competing to meet the customer expectations.
markets, one might need a lot of resources which c.
might be too costly. Customers can only be satisfied d. How TickIT works?
only if they are delivered a quality product. Quality TickIT works by identifying and defining
product can be achieved when there is quality in the how the existing processes in the organization
process of developing the product (at times this may interact with each other. It provides requirements
not hold true). Quality management systems such as which help in continuously improving the quality
the ISO 9000 and CMMI are followed by management systems in an organization. Also,
organizations in order to gain an edge over their continuous monitoring of the quality management
competitors and to improve the quality of the process, system is done.
their organizations follow. e.
ISO 9000 is a family of standards which f. Features of TickIT
describe the essential quality management practices TickIT is a standard for quality management
an organization needs to follow [1]. This standard in software development organizations. The main
consists of a group of requirements which are needed characteristics of TickIT are as follows:
for a quality management system [1]. These 
requirements are independent of the work nature of  Process oriented framework:
the organization, type of the organization, how big It is a process oriented framework, which
the organization is etc [1]. describes what the organizations which implement
CMMI is a capability maturity model Quality management systems need to follow. It spots
integration, which suggests organizations, the the different processes followed by the organization
essential requirements for a quality process [2]. This and develops a relation between these processes. The
process improvement approach helps organizations in problem of isolated process is solved by introducing
knowing their strengths and weaknesses and also process communication.
areas where improvements are required [2]. 
 Focus on continuous QMS improvement:
Ways of optimizing the present processes
followed by the organizations are identified. TickIT
mainly focuses on areas such as the Quality
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management system, resource management,  Evaluation of the current process:
management responsibility, and product realization. Improvement of the process can be done
Business processes are mainly realized in TickIT. only evaluating the current process, how effectively
ISO 9000 focuses on the product realization part is the process being followed, how well did the
only. people in organization adjust to the process etc.
 Management responsibilities: Points of reference are provided in order to evaluate
It describes how the managements of the the current process [4].
organization should deal with the customer. It also
helps in identifying the responsibilities of  Sound description of process definition
management which is an important aspect of ISO criterion:
9000, as the definition of what quality in their A clear description of requirements which
product means always comes from top clan of the help the process of implementing the process in an
management. organization is given. This requirement description
would result in providing a proper process definition
 Documenting the requirements: criterion, which might help in understanding what
The documentation of the requirements help needs to be done.
in understanding how well the organization is  Process guidelines for implementing:
adjusted to the process and what the people in the As all the process guidelines are described
organization are working on. and documented very clearly and concisely,
providing even the minute details, this would
iii. CMMI eradicate the problem of inventing new process
CMMI is a process improvement model guidelines.
which describes the characteristics of effective  Leads to business benefits:
software processes by providing them with There are a plethora of business benefits
implementation guidelines to improve the overall which can be obtained such as the cost performance,
structuring processes of the organization. prediction of the accuracy, satisfaction of the
customer, evaluation of the performance etc [4].
a. Why CMMI?
CMMI is developed as a cost effective III. WHERE DO ISO & CMMI DIFFER?
solution to organizations, as a standard which i.can Process independence
work well with other technologies and standards, as a In CMMI, process is not dependant on the
continuous process improvement standard. It was persons working in the organization or those who
also developed to set a benchmark in standardizing optimized the process. Even if a person or a group is
the process improvement paradigms. out of the organization, it doesn’t show effect on the
process [6]. This is called Institutionalization which
b. How CMMI works? is more or the less absent in the ISO 9000 or the ISO
The CMMI model has a set of 22 process 9001:2001 (TickIT).
areas which help in process improvement. Each ii. Management Responsibility
process area consists of specific goals and specific Quality always flows from the top levels of
practices. an organization, and decision regarding the process
The process areas are distinguished into two types, has to be taken by the main management. This aspect
specific goals and generic goals. Specific goals which acts as an important requirement in ISO 9000
explain what needs to be implemented in the and TickIT goes totally missing in CMMI [7].
organization where as generic goals helpsiii. in Defect-cause analysis and mitigation
institutionalize process improvement across the Identifying a defect and to know the root
organization. cause of the defect is an important process area in
CMMI has two organizing ways for working on CMMI. This also discusses the mitigation strategy of
process areas, staged and continuous. In the staged the identified defect [8]. Whereas, this is unclear and
model there is a proper structure for process not properly discussed in ISO, though it discusses
improvement in a stepwise fashion, continuous the about the feedback from the client it does not talk
process improvement is done by considering process about this issue.
area or process areas making them one group [5]. iv. Area of focus
The prime area of focus in CMMI is the
c. Features of CMMI continuous process improvement and evaluation of
The characteristics of the capability maturity model the current process whereas ISO focuses on the
are as follows: quality control aspects [9].
v. Product and project
ISO works on the improvement and
assurance of quality of a system or a product,

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whereas CMMI works on improving the process of their competitors will be unwilling to take up this
the organization as a whole [10]. model.
Certification and standard Scope of ambiguity:
ISO follows a set of strict rules, constraints, There are areas of uncertainty and unclear
procedures, if these are not met by organizations, topics on the issues such as the architecture, design
certification is not provided, whereas with CMMI, etc.
once if an organization is registered with it, it helps in V. ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
continuous process improvement of that organization. When we have short span of time and
limited resources like budget we can choose ISO for
IV. BENEFITS & SHORTCOMINGS our organization and if we have huge resources, huge
There are several advantages and budgets and belief in improvement at a steady pace,
disadvantages of ISO and CMMI models. They are as we can try this long term process improvement, the
follows: CMMI. Though we have stated our views based on
ISO (TickIT): the available literature, when it comes to deciding to
Pros: choose between these two models, the management
Internal benefits: of the organization has to make a choice of what best
There are a quite a lot of internal benefits to suits their organization.
the organization such as the improvement in the
operational efficiency, betterment in the procedures VI. CONCLUSION
of work, well motivated staff etc [11]. Through this paper we have tried to discuss
External benefits: two widely used process improvement models, the
There are quite a lot of external benefits ISO and the CMMI model. We have tried to make a
such as appraisal from the customer and his discussion on the characteristics, the need of
satisfaction, increase in the sales, edge over the developing these models, differences between these
competitors etc [11]. models, and the advantages and disadvantages of
Cons: these models. Success doesn’t come only by adopting
Strict rules and regulations: these models but comes when these models are put
ISO has very rigid rules and procedures and into practice.
the organization is bound to follow those. Due to this
there are heavy limitations and restriction on the REFERENCES
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Organizations which are in a rush to compete with
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