1. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
1SPIder, September 25, Utrecht
Business Focused CMMI at Ericsson
SPIder, September 25, Utrecht
Ben Linders
Ericsson EuroLab Netherlands, Rijen (N.B.)
Ben.Linders@eln.ericsson.se, +31 161 24 9885

2. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
2SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Overview
• History of applying SW CMM
• CMMI vs SW CMM
• Business Focused CMMI
Organizational Performance Improvement!

3. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
3SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Ericsson EuroLab Netherlands
• Worldwide Ericsson R&D company
• Wide product range:
– Base stations, UMTS
– Charging, Internet Applications
– Intelligent Networks and Services, Announcements
– Bluetooth, Business Cordless
• 950 employees, in the south (Rijen) and the
east (Enschede, Emmen)

4. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
4SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Assessment History
• CMM SW: Full assessments:
– 1994: First assessment
– 1995: CMM Level 3
– 1998: Assessed Level 4
• P-CMM: Company wide assessments:
– 1998: First assessment
– 2000: Re-assessment
• SE-CMM: Studied
• Light assessments for CMM SW, P-CMM, and CMMI
– Ongoing from 1996 - 2001 (several done each year)

5. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
5SPIder September 25, Utrecht
New Assessment Requirements
• Aligned to needs of the organisation
Only assess where you can and want to improve
• Focus on improvement, not on levels
• More frequent assessments
• Smaller scope, more specific findings
• Lower cost
²Business Goal Focused Assessments

6. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
6SPIder September 25, Utrecht
CMMI vs CMM SW
• Philosophy
– Integration of models
– Framework, toolbox
– Rating and improvement
– Common assessment method
• Structure
– Process Areas
– Goals & practices
– Staged & continuous
– Maturity & Capability level
• Scope
– Project Management
– Process management
– Engineering
– Support
« Incl. Systems Engineering
Replaces SW CMM,
SE-CMM, IPPD
CMM, and SA CMM
(not P-CMM)

7. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
7SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Business Focus in CMMI
• Continues representation:
– Toolbox with Process Areas
– Pick only useful PAs
– Measure on Capability Level
• PA Purpose: Link to business goals
• But, business processes are lacking:
– Goal setting, strategies, customer focus
– Leadership, people development (P-CMM)
– Partnerships, environment, etc

8. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
8SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Why did Ericsson choose CMMI?
• Continuous model: Focus on improvement
• Up to date collection of “Best Practices”
• Official standard (replace CMM SW 2.0 draft C)
• More suitable assessment method: Class C
More info: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/

9. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
9SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Business Focused Assessment Method
SEI/Ericsson CMMI Class C
Pilot Assessment:
• Identify business goals where
improvement is needed
• Select Process Areas
• Setup team, select interviewees
• Questionnaire + Consensus Meeting
• Findings, and identify actions

10. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
10SPIder September 25, Utrecht
CMMI Pilot in Figures
• 5 assessments, 4 in Q4 2000, 1 in Q1 2001
– Process Management (7 PAs)
– Project Management (6 PAs)
– Requirement Management/Development (2 PAs)
– Engineering (4 PAs)
– Decision Analysis & Resolution (1 PA)
• 4 Assessors, 390 Mhrs (19.5 Hr per PA)
• 42 Interviewees, 159 Mhrs (3.8 Hr per person)
• 54 Strengths, 85 Weaknesses
• 70-80% of the finding led to actions

11. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
11SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Benefits: Improved Performance
• Project Management: Major improvements
– Lead time precision above target
– Cost precision above target
• Engineering: Early benefits
– Focus on deployment of technical process
– Efficiency needs further improvement
• Process Management: Institutionalised
– Effective application of audit, RCA, assessment, etc

12. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
12SPIder September 25, Utrecht
CMMI Pilot Evaluation (1)
• SEI feedback form, 11 returned from 23 (48%)
– No major problems missed
– 1 person said that some minors were identified
wrongly, 10 said no wrongly identified problems
– 10 persons said that assessments where always done
effectively, 1 most often, nobody said ineffective

13. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
13SPIder September 25, Utrecht
CMMI Pilot Evaluation (2)
How accurate was the assessment
0
1
2
3
4
5
Much better
Somewhat better
About the same
Somewhat worse
Much worse
Don't know
How well did the assessment find strong points
0
2
4
6
8
Very well
Reasonably
well
Not very well
How well did the assessment find major
problems?
0
2
4
6
8
Very well
Generally well
Not very well

14. Ben Linders, Ericsson EuroLab
Netherlands
14SPIder September 25, Utrecht
Conclusions, where do we go from here?
• Business Goals focus is a winner!
– Compact assessment, better cost/benefit
– 3 more assessments done in Q1/Q2 2001
– Useful actions, which have improved performance
– Further integration with goal setting and KPIs
• Method is being spread within Ericsson
– More class C (light) assessments
– Assessors network for further development