Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Differences in ISO 9001 and the CMM

The CMM is a way to communicate capabilities. The ISO is a way to communicate the process. 
CMM is a very specific way of classifying an organization's software development methods but, ISO procedures describe a definite development and process but give no indication of the likely quality of the designs or whether multiple software efforts are likely to produce software of similar quality. 



  • Some issues in ISO 9001 are not covered in CMM, and vice versa, The levels of detail differ 
  • The clause such as customer-supplied products and handling, packaging, preservation and delivery as stated in the ISO 9001 has no strong relationship to CMM KPAs 
  • The biggest difference is the emphasis in CMM on continuous process improvement. ISO only addresses minimum criteria for an acceptable quality system. 
  • The clause in ISO 9001 that addresses in CMM in a completely distributed fashion is servicing. There is significant debate about the exact relationships to CMM for corrective and preventive action and statistical techniques 
  • CMM focuses strictly on software, while ISO 9001 includes hardware, software, processed materials and services. 
  • For both CMM and ISO 9001, the bottom line is “Say what you do; do what you say.” 
  • Every Level 2 KPA is strongly related to ISO 9001. Every KPA is at least weakly related to ISO 9001. A CMM Level-1 organization can be ISO 9001 certified; that organization would have significant Level-2 process strengths and noticeable Level-3 strengths. 
  • Given a reasonable implementation of the software process, an ISO 9001 certified organization should be at least close to CMM Level-2. 
  • Even a Level-3 organization would need to ensure that delivery and installation are addressed, but even a Level-2 organization would have comparatively little difficulty in obtaining ISO 9001 certification.

Difference between ISO 9000 and CMM(ISO 9000 VS CMM)

ISO 900(INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ORGANISATION)
CMM (CABABILITY MATURITY MODEL)
It applies to any type of industry .
CMM is specially developed for software industry
ISO 9000 addresses corporate business process
CMM focuses on the software Engineering activities.
ISO 9000 specifies minimum requirement.
CMM gets nto technical aspect of software engineering.
ISO 9000 restricts itself to what is required.
It suggests how to fulfill the requirements.
ISO 9000 provides pass or fail criteria.
It provides grade for process maturity.
ISO 9000 has no levels.
CMM has  5 levels:
       Initial
       Repeatable
       Defined
      Managed
       Optimization

ISO 9000 does not specifies sequence of steps required to establish the quality system.
It reconnects the mechanism for step by step progress through its successive maturity levels.
Certain process elements that are in ISO are not included in CMM like:
1.       Contract management
2.       Purchase and customer supplied components
3.       Personal issue management
4.       Packaging ,delivery, and installation management
Similarly other process in CMM are not included in ISO 9000
1.       Project tracking
2.       Process and technology change management
3.       Intergroup coordinating to meet customer’s requirements
4.       Organization level process focus, process development and integrated management.