Table 3 – Minimum process area impact combinations
2.4 Organisational Maturity Model discussions
One of the objectives of this dissertation was to evaluate the maturity model approach for its ability to generically describe organisational maturity and so establish an improved understanding thereof. In an effort to fulfil this objective, three maturity models were analysed for their ability to impact and support the various phases of the enterprise, product and technology lifecycles. The analysis constituted the mapping of maturity model process areas onto lifecycle phases based on the perceived impact of the process areas on those phases. A discussion of the findings will follow. The lifecycle was used as a base because of the generic manner in which it describes the activities of an enterprise, i.e. a lifecycle is evident irrespective of the circumstances of the organisational change.
It must be noted that the mappings are not indisputable in terms of their content. Subjectivity as to the impact of process areas on lifecycle phases is extremely difficult to eliminate. Every effort was made to accurately execute the mappings by simultaneously considering descriptions of both the process area and lifecycle phase in question. The mappings are thus a first attempt at bringing the maturity models into an organisational lifecycle context, in an effort to better understand organisational maturity and to present an area of further possible research.
IMPACTED PHASES PRIMARY KPA
CONTRIBUTORS IMPACTED NON- PHASES
COMMENTS IMPACTED
PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA IMPACTED NON- PHASES
COMMENTS IMPACTED PHASES PRIMARY KPA
CONTRIBUTORS NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS
Level 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Level 2 (2), Implementation,
Operation Requirements Management, Project Monitoring and Control, Measurement and Analysis, Process and Product Quality Assurance, Configuration Management
(2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept impact very weak – enterprise conceptualisation not impacted. Emphasis on Implementation and Operation phases. Recycle & Disposal impact weak.
(3), Industrialisation, Production, Distribution & Logistics
Project Monitoring and Control, Supplier Agreement Management, Measurement and Analysis, Process and Product Quality Assurance, Configuration Management (3), Concept, Definition, Disposal
Concept impact weak – product conceptualisation not impacted. Definition impact weak-moderate – defining of product requirements not impacted. Operational phases (Industrialisation, Production, Distribution & Logistics) strongly impacted. Disposal impact weak.
(3), Development/ Acquisition, Implementation, Exploitation
Project Planning, Project Monitoring and Control, Supplier Agreement Management, Measurement and Analysis, Process and Product Quality Assurance, Configuration Management (2), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Decommissioning Identification/Needs Assessment impact weak-moderate – technology identification not well impacted. Emphasis lies between technology Development/Acquisition and Exploitation. Decommissioning impact weak. Level 3 (3), Functional Analysis, Implementation, Operation Requirements Development, Technical Solution, Product Integration, Verification, Organisational Training, Integrated Teaming, Decision Analysis and Resolution, Organisational Environment for Integration
(2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept impact weak-moderate – improved impact for enterprise conceptualisation. KPA’s show enterprise requirements development and process focus. Mid-life phase of enterprise impacted. Recycle & Disposal impact weak-moderate.
(4), Definition, Design, Industrialisation, Production Requirements Development, Technical Solution, Verification, Integrated Project Management for IPPD, Integrated Teaming, Organisational Environment for Integration
(0) Concept phase moderate-strongly
impacted. Definition very strongly impacted. Full lifecycle impact. Emphasis shifts 2 phases earlier (Definition and Design). Impact remains strong over Industrialisation and Production phases however.
(4), Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation, Exploitation
Technical Solution, Risk Management, Integrated Teaming, Integrated Supplier Management, Organisational Environment for Integration (0) Identification/Needs Assessment
impact moderate-strong. Full lifecycle impact. Emphasis on Development/Acquisition and Implementation. Level 4 (2), Implementation, Operation Organisational Process Performance, Quantitative Project Management (2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Zero Concept phase impact – enterprise conceptualisation not impacted at all. Extreme implementation and operation process emphasis. Zero Recycle & Disposal phase impact
(1), Production Organisational Process Performance, Quantitative Project Management (3), Concept, Definition, Disposal
Concept impact weak – product conceptualisation not impacted. Definition impact weak – defining of product requirements not impacted. Production and product support phases impacted strongly. Disposal impact weak. (2), Implementation, Exploitation Organisational Process Performance, Quantitative Project Management (2), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Decommissioning Identification/Needs Assessment impact weak – technology identification not impacted. Strong emphasis on Implementation and particularly Exploitation. Decommissioning impact weak.
Level 5 (2), Implementation,
Operation Organisational Innovation and Deployment, Causal Analysis and Resolution
(2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept phase impact weak. Extreme implementation and operation phase emphasis. Recycle & Disposal phase impact weak
(4), Definition, Design, Industrialisation, Production
None (0) Concept phase moderately impacted.
Full lifecycle impact – slightly weak on later phases (Product Support & Maintenance, Disposal). Emphasis on product definition and (at a later stage) production of the product.
(1), Exploitation Organisational Innovation and Deployment, Causal Analysis and Resolution
(0) Identification/Needs Assessment
impact weak-moderate. Virtually full lifecycle impact. Emphasis on Exploitation and later phases.
Overall (2), Implementation,
Operation N/A (2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept support very weak – enterprise conceptualisation not generally supported. Functional Analysis support moderate – defining of enterprise requirements moderately supported. Strong emphasis on Implementation and Operation. Recycle & Disposal phase impact weak. CMMI shows strong process focus in terms of ELC – phases supported where definable processes are most prominent.
(2), Production, Distribution & Logistics
N/A (2), Concept,
Disposal Concept support weak-moderate – product conceptualisation not supported on the whole. Definition support weak-moderate – defining of product requirements not well supported. Very strong emphasis on Production phase. Product and system design and product support phases’ have moderate-strong support. Disposal support weak. CMMI shows process focus in terms of PLC – phases supported where definable processes are most prominent. (3), Development/ Acquisition, Implementation, Exploitation N/A (2), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Decommissioning Identification/Needs Assessment support weak-moderate – technology identification not generally supported. Solution Architecture/Selection support moderate. Development/ Acquisition support strong. Very strong emphasis on Implementation and Exploitation. Decommissioning support weak- moderate. CMMI shows process focus in terms of TLC – phases supported where definable processes are most prominent.
IMPACTED
PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS IMPACTED PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS IMPACTED PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS
Level 1 (3), Concept, Functional Analysis, Implementation
Project definition, Programme
management awareness (2), Operation, Recycle & Disposal
Strong emphasis on Concept and Functional Analysis phases. Operation impact weak-moderate – day-to-day operational processes not well supported. Zero Recycle & Disposal impact.
(1), Definition Project definition (4), Production, Distribution & Logistics, Product Support & Maintenance, Disposal
Concept impact weak-moderate. Very strong emphasis on Definition – defining product requirements. Rest of lifecycle shows weak-moderate impact.
(2), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Solution Architecture/ Selection Project definition (3), Implementation, Exploitation, Decommissioning Identification/Needs Assessment impact strong. Emphasis on Solution Architecture/Selection. Development/Acquisition impact moderate. Level 2 (2), Functional Analysis, Implementation
Business case development, Programme organisation, Programme definition, Project establishment, Requirements management, Configuration management, Programme planning & control, Capacity management, Centre of Excellence role deployment
(2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept impact weak – enterprise conceptualisation not impacted. Emphasis on Functional Analysis. Strong Implementation impact. Operation weak-moderate impact. Recycle & Disposal impact weak.
(4), Concept, Definition, Design, Industrialisation Business case development, Programme organisation, Programme definition, Project establishment, Project planning, monitoring & control, Requirements management, Programme planning & control, Organisation portfolio establishment
(0) Concept phase strongly impacted.
Primary emphasis on Definition, Design and Industrialisation. Virtually full lifecycle impact. Weak –moderate impact on later phases.
(4), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation Project establishment, Project planning, monitoring & control, Requirements management, Risk management, Programme planning & control, Capacity management,
(1),
Decommissioning
Identification/Needs Assessment impact very strong. Emphasis on Solution Architecture/Selection and Development/Acquisition. Implementation impact very strong. Exploitation impact moderate. Emphasis extension toward later phases. Decommissioning impact weak- moderate.
Level 3 (1),
Implementation Transition management, Information management, Process definition, Training skills & competency development, Lifecycle control, Inter-group co-ordination & networking, Quality assurance
(2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept impact weak – enterprise conceptualisation not impacted. Emphasis on Implementation phase. Operation moderate-strong impact – improved day-to-day operational process support. Recycle & Disposal impact weak.
(4), Definition, Design, Industrialisation , Production Transition management, Information management, Training skills & competency development, Inter-group co-ordination & networking, Quality assurance
(0) Concept moderate-strong impact.
Emphasis on Design and Industrialisation (product and production systems design). Balanced/full lifecycle impact (at least 50% impact – Disposal phase) (4), Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation , Exploitation Transition management, Information management, Process definition, Training skills & competency development, Inter-group co-ordination & networking, Quality assurance
(0) Identification/Needs Assessment
impact moderate. Solution Architecture/Selection impact strong. Emphasis on Development/Acquisition, Implementation and Exploitation – emphasis shift to later phases.
Level 4 (3), Functional Analysis, Implementation, Operation
Quality management (2), Concept, Recycle & Disposal
Concept impact weak – enterprise conceptualisation not supported. Emphasis on Functional Analysis, Implementation, Operation. Zero impact on Recycle & Disposal.
(3), Design, Industrialisation , Production
Management metrics (1), Concept Concept weak-moderate impact – shift of impact to later phases. Emphasis remains on Design and Industrialisation. Production impact strong. Later phases show moderate impact. (3), Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation Management metrics, Organisational cultural growth (0) Identification/Needs Assessment impact moderate. Solution Architecture/ Selection impact strong. Emphasis on Development/ Acquisition and Implementation. Weak-moderate impact later.
Level 5 (2), Functional Analysis, Implementation
Proactive problem management (1), Recycle &
Disposal Concept impact weak-moderate. Emphasis in Functional Analysis and Implementation. Operation impact moderate. Zero Recycle & Disposal impact. (4), Concept, Definition, Design, Industrialisation Proactive problem management, Technology management
(1), Disposal Concept impact strong. Emphasis on Definition, Design and Industrialisation phases – requirements development and product and production systems design. Virtually full lifecycle impact - except Disposal phase
(5), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation, Exploitation Proactive problem management, Technology management, Continuous process improvement
(0) Full lifecycle impact.
Identification/Needs Assessment impact strong. Emphasis on Solution Architecture/Selection, Development/Acquisition and Implementation. Overall (2), Functional Analysis, Implementation
N/A (1), Recycle &
Disposal Concept support weak-moderate – enterprise conceptualisation vaguely supported. Emphasis on Functional Analysis (requirements development) and Implementation. Operation support moderate – basic support for day-to-day processes. Recycle & Disposal support weak. P3M3 shows a project based process focus.
(3), Definition, Design, Industrialisation
N/A (0) Concept support moderate.
Emphasis on Definition, Design and Industrialisation phases – requirements development and product and production systems design receive strong support. Moderate-strong Production support. Weak-moderate support for other phases. P3M3 shows a project based process focus, but basic support for full lifecycle.
(4), Identification/ Needs Assessment, Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation
N/A (0) Identification/Needs Assessment
support strong – technology identification strongly supported. Emphasis on Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition and Implementation - P3M3 shows a project based process focus. Exploitation support moderate. Decommissioning support weak- moderate. Full lifecycle support.
IMPACTED
PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS IMPACTED PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS IMPACTED PHASES CONTRIBUTORS PRIMARY KPA NON-IMPACTED PHASES COMMENTS
Capability Level 1– Capability Level 5 (2), Functional Analysis,
Implementation
Analyse Candidate Solutions, Derive and Allocate Requirements, Evolve System Architecture, Integrate Disciplines, Integrate System, Understand Customer Needs and Expectations, Manage Configurations, Plan Technical Effort, Define Organisation's Systems Engineering Process, Improve Organisation's Systems Engineering Processes, Manage Systems Engineering Support Environment (2), Concept,
Recycle & Disposal See below (3), Definition, Design, Industrialisation
Analyse Candidate Solutions, Derive and Allocate Requirements , Evolve System Architecture, Integrate Disciplines, Integrate System, Understand Customer Needs and Expectations, Ensure Quality, Plan Technical Effort, Improve Organisation's Systems Engineering Processes, Manage Product Line Evolution
(1), Disposal See below (3), Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation Analyse Candidate Solutions, Evolve System Architecture, Integrate Disciplines, Integrate System, Ensure Quality, Manage Risk, Plan Technical Effort, Improve Organisation's Systems Engineering Processes, Coordinate with Suppliers
(1), Decommissioning See below
Overall (2), Functional Analysis, Implementation
N/A (2), Concept,
Recycle & Disposal Concept support weak – enterprise conceptualisation not supported. Emphasis on Functional Analysis (requirements development) and Implementation. Operation support moderate-strong – general support for day-to-day processes. Recycle & Disposal support weak. SE-CMM shows a focus toward requirements establishment, design and implementation of an enterprise.
(3), Definition, Design, Industrialisation
N/A (1), Disposal Concept support weak-moderate – enterprise conceptualisation vaguely supported. Definition support strong. Emphasis on Design and Industrialisation phases – product and production systems design receive strong support. Moderate Production support. Weak-moderate support for later (product distribution and support) phases. SE-CMM shows a focus toward requirements establishment, design and implementation, and basic attention to production in terms of a product.
(3), Solution Architecture/ Selection, Development/ Acquisition, Implementation
N/A (1), Decommissioning Identification/Needs Assessment support moderate – basic technology identification support. Solution Architecture/ Selection support strong. Emphasis on Development/ Acquisition. Implementation support strong. Exploitation support moderate. Decommissioning support weak- moderate. SE-CMM shows a focus toward selecting, developing/acquiring and finally implementing a technology.
The actual purpose of the analysed maturity models must be mentioned before any further interpretation is made. Basically, their shared purpose is: to establish the capability maturity of an enterprise in terms of a specific domain of practice and, based on the results; to facilitate in establishing a direction and course for improvement that will best suit the enterprise and that is in accordance with the prescribed best practices of the maturity model. The specific domains of practice involved here are: Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development and Supplier Sourcing (CMMI); Portfolio, Programme and Project Management (P3M3); and again Systems Engineering (SE-CMM). It is generally accepted that an enterprise will select a maturity model with a domain of practice that best describes the core business of that enterprise. In other words, if an organisation specialises in the execution of projects, it would most likely opt for P3M3. It is possible, however, that an enterprise may require the application and integration of more than one model. This may be a difficult and unfruitful exercise, however, because of the dissimilar overall depictions of organisational maturity. (This does not apply to products of the SEI, as their depictions are more aligned.) A discussion of this inconsistency and why it may be a difficult and unfruitful exercise can be found in Section 1.2. Nevertheless, the purpose of a particular maturity model is to provide the basis for identifying and improving specific capability (or process) areas within an organisation.
The first matter that will be discussed relates to the relation between the domains of practice to the specific lifecycle being mapped. The domains represented in this analysis (such as Project Management) are of an enterprise sub-system nature, i.e., they are not necessarily geared towards holistically addressing the enterprise, particularly throughout its lifecycle. This is especially true for CMMI and, to a lesser extent, SE- CMM and P3M3. Enterprise conceptualisation and disposal are the phases where there is an obviously perceivable shortfall in impact and support. This trend is strong throughout the CMMI maturity levels. In terms of P3M3, maturity levels 1 and 5 are those that ultimately contribute slightly better to the models‟ support for enterprise conceptualisation. The Recycle & Disposal phase sees extremely weak support from P3M3, however. SE-CMM shows slightly more (although still weak) conceptualisation and disposal support, primarily due to the systems engineering lifecycle approach. This then highlights the lack of support for enterprise conceptualisation and disposal evident in all three models, and could have been anticipated by recognising that these models are focused on enterprise sub-systems, rather than the enterprise as a whole.
The Product and Technology Lifecycles generally receive more support from the three maturity models than the Enterprise Lifecycle. This, again, can be attributed to the fact that the domains are focused on enterprise sub-systems. However, the phases receiving less support remain those addressing conceptualisation and disposal, although the difference between these and the strongly supported phases is less than that observed with the Enterprise Lifecycle.
Strangely, CMMI tends to show the weakest ability to support the full lifecycles, irrespective of the actual lifecycle. This is contrary to what one might have anticipated considering that CMMI integrates four domains of practice. If one searches deeper, however, the following realities are highlighted: CMMI is primarily based on the concepts of the original SW-CMM, and three of the four domains of practice are strongly focused on the product and its design, implementation and operation. The fourth domain of practice, Systems
Engineering, would thus not appear to be as an integral a part of CMMI as the other three domains. This statement is made after considering the far more comprehensive lifecycle support that SE-CMM provides over all three lifecycles when compared with CMMI. SE-CMM goes so far as to mention a full systems lifecycle approach for many of the process areas.
P3M3 lifecycle support is also far better than that of CMMI. This is possibly as a result of the generic nature of portfolio, programme and project management, and the project domains‟ stronger emphasis on the initial phases of an initiative. Where conceptualisation is weak to very weak in most CMMI instances, P3M3 shows moderate product conceptualisation and even strong technology conceptualisation.
An interesting analysis may be to investigate whether patterns exist in terms of phase impact with increasing levels of maturity. This would highlight progressive lifecycle phase awareness with increasing levels of maturity. For SE-CMM, increasing levels of maturity shows no relative change in impact from one level to another due to the continuous nature of the model, i.e., all process areas are applicable to all levels of capability. This is, however, not the case with CMMI and P3M3. The lifecycle impact profiles of these models therefore differ from one maturity level to another. Relative change patterns are, however, not apparent in the mappings and summaries (See Table 12 – Appendix A).
Far more discussions and interpretations may be extracted from the mappings themselves and their summaries. There is, however, a persisting observation permeating the mappings, their summaries and discussions, and this is the very prominent absence of support for conceptualisation and disposal. This is in varying degrees, but remains consistent throughout. Two questions must be asked: How relevant are these phases and how does this finding relate to the concept of organisational maturity? These questions will be addressed in the conclusion to this chapter.
2.5 Conclusion
To the knowledge of the author, the concepts of organisational- and domain maturity have not been related to the Enterprise Lifecycle, or any other organisationally relevant design lifecycles. Whether an organisation is aware of the lifecycle concept or not, it will proceed through and later revisit various phases in its evolutionary and/or revolutionary quest to create value for its customers. Knowledge and understanding of this process can only facilitate the enterprise in this mission. It must, therefore, be stated that an enterprise capable of effectively managing and executing these phases and coordinating the different activities therein, should be more mature in its ability to realise its vision.
Through the process of performing, summarising and interpreting the maturity model lifecycle impact mappings, the recurring perception of weak impact and support for the concept and disposal lifecycle phases was observed. This was particularly true for the Enterprise Lifecycle, and to a lesser extent, the Product and Technology Lifecycles. The following questions were then posed in Section 2.4: How relevant are these phases and how does this finding relate to the concept of organisational maturity?
The disposal phase of an initiative deals with the decommissioning, recycling and/or disposing of all systems