Overview

Chapters 3 and 4 presented several major frameworks for process improvement. The two most widely used frameworks are the CMM -SW and ISO 9001:1994. As of this writing, more than 1,600 organizations and 9,000 projects have conducted and reported formal CMM appraisals and more than 400,000 organizations are registered under ISO 9001:1994. Unfortunately, there are no data to show the number of organizations in both groups and the number of the ISO registered organizations with active process improvement programs. Nevertheless, since the publication of the revised standards in late 2000, significant interest has been seen in certification and registration under ISO 9001:2000 and in transition from the CMM to the CMMI . The ISO Web site shows that more than 43% of all the certificates they awarded in 2001 were certificates of conformity to ISO 9001:2000.

Any company interested in using both standards must ask if they are compatible. The answer is a resounding yes. However, it is less clear how an organization that has already invested in one or both of the legacy standards can transition to the revised standards. In this chapter we show how ISO 9001:2000 and the CMMI are synergistic. Chapters 6 and 7 will show how this synergy can be used to develop a consistent process improvement strategy that will lead to ISO certification and achievement of targeted CMMI maturity or capability levels.

A high-level comparison of those two standards is shown in Table 5.1 [1]. This comparison points to both similarities and differences. Fortunately,...