Can the Capability Maturity Model~® Contribute to a Common Model for Systems Engineering?

摘要

There is a recognized body of systems engineering standards which originated from military needs for product acquisition and were modified with a goal of applying to civil systems. There is also an unrecognized body of systems engineering standards (those involved with aircraft certification). Previous work has shown that the aircraft certification methods are effectively systems engineering standards with a few key differences. This paper investigates the Capability Maturing Model~® (CMM~®) as a potential source to resolve some of those differences. First the Capability Maturity Model-Acquisition~® (CMMI-ACQ~®) and the Capability Maturity Model-Systems Engineering~® (SE-CMM~®) are compared to each other and to the key systems engineering standards to see if differences between acquisition and other models can be identified and used. Then the Capability Maturity Model Integration~® for Development (CMMI~®) is compared to a group of the recognized and unrecognized systems engineering standards in search of improvements to a previously proposed simplified systems engineering model. Results show that CMMI-ACQ~® and SE-CMM~® are both very much systems engineering models with some differences which can be understood in the context of acquisition. Comparison of the CMMI~® model with the other standards demonstrates that the model fits very well with the other standards and does not add new information to the proposed model. Finally, that proposed simplified model is presented and reviewed for perceived advantages to both the systems engineering community along with the rest of the world.