QAAM - Quality Assurance Association of Maryland

QAAM January Meeting Announcement

Date: January 25th, 2010

To register for the current meeting is simple; just click on the Meeting Registration link.

Topic:

Implementing CMMI SVCS Model in a Non-IT Services Environment:  

One Company’s Success Story

Location: Snyder's Willow Grove Restaurant - Linthicum Heights, MD
Presenter: Ms. Christen MacMillan, PMP
Host Company: N/A
Registration: 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Opening Remarks: 9:00 AM – 9:05 AM
Presentation: 9:05 AM – 12 Noon
Lunch: 12 Noon – 1:00 PM
Q & A: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Meeting Abstract

Institutionalizing the CMMI SVCS model in a large, non-IT based government services corporation introduced challenges for which there were few available best practices to draw upon.  Historically, the CMMI models have only been applied to IT and systems based organizations and usually included only a segment of a company’s enterprise.  The immediacy of the change needed in order to better respond to expanding business and customer service needs required company-wide implementation within a compressed timeline of less than one year. 

Additional challenges were the austere locations of the programs, the lack of corporate infrastructure, and the lack of quality process experience among the program and corporate personnel for whom standardized practices were perceived as added bureaucracy in an already heavily government regulated industry.  The key then was to develop an approach that would stabilize rapidly expanding programs through process standardization within the directed timeline, without impeding the flexibility required to support government missions in hostile and dangerous environments. 

Using the continuous representation approach, twelve (12) of the twenty (20) CMMI SVCS Level 3 process areas were selected for the first SCAMPI A Appraised Capability Level 3, with plans for a second SCAMPI A to appraise a Maturity Level 3 to follow 16 months later.  The initial implementation focused on the project management, organizational process, and support management process areas through the development of a single, proprietary service delivery oriented project management methodology.  The non-appraised service delivery process areas were built into the framework architecture to maximize value and minimize rework during the second phase of the initiative. Program sizes ranged from $50M to $1.5B and operated in geographically diverse and volatile areas around the world, where communication was often cumbersome and difficult.

The implementation approach spanned the entire $4B enterprise and resulted in a total business, infrastructure and cultural transformation.    The plan incorporated the following key elements necessary to facilitate lasting change.

• Develop and Deploy the Approach
• Create value for Stakeholders
• Change Company Behavior
• Support Training and Implementation
• Change Attitudes Through Value Recognition
• Support Continuous Improvement  

This presentation will illustrate one company’s journey to implement CMMI SVCS in order to quickly and dramatically improve service delivery capability and to provide a foundation for future improvement.   It will highlight the approach taken, lessons learned, and plans for future quality initiatives as part of a long term commitment to improve the organization.

Ms. MacMillan recently led DynCorp International in a successfully appraised enterprise-wide CMMI for Services level 3 implementation using the continuous representation of the model in 12 of the 20 process areas.  PMP certified, she has more than fourteen (14) years of progressive management experience in both government and commercial environments and is a subject matter expert in project management, CMMI and project portfolio management. Over the course of her career, she has successfully turned around under-performing projects and organizations, improved product and service quality, and more than doubled her client portfolio by leveraging project management and quality assurance best practices to improve service delivery performance. She has established and managed several enterprise PMO’s, and led multiple successful enterprise-wide CMMI (ML2 & ML3) implementations for top IT consulting and defense contractors. 

In addition, she has designed and implemented several integrated process architectures incorporating CMMI, ISO/IEC 20000, ITIL, Project Portfolio Management, EVMS, APM, EA, PMBOK and performance contracting best practices and has spearheaded and successfully implemented as many quality improvement efforts. She has experience with multiple IT development frameworks and SDLC’s (RAD, RUP, Waterfall) and is certified in ISO 20000, ITIL Foundation, CMMI SVCS and DEV.  She has spoken at several quality and project management forums including the International CMMI Users Conference in Denver, Colorado in 2007.

If you would like to attend the May QAAM meeting, please go to www.qaam.org by September 17, 2010 or email your name, company and phone number to susan.burgess@keane.com to register.

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• Click on meeting registration 

• Complete the meeting registration form

• Click on send.

Fee for attending the meeting is $ 35.00 and includes continental breakfast and lunch.  QAAM does not accept credit cards.