New type of problems after CMMI certification in SME

New type of problems after CMMI certification in SME

Mićić Janko, Ivanović MirjanaUniversity of Novi SadFaculty of SciencesNovi Sad, Serbia

AgendaCertification process itself How it is done and who bares the biggest load

Transitional SMESME trying to adjust

Overcoming certificationPull-over or sink-under

Is SME ready for process certificationHow to find out do you need one

1

2

5

3

4

Bulletpoints after certificationProblems hiding beneath the certification

2/25

6 Conclusion

1. Certification process itself-How it is done and who bares the biggest load

• Presentation is made from expirience

• Worked for two years withing the company before certification

• Been the certification responsible inside SME• Working in the company for two years afterwards

• ESI Bulgaria supervised the CMMI stage 2. initial level appreisal (IT mark) in 2009 throughout 2010 from GTZ ORF funding

3/25

• Seven companies from Serbia participated in the project.

• Six of the are SME and only one is a BIG company employing over 400 people

• To become certified a company must implement CMMI processes, that are validated by the ESI consultants, on ONE existing project


4/25

• Company must designate a responsible for the certification process

• Responsible is a two way channel between ESI and the company's

• Certification responsible assembles a team within a company.


5/25

Agenda

6/25

Certification process itself How it is done and who bares the biggest load




1

2

5

3

4


6 Conclusion

2. Transitional SME-SME trying to adjust

• Everybody is well aware of the possitive effects, but few people talk about negative effects of the certification.

• From the personal contact with other certification responsibles within other companies involved in the same project following downside conclusions have been gathered

7/25


• Management of the companies not directly involved.

• Partialy because the certification is motivated through better market position with certificate than better product quality through certification

• Managerial staff does not posses engineering knowledge and as such not being able to actively participate in the process

8/25


• The whole process falls down to engineering staff because „they know what they need“

• Engineers not directly envolved in the process not willing to assist, they see the certification as additional workload during and after the certification is done.

• Employees with spare hours not willing to assist due to the fact that documantation will be the proof of their actual payload

9/25


• Management rarely acknowledges documentation related obligations as working hours for engineers

• Engineers working on the certification are given additional payload without additional authority resulting in bad working environment

•expected to extract essential data from the company without authority to demand results from the employees

10/25

Agenda

11/25





1

2

5

3

4


6 Conclusion

3. Bulletpoints after certification-problems hiding beneath the certification

• Documentation itself is not the proof of a good quality product

• Documentation created in a way that fulfills the requirements given by the certification authority, not in the way of making essential changes(reason why the certification process is initiated in the first place)

12/25

• Documentation is not necessarily linked to companies financial inputs so there is a way of “putting things under the carpet”

• The whole certification process doesn’t give you answers, just specific guidelines

3. Bulletpoints after certification-problems hiding beneath the certification

13/25

Agenda

14/25





1

2

5

3

4


6 Conclusion

4. Overcoming certification-Pull-over or sink-under

• Only 3 out of 7 companies went for reappraisal

• None of them went for the next level

• Very expensive certificate wasted resulting in bad market feedback and lowered working morale

• Management demands unreal expectations from new certified processes, which result in bad working environment and low morale

15/25

• Management rarely allows time for the company to adjust to processes

• Managements unreal expectation come from not enough involvement and partial interest in the matter

• New projects do not allocate enough resources (time, money) for process issues (meetings and documentation), because it is not easy to charge the customer for process related issues


16/25

• Company rarely willing to bare the costs of the process related issues

• After some time the company sees processes as obstacles

• Companies often disregard the certificates and work around them not willing to reappraise, resulting in low morale and no reappraisal


17/25

• In case the certificate is not used or there is no reappraisal, resources assigned to certification and its processes are bad investments , financially and market oriented


18/25

Agenda

19/25





1

2

5

3

4


6 Conclusion

5. Is SME ready for process certification-How to find out do you need one

• Before going to certification process SME should know the following:

•Processes involved in certification are time consuming and therefore expensive

•Certificate is expensive itself

•Projects that are managed by the certificated companies have a shift in their project development processes

20/25

• “Prerequisite” for a successful certification are following:

•Whole SME is engaged in the preparation for making the decision to appraise.

•Management sees the certification as a change in their way of working also

•Whole company is willing to sacrifice resources for changed working procedures


21/25

•Certification is seen as ongoing process not as one time appraisal

•Management wants better insight in the projects and their control not better market positioning

•Management is willing to make the documentation of the “bad work” that’s being produced

•Certification responsible is a member of Management


22/25

Agenda

23/25





1

2

5

3

4


6 Conclusion

6.Conclusion

24/25

•CMMI is unknown certificate in Serbia, and generally in Balkans so no local market feedback

•Professional ethics in region is low so questionable documentation

•Big international projects require CMMI, but small companies rarely engage in such projects

• Few potential upsides and a lot of downsides make CMMI a bad call for SME in Serbia

Thank you for your attentionQUESTIONS?

Janko Mićić[email protected]

Prof Dr. Ivanović [email protected]

25/25

New type of problems after CMMI certification in SME

Documents

transitional smesme

cmmi certification

certification responsibles

certification 2256conclusion21

certification 6conclusion2

sme ready

process certificationhow

sme new type of problems