The Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) has started its Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) pilot programme, an initiative which aims to help companies improve processes in the development of high-quality software and systems.
CMMI was first developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US.
Professor Barry Dwolatzky, JCSE academic director, says the pilot begins with the official SEI introduction to the CMMI course, which is being run for 15 people from participating organisations.
Organisations participating in the pilot include the State IT Agency, First National Bank, Psybergate, Wits University's Computing Services, IBM and Nedbank.
The pilot will be used to build a case to present to the Department of Trade and Industry, requesting government's support for the mass adoption of CMMI as a tool to improve business processes within local companies, Dwolatzky says.
The pilot will also form part of a broader international research project being conducted by SEI, he says.
While CMMI has been used for the most part in larger organisations, the focus of this SEI global study is CMMI in the smaller context, he says.
Local development
In addition to taking part in the pilot, Nedbank is a gold partner for the programme and will provide funding and assistance to bring CMMI to SA.
JCSE CEO Rex van Olst says the two-part sponsorship includes funding and the provision of two CMMI-trained Nedbank staff to assist the JCSE in offering introductory courses and performing CMMI appraisals.
The partnership is part of Nedbank's commitment to corporate social investment projects, as well as to being involved in the community, says Nedbank CIO Len de Villiers.
"CMMI could play a significant role in addressing unemployment, developing much needed local hardware, software, systems engineering and process management skills and will position SA as a feasible technology outsource destination," he says.
CMMI skills are scarce, positioning Nedbank to assist SA to develop local capability, he adds.
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