After more than two decades since the advent of Total Quality Management, one

might think there was nothing left to say regarding its application, but Walter

Ray McCollum shows that one would be wrong. Process Improvement in Quality Management Systems: Case Study of Carnegie Mellon's Capability Maturity Model (CMM) explores how a company

can obtain Level 3 compliance where an organization's processes for management

and engineering activities are formally defined, documented, and integrated into a standard process that is understood and followed by the organization's staff in the development and maintenance of software. Once an organization has reached this level, it has a foundation for continuing progress. New processes and tools can be added with minimal disruption, and new staff members can be easily trained to adapt to the organization's practices.

Numerous case studies have been enacted across industries to describe successful, and unsuccessful, implementation of quality management systems and

programs. Several generic frameworks for quality management implementation

have been proposed to help organizations achieve quality, productivity, and gain a competitive edge. However, few attempts have been made to synthesize frameworks for measuring quality management practices, especially with regard to managing software quality. Phan (2001) found the best-known work concerned

with process improvement was the Software Engineering Institute Capability

Maturity Model (CMM). However, very few studies have examined the effects

of process improvement on quality management systems, and no studies have

addressed the variables that impact the effective use of SW-CMM. McCollom

mitigates these gaps to offer software development professionals, and developers of quality management systems, the information they need to enhance their effective use of SW-CMM. This book empowers projects, teams, and organizations by giving them the foundation to support reasoned choice, and identify fi ndings relative to the effects of process improvement in quality management systems using SW-CMM, process focus, and risk management training.

Marilyn K. Simon, Ph.D.

President Math Power