Boeing Engineers Earn Carnegie Mellon SEI Level 5 Maturity Rating
Boeing [NYSE: BA] has earned the highest maturity rating as defined by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI)of Carnegie Mellon University. The Boeing Software Engineering division in St. Louis was assessed as operating at a Level 5 maturity, complying with all key practices in the SEI Software Capability Maturity Model®1 (CMM).
The distinction was awarded following a two-week CMM-Based Appraisal for Internal Process Improvement conducted across four Boeing product lines. They include the F/A-18 Advanced Mission Computer, Tomahawk Mission Planning, Stand-Off Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response, and Software Engineering Tools and Environments projects.
"This assessment was the culmination of more than three years of work by a dedicated team," said Gary Motchan, general manager, Software Engineering for Boeing in St. Louis. "A distinct advantage we have is our use of a single common set of processes across 35 development and maintenance projects, including internally developed tools.
"Our objective is to dramatically improve project performance. That's exactly what Boeing Software Engineering has achieved by delivering products with significantly improved quality and reduced cost, either on time or ahead of schedule."
Q-Labs, a leading international professional services company specializing in software engineering practices, conducted the assessment and evaluated management, technical and organizational performance against the SEI's Software Capability Maturity Model.
Ron Lear, Q-Labs vice president for U.S. Operations and authorized lead assessor, recognized the Boeing team during the debriefing as an "industry leader "in software development.
"All projects evaluated clearly demonstrated Level 5 capability," said Lear, "and exhibited outstanding discipline in applying the practices through the software development process, especially in the Level 5 Key Process Area of Defect Prevention."
Of the approximate 1,350 organizations which assessments were reported to the SEI in the April 2003 Maturity Profile, only 7.3 percent have a Level 5 rating with Department of Defense and Federal contractors reaching only 5.6%. "It's important to note that Boeing St. Louis is rolling this out to its entire development organization, a much more complex undertaking," continued Lear. "The bottom line is that all levels of the organization see the benefit and are using data to drive their business decisions."
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $25 billion business. It provides systems solutions to its global military, government and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in launch services.
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