TT_Vol3 Issue2 - Raytheon

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Raytheon Closes 2003 with More
Successful CMMI® Appraisals
Raytheon completed successful Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 5
and Level 3 appraisals in California,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Texas.
The NCS Northeast Engineering team
attained CMMI Level 3 in systems engineering
and Level 5 in software engineering
after completing a three week SCAMPI
in December. This detailed evaluation of
our engineering capabilities focused on the
DD(X), ACM, SMART-T AEHF, STARS and
VATCAS programs, and also included the
support of program office, configuration
management, supply chain and quality personnel.
The evaluation involved a detailed
review of how well the CMMI model has
been institutionalized and was supported
by detailed interviews by the appraisers
with over 100 employees. Our success
demonstrates the outstanding collaboration
of the talented people in Marlboro and is a
tremendous accomplishment for all of the
NCS Northeast employees. Bob Eckel, vice
president of Air Traffic Management
Systems, Brian McKeon, vice president of
Command and Control Systems and Jerry
Powlen, vice president of Integrated
Communication Systems, offered their
congratulations to everyone on the team.
The Raytheon Fullerton Operations of
Network Centric Systems attained CMMI
Level 5 for software engineering and Level 3
for systems engineering in December. The
ratings are a significant achievement, since
only 20 percent of organizations appraised
have attained CMMI Level 5, according to
the Software Engineering Institute.
The accomplishment involved a significant
portion of the Fullerton organization. Wide
Area Augmentation System (WAAS),
Enhanced Position Location Reporting
System (EPLRS) and Destroyer (Experimental)
DD(X) were the focus programs for the
appraisal. Members of quality assurance,
configuration management, supply chain
management and program management
processes also participated in preparation
and interviews. The Engineering Process
Group led by Dennis Laiola and Amy
Donohue coordinated the effort. Jim
Kashiwada and Jeff Rold were the sponsors.
The synergy between systems and software
disciplines in Fullerton is evidenced by the
use of a common core set of procedures
shared by both disciplines. Using common
procedures is efficient for procedure development,
tailoring, deployment and
improvement activities. The systems area
has already adopted many of the higher
maturity practices. In fact, systems engineering
at Fullerton satisfied all the CMMI
process areas through Level 5 with the
exception of one area in Level 4.
Raytheon’s Space and Airborne
Systems (SAS) business concluded a
successful Level 3 appraisal of its
software and systems engineering
capabilities in November 2003. The
appraisal included various sites
located in southern California.
The SAS California appraisal was not
just geographically challenging, but it
was also a challenge in terms of the
number of business areas included inscope.
The appraised programs involved
were from five different product lines within
SAS and over $800 million in business.
One of them was in a classified area. The
programs appraised were F-18 AESA,
ASTOR, APL-5, F-15 Suite 5, and B2. This
challenging scope made the SAS California
appraisal a significant task, not to mention
the tremendous effort required to prepare.
From mid-2002 through the conclusion of
the appraisal, over 300 people worked on
teams that accomplished the goal.
With the SAS California appraisal, all sites
in SAS have been appraised at a CMM
Level 3 or higher. The California SAS
appraisal is one of the largest (in terms of
in-scope engineering population) reported
to the Software Engineering Institute.
The last issue of technology today
described the innovative approaches taken
by the NCS/SAS North Texas sites during
their recent achievement of CMMI Level 5
software capability appraisal. These same
North Texas sites were separately appraised
at a system engineering Level 3 in
December 2003.
The CMMI maturity levels are increasingly
used by government agencies and contractors
to evaluate the potential for organiza-
Top to Bottom: SAS Enterprise Process Group
(EPG), NCS Fullerton CMMI Team, NCS Northeast
Engineering CMMI Team
tions to produce quality products within
cost and schedule. The integrated maturity
ratings, covering critical engineering disciplines,
indicate an organization’s ability to
provide predictable quality while managing
and controlling project risks to meet commitments.
The major benefits of a mature
organization are the ability to quantitatively
control and make improvements to the
engineering processes, to predict the
expected results of selected processes, and
to improve product quality while reducing
cost. Other benefits include synergy within
the organization to mature other engineering
disciplines in a shorter time.
Nancy Fleischer, Jeff Rold, Dan Nash
®CMMI is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by
Carnegie Mellon University.
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