Open Access

ARTICLE

CMMI Compliant Workflow Models to Establish Configuration Management Integrity in Software SMEs

Islam Ali¹, Musawwer Khan¹, Waqar Mehmood¹, Wasif Nisar¹, Waqar Aslam², Muhammad Qaiser Saleem³, Majzoob K. Omer³, Muhammad Shafiq^4,*

1 Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus, Wah Cantt, Pakistan
2 Department of Computer Science & IT, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
3 College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Al Baha University, Al Bahah, Saudi Arabia
4 Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, Korea

* Corresponding Author: Muhammad Shafiq. Email:

(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Soft Computing Methods for Innovative Software Practices)

Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing 2021, 27(3), 605-623. https://doi.org/10.32604/iasc.2021.014639

Received 05 October 2020; Accepted 30 November 2020; Issue published 01 March 2021

Abstract

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a world-renowned framework for software process improvement, which specifies “What-To-Do” in terms of requirements. However, it leaves the “How-To-Do” part regarding implementation to implementers. The software industry especially software SMEs (SSMEs) faces difficulties in implementing the Specific Practices (SPs) of Various Process Areas (PAs). Configuration Management Process Area (CM-PA) is usually ignored despite its acknowledged importance in the software development process. Establishing integrity is one of the three Specific Goals (SGs) that CMMI ver. 1.3 requires for successful implementation of CM-PA. This goal is achieved through the implementation of two SPs (i.e., 3.1 and 3.2). In order to enable aforesaid SSMEs, pertinent research work regarding the implementation of PAs at CMMI Level-II was studied and Workflow Models (WFMs) were devised after sifting through all the relevant material. The models were assessed through Expert Panel Review (EPR) and further confirmed by conducting case studies. This work also contributes to the implementation of CM-PA. The results from EPR and case studies are promising since they not only testifies the clarity, learnability, usability, usefulness of the models but also proves its applicability to SSMEs. The proposed WFMs have a strong theoretical basis and practically proven. More industrial case studies are suggested to evaluate models for the upcoming versions of CMMI frameworks.

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