In my experience with Kualitatem as a quality assurance engineer, I have noticed all the process, standards and procedures followed in this organization. Initially, I was taught about the standard processes that were involved in testing. Then I was familiarized with activities that are required for STL (Software Testing Lifecycle); writing the test scenarios, test cases, execution of test cases, test plan, test strategy and other activities and their documentation. The templates for all these documents were already developed by the organization for a thorough vision and understanding of anyone who needs them.
Currently, Kualitatem is not a CMMI certified organization. But it has worked with a number of CMMI certified organizations including Microsoft.
I thought it was a good idea to understand where Kualitatem stood against CMMI Certified organizations. A brief comparison of the standards and procedures followed at Kualitatem against the CMMI levels’ might be due here.
According to CMMI level Two (2) there are Seven (7) process areas those should be compliant for an organization to achieve the CMMI level Two. Since Kualitatem is an independent quality assurance organization, 1 of these 7 process areas is not applicable or is exempted in its case; which is Supplier Agreement Management (SAM).
The other 6 applicable process areas are Configuration Management (CM), Measurement and Analysis (MA), Project Monitoring and Control (PMC), Project Planning (PP), Requirement Management (REQM) and Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA). At Kualitatem, all these process areas are duly followed according to projects’ and client’s requirements. At Kualitatem, all of these are also followed in Software Testing Lifecycle (STLC).
According to CMMI level Three (3) there are Eleven (11) processes those should be compliant to achieve this level. These 11 process areas include Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR), Integrated Project Management (IPM), Organizational Process Definition (OPD), Organizational Process Focus (OPF), Organizational Training (OT), Product Integration (PI), Requirements Development (RD), Risk Management (RSKM), Technical Solution (TS), Validation (VAL) and Verification (VAR). However, there are some process areas that are not 100% compliant for us; these include Integrated Project Management, Organizational Process Definition, and Organizational Training.
Some process areas such as, Decision Analysis and Resolution, Risk Management, Technical Solution, Requirement Development, Validation and Verification are completely followed in our organization with their General Practices (GP) and Specific Practices (SP). Documentation of these process areas are present and followed in different types of projects and according to requirements.
It is therefore important to note how far the organization actually is from achieving a CMMI Level 3 certification. These process areas include Organizational Process Focus, Organizational Process Documentation and Product Integration, which are not 100% compliant in our organization. Identification of these processes would only bring Kualitatem one step closer to comply with and to be the best!
