Introduction

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Software Development Maturity Assessment Methodology is used to assess the software development capability of organizations.  Research by Lawrence Putnam of Quantitative Software Management (QSM) demonstrates a strong relationship between Capability Maturity Model (CMM) maturity level and the QSM ‘Productivity Index’ (PI).  Specifically, rising CMM levels result in higher Productivity Indices, which result in lower development costs.

In a nutshell, higher Productivity Index values are associated with projects that cost less, finish faster, and have fewer defects.  Ideally the CMM process improvements should be associated with more efficient projects and better quality.  What’s covered in this article is that the QSM methodology, benchmark database, and tool set measure of the benefits of CMM improvements.  

This article points to the economic benefit of effective software process improvement, and the role that measurement plays in proving it.
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