What is Test Maturity Model Integration?

In this article, we are going to discuss Test Maturity Model Integration (also known as TMMi) and Test Process Improvement (also known as TPI) to take the advantages of these methods so that these methods could be used to improve our day to day Testing practices as well as performance intensely. These methods play a key role in stabilizing the IT standards for any mature IT organization as demanded by its investors, clients, regulators, and employees.

CMM stands for Capability Maturity Model and CMMi is Capability Maturity Model Integration. They are used to regulate the software development practices in IT organizations and help them to achieve high quality and productivity standards. The maturity level of the IT organizations is defined based on the CMMI adoption and certificate achieved by them.

Characteristics of Capability maturity model:

The following are the characteristics of Capability maturity model.

=> CMM Level 1 is also known as the Initial level. In this level, the processes are unpredictable, reactive, and poorly controlled.

=> CMM Level 2 is also known as a Managed level. In this level, the processes are characterized for the project and they are often reactive.

=> CMM Level 3 is also known as Defined level. In this level, the processes are characterized for the organization and they are proactive.

=> CMM Level 4 is also known as the Quantitatively Managed level. In this level, the processes are controlled and measured.

=> CMM Level 5 is also known as Optimizing level. In this level, there is a focus on the process improvement through review, feedback, rinse, and repeat.

The CMMi focuses on all the processes involved in the SDLC i.e. software development lifecycle in order to evaluate a level for the IT organizations. In the SDLC methodology, the testing phases contribute to around 30% to 40% therefore, the process involved around the testing phase cannot be ignored but they can add extra weight towards defining the CMMi level for any IT organization.

The TPI and TMMi foundations primarily focus on the testing and the maturity of the testing processes. Given below is the explanation of their influences.

• TMMi has a set of standards that could be adopted in the testing processes by any IT organization in order to improve their testing process and hence the testing standard. TMMi is often regarded as the complementary practice to CMMi as it sets specific maturity levels and guidelines which together help to improve the maturity level in terms of SEI CMMi level.
• TPI, also known as Test Process Improvement helps to define three dimensions. They are Cornerstones, Key Areas, and Maturity levels. These dimensions could be used by any organization in order to identify current and target maturity models. TPI provides a Test Maturity Matrix which is an additional layer of support to break down into distinct steps in order to help the organization reach its Target Maturity level.

Given below are the steps through which TPI and TMMi can help the IT organizations to mature their testing processes.

1) Identification of the current testing maturity level:

The organization should know its current level of test maturity. TMMi can help to evaluate the current Maturity level and can represent the current testing practices accurately. Next, we need to determine whether or not the testing processes are reactive or proactive. Are we prioritizing the defects as Critical, High, Medium, and Low? Do we have a well-defined defect life cycle? In TPI, Defect Management falls under the ‘Efficient’ scale when the organization adopts Defect Triage. After analyzing the current Test Maturity Level, it will help us to understand where exactly the organization stands and how much effort it requires in order to step up the maturity level.

2) Set a Target to achieve Testing Maturity Level:

The organization should set a target after analyzing its current level. The organization should also decide on the milestone date (6 months, or 1 year or even more) in order to achieve the next level as Controlled, Efficient, Defined, or Measured. After knowing the target, an organization can work further in the right direction to achieve the desired Test Maturity Model level. TPI has the capability to provide an adaptable multi-dimensional scale to an organization in order to visualize those areas where Testing practices need to be made more mature than what they are currently.

3) Steps break down structuring:

After analyzing the gap between the current testing process and the target test process maturity level, an organization needs to prepare the steps to break down the structure to achieve the end goal. The target becomes more achievable when it is conquered through step by step approach instead of everything at a time. TMMi or TPI methods can help in setting up the steps to achieve the actual target or end goal for the IT organization.

4) Review, feedback, solution, and repeat:

Any organization which is at the optimizing level requires constant review, feedback, solution, and repeat which could lead to further improvement in the overall process and hence help in retaining the highest maturity level. The Review-Feedback-Optimize loop is the must to have for any IT organization which can help the IT organization in revising and improving the industry standards as well as processes.

After going through all of the above steps, it is very clear that the adaptation of TMMi or TPI methods can drastically help any IT organization to improve its Testing practices and can bring a multifold benefit to it. Once the testing process has become more mature than what it was before, it could help the IT organization to improve the Test Maturity Model level of other phases of the SDLC especially the planning and development phases of the SDLC methodology. TMMi or TPI methods can help to match the efforts in other parts of the IT organization as well which could result in the improvement of overall project efficiency and a win-win situation for the employees, investors, compliance, and clients. This is how these TMMi and TPI methods help to make the testing processes more mature for any IT organization.

---