Using CMMI to Improve the Achievement of Enterprise Website Development─A Study of One SME

[[abstract]]The trend of globalization has made individuals and enterprises to emphasize on increasing competition abilities. This year, The Executive Yuan promotes the “Challenge 2008—National Development Plan” to make Taiwan an international base for advanced research and development, and to bring Taiwan to the top technology field in the world. Moreover, the utilization of information technology is the key to improve competition abilities. The model of website development is different from those of general software engineering developments. Although the software used for website development is easier and more loose in structure than other software, it still requires a well-structured process for implementation. Therefore, this study focused on utilizing the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) to build a process for website development and to enhance its efficiency. The Ministry of Economic Affairs also promotes CMMI to match up the 2008 Plan. The scope of CMMI is to improve website development processes step by step, and there are corresponding principles and goals to each individual levels to build related processes. In addition, the essential elements and achievement abilities of one level become the basis of the next level. This study used the key process indicators of CMMI Level 2 to construct the standard process of website development by the “Stage Representation Model”. A difference analysis was conducted first, and then requirement management, project plan, project monitor, and process and product quality assurance were individually introduced to the website development process. The Deming Cycle of Plan, Do, Check and Action was used in this study to introduce multiple projects. One cycle was followed by the next to keep improving the overall process. The process was then revised based on review reports and data from every project, and then re-applied to the next project. This study utilized expert validity to evaluate if the processes reached the standards set by CMMI Level 2. The PCDA cycle would be introduced again and again until CMMI Level 2 standards were reached. After repeated cycles of revision for five projects, the error management was improved and the website development maturity was increased. People often consider the use of CMMI in large organizations or national defense constructions, and usually think that only software outsourcing enterprises need CMMI introduction. However, these points of views contradict the original essence of CMMI. This study proved that introducing CMMI is very helpful to enterprise development and to improve website development process. The processes should be simplified for smaller projects to effectively improve the process. Through sharing the experiences from this study, it is hoped to lower the threshold of introducing CMMI website development for related industries