EFFICACY OF ISO 9000 STANDARDS CONVERSELY CMM FOR A SOFTWARE ORGANIZATION

The two most common process models in use today for software engineering are the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), and the International Organization for Standards (ISO) ISO 9000 standard. To embezzle the classic "To be or not to be" phrase of the ancient thespian Shakespeare, "To CMM, or ISO--that is the question". Indeed, choosing a process improvement framework is a daunting prospect for the uninitiated. ISO 9000 series of standards, developed by the International Standards Organization, and the Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM), developed by the Software Engineering Institute, share a common concern with quality and process management. This paper has analyzed the evolution of software engineering into the complex and challenging discipline that it is today; determined the difference between a lifecycle model and a process model--and discovered how a process model benefits a software development organization. Two of the most common process models in use where briefly compared and contrasted--the CMM and the ISO.