We are proud to announce that AI-Vets has been awarded another prestigious certification — Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 for service and development. This certification builds upon the International Standards Organization (ISO) certifications that the company received in June 2021.
AI-Vets has taken a very aggressive approach to become certified, demonstrating our commitment to providing the highest quality IT solutions for federal agencies. Since January 2021, AI-Vets has received four certifications. Each one typically takes an average of 90 days to complete. John David Jordan, administrative liaison and head of the software engineering processing group at AI-Vets, says, “These certifications show that our small business has stepped up to the next level and has the ability to provide the product that our customer requires.”
What is CMMI?
CMMI was developed by Carnegie Mellon University and primarily sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the National Defense Industrial Association. Its goal was to make maturity models more effective and usable by integrating a number of models into a single framework. Maturity models measure the ability of organizations to have an ongoing improvement in a particular area.
In 2013, Carnegie Mellon University formed a new organization known as CMMI Institute to manage all CMMI training, certification, licensing, and appraisal services as well as future model development. For over 25 years, thousands of organizations in a variety of industries, including aerospace, finance, healthcare, software, defense, transportation, and telecommunications, have earned a CMMI maturity level rating.
What are the five CMMI maturity levels?
After an organization completes the appraisal process, it is awarded a maturity level rating ranging from 1 to 5. Maturity levels represent a staged path for an organization’s performance and process improvement efforts based on predefined sets of practice areas.
The 5 CMMI maturity levels are:
Maturity Level 1 (Initial)
At this “initial” stage, processes are seen as unpredictable and reactive; work gets completed but is often delayed or over budget.
Maturity Level 2 (Managed)
At the “managed” level, projects are planned, performed, measured and controlled, but the organization is not proactive.
Maturity Level 3 (Defined)
The “defined” level is one of the most important stages because processes are managed beyond the project level and across the organization.
Maturity Level 4 (Quantitatively Managed)
At level 4, the organization is “quantitatively managed,” meaning it is data-driven and measures performance.
Maturity Level 5 (Optimizing)
In the final stage, the organization is “optimizing” its processes. The focus is on continuous improvement, agility and innovation.
What are the benefits of CMMI certification?
Becoming certified is a tremendous amount of work. It is time-consuming, expensive and personnel-intensive, but the payoff is even greater. Today, most government and defense contracts require technology service providers to have some type of ISO and CMMI certificate. Requirement aside, certification offers numerous benefits.
CMMI helps organizations streamline process improvement and encourage behaviors that decrease risks in software, product and service development. The model provides organizations with a framework for developing better products and services, starting with a series of appraisals of process and service development, service establishment and management, and product and service acquisition.
With a level 3 maturity rating for service and development, AI-Vets processes are well characterized and understood. The organization has worked on development projects such as a machine learning and artificial intelligence model for the 2021 AI Tech Sprint to help identify underserved veterans that are susceptible to suicide.
