ISO 9000
ISO 9001 specifies the basic requirements for a quality management system (QMS) that an organization must fulfill to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products (which include services) that enhance customer satisfaction and meet applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. The standard can be used for certification/registration and contractual purposes by organizations seeking recognition of their quality management system.
Many potential customers require that the development company has an ISO certificate before they will award it a contract. This holds both for government agencies and for private companies. The main reason for this is the level of trust created by an ISO 9001 certificate. It is much easier to check that the company has an ISO 9001 certificate than it is to check that they have a good development process and, if they have one, that they really follow it.

CMMI and ISO

CMMI determines maturity whereas ISO is based on conformity.

The CMMI is 729 pages, the ISO is 33 Pages

The ISO is more flexible and cheaper.

CMMI is easier to claim (considering maturity). CMMI more appropriate for software, systems, product development.

ISO 9001:2000 explicitly addresses customer satisfaction, while CMM assumes that adhering to the requirements of the various key process areas implicitly leads to higher customer satisfaction.

ISO 9001 Maps in most cases to CMMI and vice versa. Certification for ISO can help an organization also to get certified on CMMI level2 by filling the missing gaps between the two systems.

ISO implementation
For a successful implementation of a QMS these 7 steps are recommended:1. Fully engage top management to:

• Define why you want to implement ISO 9001
• Define your mission, vision, and values in your organization
• Define your organization’s stakeholders: customers, suppliers, stockholders, employees, society, etc.
• Define your quality policy, and
• Define and align organizational objectives and related product/service quality objectives

2. Identify key processes and the interactions needed to meet quality objectives

3. Implement and manage the QMS and its processes (using process management techniques)

4. Build your ISO 9001-based QMS

• Identify ISO 9001 requirements
• Map these requirements with your implemented QMS, where applicable
• Make a gap analysis: identify where in your existing system the requirements are fulfilled, and where they are not
• Include in your QMS processes the activities, procedures and controls needed

5. Implement the system, train company staff and verify effective operation of your processes

6. Manage your QMS

• Focus on customer satisfaction
• Monitor and measure the operation of your QMS
• Strive for continual improvement
• Consider implementing business excellence models in the company operations

7. If necessary, seek third party certification/registration of the QMS or alternatively, issue a self-declaration of conformity.

I have implemented ISO 9001 and I have worked with CMMI. My experience with ISO being an internal quality inspector was very positive. The system helped reduce the operating costs of the company by 15%.

References

Platinum Registration (n.d) CMMI and ISO 9001 Available from: www.platinumregistration.com/kbfiles/ISO9kCMMIDiffernces.ppt

ISO (2008). ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. Available from: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_standards/iso_9000_iso_14000.htm

Boris Mutafelija & Harvey Stromberg (2003). ISO 9001:2000 – CMMI v1.1 Mappings Available from: www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/adoption/pdf/iso-mapping.pdf

Christ Vriens (2003). Certifying for CMM Level 2 and ISO9001 with XP@Scrum. Philips Research – Software Engineering Services (SES). Available from: Proceedings of the Agile Development Conference (ADC’03) DOI: 0-7695-2013-8/03