Software Engineering Institute

Just as use of a disciplined process has been shown to produce higher quality and more predictable software-intensive systems, use of a disciplined business development and marketing process can result in improved success for the business enterprise. Overall business performance and marketing of technology and software-intensive systems can be improved by applying the concepts defined in Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) best practices. 

This interpretation of CMMI best practices is for business development activities applicable to contractors doing business within the government (Department of Defense) and industrial business sectors. Using CMMI for business development and product development in the same organization addresses process improvement from a larger business perspective, creating the potential for increased efficiency, improved quality, and better customer satisfaction, and improving the organization's ability to achieve a profitable market share. Many organizations have achieved proven benefits from CMMI-based process improvement programs. This success can be extended beyond product and service engineering to business development organizations by interpreting CMMI best practices for the business development and marketing environments. This technical note uses the continuous representation of a CMMI model and provides interpretation of CMMI process areas in each of the model's four categories: Project Management, Support, Process Management, and Engineering. Because many best practices for business development activities are not included in CMMI models, four new process areas were added to cover these activities. 

This technical note provides an initial construct for business development. Further discussions within the business development and CMMI communities can result in improved refinements