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3-1 Part B, Appendix 3. THE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL The capability maturity model (CMM), which evolved from concerns associated with the early years of software development, has more recently been used as a management tool designed to evaluate and guide improvements in capabilities and effectiveness of organizational processes. It combines into a single framework the key features utilized in agency-effectiveness management tools such as quality management, organizational development, and business process reengineering concepts. Within the highway transportation arena, capability model-based improvement frameworks (CMF) are now being used by the FHWA and state transportation agencies focused on improving transportation agency capabilities related to new technology and process developments such as TSMO and CVs. CMFs have several important features that make it a practical tool for improvement of transportation programs: ⢠Presumes that improvements in outcomes (such costs and performance) can be systematically managed ⢠Identifies a high-level vision of capability as a target and provides a common language for discussion of how to get there ⢠Focuses on a relatively small set of specific dimensionsâprocesses and institutional arrangementsâthat together support the capability for higher levels of performance, such as in fostering innovation ⢠Recognizes that improvements in any agency must be implemented in realistic, evolutionary, doable steps to reach the next level of capability; the steps can be identified and managed, with each level clearly defined by criteria Improvement in each Critical Success Factor is dependent to a significant degree on the level of capabilities in other Critical Success Factors. That is, improvements in technical areas such as Performance Awareness and Application are dependent on the development of capabilities in one or more institutional areas that provide the staffing, organization, or collaborative basis for improving technical processes and programs. Therefore, from the point of view of fostering innovation for PMR (or other agency activities), the strategic management challenge must focus on all Critical Success Factors simultaneously, affording priority to that Critical Success Factor that the agency judges as currently at the lowest level of capability.
