What is the Purpose of the Foundation?

The TMMi Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving testing for everyone. The TMMi Foundation has been founded, as a non-profit making body, by a number of leading test and quality practitioners from across Europe to promote a standard TMMi model and to promote its uptake as an international industry standard for assessing and rating organizations' testing process capabilities.

It could arguably be said that the SW-CMM and CMMI process assessment model has been adopted throughout the world as a de facto international standard for measuring the overall delivery processes within the industry. Unfortunately, while testing and test-related activities can take up to 45% of IT development expenditure, the SW-CMM and CMMI models do not investigate the test process areas in sufficient depth.

Over the years, there have been many models developed to assess the Test and Quality related process which have not gained any universal acceptance by the industry at large. Even today, there is no accepted, standard model available. We believe this is because most of the test process assessment models did not align sufficiently with the de facto industry standards.
The TMMi is different in this one respect as it aligns with, and can fully support being used in isolation or alongside CMMI. See TMMi Reference and TMMi Resources for more information.

What are the Objectives of the Foundation?

The Foundation is intended to promote and provide the infrastructure to manage a standard for a TMMi Model available to all, to provide the structure to accredit assessment methods, to provide an independent process for accrediting assessors and lead assessors and to provide an independent service to validate and certify public TMMi assessment awards.

The TMMi Foundation has the following specific objectives:

• Identifying and securing ownership of the TMMi Model standard and the ongoing Intellectual Property rights
• Definition of an international core TMMi Model standard and place it in the public domain
• Creation and management of an independent, unbiased central data repository and provision of industry and other analysis services
• Provision of an independent accreditation process for TMMi® Assessment Methods based on the standard Model
• Provision of an independent mechanism to facilitate verification and formal ratification of TMMi Assessment Ratings
• Definition and maintenance of independent assessor training, accreditation, guidelines and examinations
• Provision of a public forum of interested parties to facilitate free interchange of information, education, ideas and usage of the public standard

The TMMi Foundation will provide:

• A standard TMMi Model that can be used in isolation or in support of other process improvement models.
• An independently managed data repository to support TMMi assessment method accreditation, assessor and assessment certification/validation and validated assessment data and certificates.
• Assessment Method Accreditation/Audit Framework for TMMi in accordance with ISO15504 and the process to certify commercial assessment methods against the standard model.
• Certification and training/examination process, procedures and standards for formal, public accreditation of Assessors and Lead Assessors and the on-going management.

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