The Test Maturity Model Integrated (TMMi)

The Test Maturity Model Integration has been developed to complement the existing CMMI framework.
It provides a structured presentation of maturity levels, allowing for standard TMMi assessments and certification, enabling a consistent deployment of the standards and the collection of industry metrics.
TMMi has a rapidly growing uptake across Europe, Asia and the USA and owes its popularity to being the only independent test process measurement method.

The independent TMMi Foundation initiative has been established with the sole intent of developing the TMMi standard.

The TMMi Foundation provides:

• A standard staged TMMi model that can be used in isolation or in support of other process improvement models.
• TMMi Assessment Method Application Requirements (TAMAR) for TMMi in accordance with ISO15504 and the process to certify commercial assessment methods against the standard model.
• An independently managed data repository to support TMMi assessment method accreditation, assessor and assessment certification/validation and validated assessment data and certificates.

In future the TMMi Foundation will provide:

• A continuous presentation of the standard TMMi model
• Certification and training/examination process, procedures and standards for formal, public accreditation of Assessors and Lead Assessors and the on-going management.

The Sources of the TMMi® Reference Model

The development of the TMMi Reference Model has used the TMM framework as developed by the Illinois Institute of Technology as one of its major sources [Burnstein, 2002]. In addition to the TMM, the TMMi model development was guided by the work done on the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), a process improvement model that has widespread support in the IT industry.

Other sources to the TMMi development include: the Gelperin and Hetzel's Evolution of Testing Model [Gelperin and Hetzel, 1988], which describes the evolution of the testing process over a 40-year period; Beizer's testing model, which describes the evolution of the individual tester's thinking [Beizer, 1990]; research on the test maturity models carried out in the EU-funded MB-TMM project; and international testing standards such as IEEE 829 Standard for Software Test Documentation [IEEE, 1998]. The testing terminology used in the TMMi is derived from the ISTQB Standard Glossary of terms used in Software Testing [ISTQB, 2007].

The CMMI has both a staged and continuous representation. Within the staged representation the CMMI architecture prescribes the stages that an organisation must proceed through in an orderly fashion to improve its development process. Within the continuous representation there is no fixed level set of levels or stages to proceed through. An organisation applying the continuous representation can select areas for improvement from many different categories. The TMMi Reference Model has been developed as a staged model. The staged model uses predefined sets of process areas to define an improvement path for an organisation. This improvement path is described by a model component called a maturity level. A maturity level is a well defined evolutionary plateau towards achieving improved organisational processes. At a later stage a continuous representation of the TMMi may become available. This will most likely not largely influence the content of the TMMi. It will only provide a different structure and representation.

As stated for defining the maturity levels, the evolutionary testing model of Gelperin and Hetzel has served as a foundation for historical-level differentiation in the TMMi. The Gelperin and Hetzel model describes phases and test goals for the 1950s through the 1990s. The initial period is described as debugging oriented, during which most software development organizations had not clearly differentiated between testing and debugging. Testing was an ad-hoc activity associated with debugging to remove bugs from programs. Testing has since progressed to a prevention-oriented period, which is associated with current best practices and reflects the highest maturity level of both the CMMI and the TMMi.

Furthermore, various industrial best-practices, practical experience using the TMM and testing surveys have contributed to the TMMi development providing it with its necessary empirical foundation and required level of practicality. These surveys illustrate the current best and worst testing practices in the IT industry, and have allowed the developers of the TMMi Reference Model to extract realistic benchmarks by which to evaluate and improve testing practices.

TMMi® Reference Model

This document descibes the structure of the TMMi Reference Model describing the process areas for all levels. All process areas at level 2 are detailed including supporting practices and sub-practices.

TMMi® Assessment Method Application Requirements (TAMAR)

This document defines the requirements for constructing Assessment Methods to be used with the TMMi Reference Model.

Back to Top