EADS Selects DNV IT Global Services As Preferred Supplier for CMMI Deployment

[Sidney Vianna]

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/42128/

EADS Selects DNV IT Global Services As Preferred Supplier for CMMI Deployment to Drive Improvements

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Paris, France, 11/04/2008 - Defence and aerospace group calls on DNV to improve processes for global development of safety-critical software and systems.
EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services, has selected IT operational risk management specialist DNV IT Global Services as preferred partner for a three year initiative which started in March 2008 to enhance expertise for effective software development and systems engineering processes across the EADS group.

EADS businesses plan to achieve targeted improvements using the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) - a widely used capability management framework. CMMI drives process improvements and perfectly complements the EADS Black Belt set of methods and tools representing the EADS backbone of continuous improvement, By managing system and software improvements, EADS will deliver IT-dependent projects that are faster, more efficient and more cost-effective with better quality, enhancing its ability to use complex IT in product innovations.

DNV IT Global Services is an expert in different process improvement methodologies including CMMI, ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) and COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology) used by large organisations. Its experts will deliver the service in conjunction with deep risk assessments that will help identify improvement priorities in EADS’ CMMI initiative. Through this dual approach, DNV IT Global Services’ expertise will help EADS to identify and manage necessary process improvements for developing safety-critical software and systems more quickly.

DNV IT Global Services has already worked for EADS local operations in France, Germany and the UK for the last three years, delivering improvements across key operations where safety is a critical factor. The new programme will extend these benefits in the domains of software and systems engineering across the EADS group.

In the context of the EADS Improvement Programme, a group-wide initiative to boost operational and programme performance, the CMMI model has already become a standard within its EADS Black Belt Stream. In common with many global organisations, EADS sees process improvements as one of the main ways to remove constraints on product quality, time to market and pricing, thus, to deliver products and services on-time, on-quality and on-profit.

Last year, EADS has set up a CMMI Steering committee to facilitate a group-wide collaborative approach and to help sharing and transferring best practices. The CMMI initiative marks the next stage for improvements in EADS’ Software and Systems Engineering, formalising its improvement capabilities.

It is intended that DNV IT Global Services’ experts provide a range of services directed towards EADS’ global needs alongside deep risk assessment and process improvement recommendations in the above domains. These will include:

• process assessment;
• action plan definition;
• process re-engineering;
• process deployment;
• coaching and change management;
• requirement management training.

Annie Combelles, chief operating officer for DNV IT Global Services, said: “We are delighted to be named a preferred supplier on such an exciting programme. We have particular expertise in helping large and multicultural organisations such as EADS to ensure the efficiency and predictability of their complex IT-dependent processes and software investments. We have a strong working relationship with EADS and look forward to achieving mutual success over the next three years and beyond.”

About DNV IT Global Services
DNV IT Global Services (dnv.com) helps finance, telecommunications, government, defence, aerospace and automotive sector organisations to achieve more effective IT risk management, encompassing greater efficiency and predictability of IT-dependent processes and products, plus Knowledge Management. Based in main European countries and headquartered in Paris, DNV IT Global Services has over 300 consultants, engineers and training specialists.

* CMMI is a project management methodology for software development life cycle developed by the Software Engineering Institute in the USA. By bringing together essential knowledge across the organisation, CMMI helps organisations to understand very quickly the level (on a scale from 1 to 5) of maturity of their software development organisation. This in turn helps companies to prioritise on investments that will result in more efficient software development centres, support system integration team and improve test and validation structures.

For further information, please contact:
Eva Halvorsen, DNV Corporate Communications +47 67578511 Eva.Halvorsen[.]dnv.com.