In this chapter we describe the key relationships among process areas to help you see the service provider’s view of process improvement and how process areas depend on the implementation of other process areas.

The relationships among multiple process areas, including the information and artifacts that flow from one process area to another—illustrated by the figures and descriptions in this chapter—help you to see a larger view of process implementation and improvement.

Successful process improvement initiatives must be driven by the business objectives of the organization. For example, a common business objective is to reduce the time it takes to deliver a service. The process improvement objective derived from that might be to improve incident management processes. Those improvements rely on best practices in the Service Delivery and Incident Resolution and Prevention process areas.

Although we group process areas in this chapter to simplify the discussion of their relationships, process areas often interact and have an effect on one another regardless of their group, category, or level. For example, the Decision Analysis and Resolution process area (a Support process area at maturity level 3) contains specific practices that address the formal evaluation process used in the Service Continuity process area (a Service Establishment and Delivery process area at maturity level 3) to select functions that are essential to the organization and must be covered in the service continuity plan.

Being aware of the key relationships that exist among CMMI process areas will help you apply CMMI in a useful and productive way. Relationships among process areas are described in more detail in the references of each process area and specifically in the Related Process Areas section of each process area in Part Two. Refer to Chapter 2 for more information about references.

The process areas of the CMMI-SVC model have numerous interrelationships that are based on a transfer or sharing of information, work products, and other resources by their associated practices. This section focuses on identifying only the relationships encompassing the service-specific process areas. These relationships are best understood by functionally associating them into two distinct groups that span both maturity levels and process area categories:

·         Establishing and delivering services

·         Managing services

Process area relationships are illustrated in flow diagrams that focus on key dependencies for the sake of clarity. Not all possible interactions between process areas are shown and not all process areas are shown. The process areas that have been omitted from these diagrams (primarily the Process Management and Support process areas) have potential relationships with all of the process areas that are shown, and their inclusion would make it difficult to focus on the key CMMI-SVC relationships.