2. Jonathan P. DeShazo, Laishy Williams-Carlson, & Rich Pollack

3.  Jonathan P. DeShazo, MPH PhD, Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia  Laishy Williams-Carlson, Vice President and CIO, Bon Secours Health System Inc. Richmond, Virginia  Rich Pollack, MS, Vice President and CIO, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, Virginia

4.  Overview of process improvement models Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Six Sigma Lean & TPS  Comparing process improvement models

5.  Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)  IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)  Six Sigma  Lean & TPS

6.  Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University  Best practices for software development and maintenance.  Measures process maturity, which progresses through five levels: Level 1 (initial), 2 (managed), 3 (defined), 4 (predictable) and 5 (optimizing).

7.  Strengths: Geared specifically to software development organizations. Very detailed. Focuses on continuous improvement, not just on maintaining a certification. Can be used for self-assessment.  Limitations: Doesn't address IT operations issues, such as security, change and configuration management, capacity planning, troubleshooting and help desk functions. Sets goals, but doesn't say how to meet them.

8.  The U.K. Office of Government Commerce, Pink Elephant Inc. and others.  Best practices for IT service management and operations (such as service-desk, incident, change, capacity, service-level and security management).

9.  Strengths: Well established, mature, detailed and focused on IT production and operational quality issues. Can combine with CMMI to cover all of IT.  Limitations: Doesn't address the development of quality management systems. Not geared to software development processes. Use is highly dependent on interpretation.

10.  Developed by Motorola Inc.  A statistical process-improvement method focusing on quality from a customer's or user's point of view.  Defines service levels and measures variances from those levels.  Projects go through five phases: define, measure, analyze, improve and control.

11.  Strengths: A data-driven approach to finding the root causes of business problems and solving them. Takes into account the cost of quality. In IT, best applied for relatively homogeneous, repeatable activities such as call center or help desk operations.  Limitations: Originally designed for manufacturing environments; may be difficult to apply to processes that aren't already well defined and measurable. Can improve a process but doesn't tell you if you have the right process to begin with.

12.  Lean, formerly known as the Toyota Production System  Focus in eliminating non-value added waste in a process with goal of reducing process cycle times Improving on-time delivery performance Reducing cost

13.  Strengths Strategic approach to integrated improvements Emphasis on fast responses to opportunities Addresses necessary culture changes  Limitations Uses trial and error problem solving Promotes risk taking without weighing consequences

14.  The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)  IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)  Six Sigma  Lean & TPS