Elevating excellence:
Integrating generative AI into
CMMI for improved efficiency,
quality and performance
Discover how integrating gen AI across the CMMI framework
can revolutionize development processes, with real-world
examples of Cognizant’s implementation
Abstract
The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework is the industry benchmark for delivery
quality pertaining to software, product, and service development. Gen AI provides organizations
with opportunities to strengthen the industrialized deployment of the CMMI model. Cognizant isharnessing the power of gen AI to strengthen the deployment of CMMI by infusing gen AI capability
across the various CMMI practices that underpin the software and services lifecycle. This paper
explains our approach and presents a bird’s-eye view of sixteen gen AI assistants that are in various
stages of production. Cognizant posits that, “In today’s highly competitive market, CMMI is a baseline
requirement, companies should now consider how they can elevate their use of the CMMI modelthrough emerging and advanced technologies like gen AI”.

For more than three decades, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework has beena benchmark of excellence, enabling companies to assess, develop and enhance key capabilities andimprove performance across software, product and service development.
Whilst today, CMMI remains highly relevant as a development and benchmarking tool, the complexities of
the global market and its rapid evolution require companies to adapt not only how they operate, but how
they use the model itself.
This begs the question: How can we get more value from CMMI implementation?
The answer lies in infusing technology to make it more impactful, relevant, deep and meaningful.
At Cognizant, to implement CMMI protocols more efficiently and effectively, we see tremendous potential
in leveraging emerging technologies—especially generative AI.
For example, through the use of gen AI, teams can leverage the vast historical knowledge of theenterprise, speeding up the development of protocols through automation, making it easier to monitor
and control project progress, and supercharging creative development. The use of this technology,
in conjunction with the CMMI framework, will enable companies to reduce people dependency andenhance the impact of outcomes simultaneously.
In this paper, we outline how our company is at the forefront of this intelligent journey, developing andintegrating gen AI-powered assistants, tools, and accelerators in almost every capability area of the CMMI
model to streamline workflows, accelerate timelines, and drive more reliability into the products andservices that we deliver for our clients.
We hope you enjoy exploring how generative AI can be used to strengthen the deployment of the CMMI
model and how Cognizant is applying its digital expertise in clear and tangible ways throughout thesoftware, product and service development lifecycle. More importantly, we hope you are inspired by thepower of this approach as we show how it can push the boundaries of excellence in CMMI deployment,
today and in the decades to come.

“Generative AI could be society’s newequalizer and a route to prosperity for all,adding as much as $1 trillion to US grossdomestic product and boosting worker
productivity by 10% by 2032.”
Ravi Kumar S., CEO, Cognizant

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Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performanceAs is widely known, gen AI
can augment in:

What is Capability Maturity
Model Integration (CMMI)?

•

Analyzing and understanding data
sources and training data, making
accurate decisions at speed•

Seamlessly generating realistic images
and text—including written content
to a pre-defined length and style andmanipulating existing text to improve its
tone or professionalism

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
is a process and behavioral model that helps
organizations develop and deploy efficientand effective processes and decrease risk insoftware, product and service development.

•

Answering user questions throughinformative and engaging interactions
with chatbots•

Summarizing existing written content,
from articles and web pages to emails
and conversation transcripts, to make it
more digestible•

Classifying content based on various
criteria to enhance organization anduser experience•

Generating, translating, and verifying
code to a high quality

CMMI is based on the Capability Maturity
Model (CMM) developed in 1987 by the
Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie
Mellon University, in collaboration with the US
government and the Department of Defense(DoD). Originally created as a tool for awarding
contracts to vendor partners, CMMI provides adetailed framework outlining the expectations
for organizational and project practices thatneed to be adopted to achieve various levels of
maturity.
The CMMI model is currently administered by
the CMMI Institute, which was acquired by
the Information Systems Audit and Control
Association (ISACA) in 2016. With the releaseof Version 3.0 in April 2023, the model has
been expanded to include best practices
for measuring capability and improving
performance in areas such as people
management, data management and virtual
work. These enhancements increase theflexibility and applicability of CMMI acrossvarious industries and organizational contexts.
Since December 2000, Cognizant has secured
CMMI Maturity Level 5, the highest on the
CMMI scale. The company was reassessedagainst CMMI Version 2.0 at Maturity Level 5
in December 2022 for the Development andServices domains.

Implementing the necessary controls for developing
effective and responsible gen AI solutions
When introducing gen AI solutions to strengthen CMMI V3.0 deployment, it is critical to ensure thatthey are developed ethically, securely and responsibly. Cognizant’s Responsible AI framework is built
on six robust AI guiding principles to ensure ethical, secure and transparent use of this technology.
The following responsible AI principles guide all AI solutions built or deployed by Cognizant:• Fair and inclusive• Safe, secure and privacy-enhanced• Transparent and explainable• Accountable• Governance• Technology-resilient, robust and reliable

Cognizant has also implemented a federated, standards-driven and transparent governance model tooversee the deployment of responsible AI principles across the organization.

CMMI V3.0 capability and practice areas and interaction points

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Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performanceHarnessing the power of gen AI to enhance theimplementation of CMMI practices
In this section, we outline each of the key practice areas of CMMI and demonstrate how
generative AI can enhance or improve the deployment of these practices. Additionally, wehighlight the specific accelerators, assistants and tools Cognizant is developing to achieve those
improvements and how they drive value realization within each capability.

Ensuring Quality (ENQ) ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)
Requirements Development andManagement (RDM)

Verification and Validation (VV)Process Quality Assurance (PQA)

Peer Review (PR)The Ensuring Quality capability area emphasizes best-in-class delivery quality through and complete
and accurate requirements elicitation, effective requirements management, incisive peer reviews, androbust verification and validation activities through independent assessments.
Gen AI can augment the work done by the project team in the Ensuring Quality capability area. Some
examples of how the technology can be used include:•

Reducing the project team’s effort in requirement development activities, including eliciting
requirements, establishing traceability and change management
Generating a catalog of features, epics and user stories aligned to the technology domain andscenario while establishing a traceability framework
Enabling early identification of incomplete and incorrect requirements at the requirements stage,
leading to a “First Time Right” rollout and enabling lower development costs
Supporting testing activity, including generating test cases based on the user story catalog,
creating credible test data and generating test summary reports
Supporting technical architects and designers by conducting basic checks on the architecture
design and code developed
Managing quality assurance activities ranging from developing a quality assurance approach
for a project to conducting independent preliminary assessments

•
•
•
•
•

Cognizant is in the process of developing two gen AI assistants to support companies during the
Ensuring Quality phase:

Requirement
Elicitor 1

The Requirement Elicitor will complement the team by creating a
set of preliminary features, epics and user stories aligned with the
problem statement being addressed in the industry domain. The
Elicitor will be able to establish traceability of requirements to thedesign, code and test cases, as well as between requirements. The
Elicitor will also generate test cases for the finalized user stories.

VirtualAssessment Assistant 2

The Virtual Assessment Assistant will conduct a preliminary projectassessment by analyzing the reports related to process tailoring
and adherence, metrics, tools usage, perceived risks and mitigation
status, summarize gaps in the implementation, and suggest
remedial actions.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Note: Cognizant’s cross-functional teams have been working together to conceptualize, develop, and deploy the gen AI solutions listed in thisdocument. Core owners are SMEs from our Global Delivery Excellence team, Cognizant OneIT, Cognizant Responsible AI team, Cognizant Artificial
Intelligence and Analytics practice, Corporate Security, Legal and Data Privacy teams.

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Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performancePlanning and Managing Work (PMW) ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)
Estimating (EST)

Planning (PLAN)

Monitor and Control (MC)The Planning and Managing Work capability area focuses on estimating the size, effort, durationand cost of work and resources needed to deliver the solution. It emphasizes effective planning,monitoring, and adaptive management to ensure successful project execution andcontinuous improvement.
Gen AI can supplement the organization’s effort (Project Managers) effort within the Planningand Managing Work capability area by streamlining project initiation, estimation, execution andgovernance. Some examples include:•

Enabling project teams to identify applicable processes during project initiation, tailoring theprocesses for the project needs, and choosing the right metrics and targets for monitoring
performance based on obligations
Suggesting the correct set of engineering tools and accelerators to aid the project inimproving productivity and quality
Estimating the project size and effort through productivity benchmarks and learnings frompast experiences
Enabling better monitoring and control of projects by generating project health status reportsthat identify risks and course corrections based on lessons learned•••

Cognizant has initiated work on three gen AI assistants within the PMW capability area:

Methods Assistant 2

Methods Assistant will assist the project manager in identifying andtailoring the correct set of processes, as well as choosing suitable
metrics, benchmarks, tools and accelerators aligned to the archetypeof work and commitments made in the SOW.

Estimation Assistant 1

Estimation Assistant will assist the project manager in making
accurate estimations of project size and effort by providing
suitable templates, appropriate benchmarks and learnings frompast experiences.

Project HealthInspector andRemediator 1

Project Health Inspector and Remediator can generate accurate
and precise project health status reports to identify hot spots for theteam to act upon and provide remedial actions based on what has
been learnt from past experiences.

1 – Use case conceptualization

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2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Reimagining delivery excellence with gen AI

Engineering and Developing Products (EDP)
Technical Solution (TS)ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain:
Development and Services)

Product Integration (PI)The Engineering and Developing Products capability area strengthens an organization’s capability
to design, build, integrate and deliver practical solutions that address the client’s functionality,
performance and quality requirements.
Gen AI solutions can help the project team develop a product that is aligned with the specificrequirements. This technology can automate or streamline many key tasks, including:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Recommending the most appropriate architecture
Identifying a suitable set of engineering tools or accelerators
Generating code
Performing code reviews
Developing a high-level product integration strategy andDrafting user manuals and end-user training materials

Cognizant has deployed two gen AI assistants to support companies during theEngineering and Development phase:

Flowsource 3

Flowsource minimizes complexity, obstacles and distractions,providing engineers with everything they need to build products.
It integrates best-of-breed processes and tools to accelerate
programs. This platform can also perform code scanning oncode check-in, including test automation and security scanning. It
supports all major code companions.

Knowledge Assistant is designed to help the development
Knowledge Assistant 3		

and services team find accurate and contextual guidance onarchitectural patterns, technical solutions and coding guidelines.
This gen AI solution will also connect development teams withtechnical SMEs, allow them to utilize their services for technicalreviews, and facilitate talent crowdsourcing.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Gen AI Knowledge Assistant
Designed to leverage the power of enterprise knowledge base and serve contextual information

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Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performance

Delivery and Managing Services (DMS)
Service Delivery Management (SDM)

ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain:
Development and Services)

Strategic Service Management (STSM)

The Delivery and Managing Services capability area targets projects involved in application andinfrastructure management services. It focuses on delivering services, managing service delivery,
and ensuring that organizations develop and deploy services aligned to their strategic businessneeds and plans.
Gen AI solutions can help service designers through the Delivery and Managing Services capability
area. Some typical applications of gen AI are:••••

Keeping the service catalog current by analyzing various market trends, peer performanceand client feedback on the services being delivered and the changes that can be madeAssisting in the development of necessary client-facing materials and benchmarks forlaunching a new service
Strengthening service delivery management capabilities by extracting and tracking obligations
Identifying continuous improvement and automation opportunities by analyzing service requests
and providing remedial actions based on past learnings

Cognizant is developing two Gen AI assistants to support companies during the
Delivery and Managing Services phase:

Obligation
Extractor 2

The Obligation Extractor can identify and extract delivery
obligations from the Statement of Work (SOW), assign actions to
the necessary stakeholders and provide a progress update on theadherence to the commitments.

SOW Drafterand Reviewer 1

The SOW Drafter and Reviewer can auto-create a draft SOW,
pre-filled with content from golden sample SOW templates.
It leverages Cognizant Contract Lifecycle Risk Management
guidelines and RFP (Request for Proposal)/BAFO (Best And Final
Offer)/solution documents. This tool can also identify problems
and hotspots in an SOW.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Managing Business Resilience (MBR) ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)
Risk and Opportunity
Management (RSK)Continuity (CONT)

Incident Resolution andPrevention (IRP)The Managing Business Resilience capability area focuses on identifying, analyzing, and managing
potential risks and opportunities, resolving and preventing disruptions to sustain service delivery levels,and mitigating significant business disruptions.
Gen AI solutions can be used in the Managing Business Resilience capability area to proactively
identify risks and opportunities at both the organization and engagement level and develop andenhance possible risk mitigation plans. Some examples include:•

Profiling the risks associated with an engagement, from the opportunity phase to the closure
phase, by considering what has been learnt from past engagements and the actions required
to mitigate the perceived risks•

Identifying risks in the solution proposed or Statement of Work (SOW) being drafted byanalyzing the commitments against past learnings and the latest benchmarks

To deploy the MBR capability area effectively, Cognizant has initiated work on thefollowing gen AI assistants:

Project Risk
Profiler 3

The Project Risk Profiler reviews the project demographics andextracts key characteristics, such as criticality to the client, value,size, commitments and obligations, skill requirements and resource
pipeline, to determine the likely risks in the project. To refine the profile,it also applies learnings from the past.

Early Risk
Prediction Alerts 3

The Early Risk Predictor analyses triggers ranging from project healthreports, cost baselines, resource utilization, effort submission, issues andmetrics and predicts the likely risk level of a project.

Deliverability
Assessment Assistant 2

The Deliverability Assessment Assistant draws on information from pastexperiences, identifying perceived delivery risks in a deal and supporting
teams in qualifying risk criticality during the opportunity phase.

Neuro ITOperations 3

Neuro IT Operations provides an end-to-end platform that enables
breakthrough performance in IT operations. The platform aids in fullmonitoring and observability, along with automated detection andresolution. It also provides real-time visibility into the status of operations.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Managing the Workforce (MWF) ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)
Organizational Training (OT)

Enabling Virtual Work (EVW)The objective of the Managing the Workforce capability area is to develop the skills and knowledge of
personnel to perform their roles more effectively and efficiently while ensuring smooth and efficientclient delivery in a virtual/hybrid work environment.
With the support of gen AI solutions, an organization can enable talent and manage its employees
effectively in a hybrid working environment. Gen AI solutions can:••9

Identify courses for employees by analyzing current skills, project requirements and industry trends
Render references, case studies and study material based on the needs of the individual|

Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performanceImproving Performance (IMP)Process Management (PCM)ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)

Process Asset
Development (PAD)

Managing Performance andMeasurement (MPM)

The Improving Performance capability area focuses on managing the organization’s performanceusing measurements and analysis to achieve business objectives. The capability area also focuses ondeveloping and continuously improving processes and infrastructure to meet business objectives while
making performance results visible, accessible and sustainable.
Measuring and managing the performance of the organization and its engagements can beaugmented with the adoption of gen AI solutions. For example, a gen AI solution can:••••Determine measures and performance objectives based on client expectations and analyze
performance against those goals
Track performance using statistical techniques, ensuring the correct responses are deployed tomaintain the required performance levels
Establish a correlation between performance and process changes and help identify hotspots
Provide insights into process usage patterns and tailoring, end-user feedback, assessment findings
and necessary process improvements

Cognizant is developing the following Gen AI assistants to support companies during the Improving
Performance capability area:

Process
Assistant 2

Process Assistant supports project teams in choosing the rightprocesses for their projects and tailoring them to their needs. It also
helps identify areas for strengthening the processes and aids incontinuously improving those processes.

Benchmarking
Assistant 1

The Benchmarking Assistant can offer a benchmark for a projectarchetype based on project demographics like size, region,
technology, methodology, accountability and maturity level. It canalso compare performance with industry benchmarks and identify
areas for improvement.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Supporting Implementation (SI) ISACA CMMI V3.0 (Domain: Development and Services)
Causal Analysis andResolution (CAR)

Decision Analysis andResolution (DAR)

Configuration
Management (CM)The Supporting Implementation capability area identifies causes for outcomes and takes action toprevent the recurrence of undesirable outcomes and/or ensure the recurrence of positive outcomes.
The capability area also ensures that alternatives are analyzed during the decision-making process. It
also stresses the integrity of work products using effective configuration management.
With the advent of gen AI solutions, it has become easier to identify the causes of outcomes, ensure
desirable outcomes continue, and prevent undesirable outcomes. Gen AI can help organizations by:•••

Analyzing service delivery performance data and identifying patterns that may be contributing
to delays in service delivery or customer dissatisfaction
Identifying correlations and causations in the data, helping organizations pinpoint the root
causes of issues
Assisting in identifying and prioritizing ideas to strengthen performance by predicting the impactof those ideas on organizational performance

Cognizant has deployed two gen AI solutions to enable the organization to enhance the Supporting
Implementation capability area:

Bluebolt Assistant 3

The Bluebolt Assistant helps Cognizant and project teams analyze
the performance, possible root causes and ideas for addressing core
challenges. Furthermore, it enables the deployment of practical ideas,enhances the team’s skill set and reduces time to innovate.

CAPA Modeler 2

The CAPA Modeler assists the project team in analyzing the root causeof the non-conformities identified in the assessment and in drawing
up the remedial actions for deployment. This assistant will also provide
remedial actions to prevent defects and issues.

1 – Use case conceptualization

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Bluebolt Innovation Assistant

Designed to leverage
the collective innovation
potential of our associates,
a first-of-its-kind atenterprise scale

Fuel innovation bysynthesizing several yearsof enterprise expertise into
usable insights, bridging
problems with solutions

Guide innovation by
assisting in generating
and refining ideas
through prompts
and suggestions

Accelerate innovation
by reducing lead times
to innovate, thereby
fast-tracking grassroot
innovation

CMMI V3.0 (Domain:
Sustaining Habit and Persistence (SHP) ISACA
Development and Services)

Governance (GOV)

Implementation Infrastructure (II)The Sustaining Habit and Persistence capability area focuses on creating a culture where processes
become ingrained habits that are followed persistently by the organization.
Gen AI solutions can help sustain higher performance capabilities and ensure that the businessobjectives are met. For example, gen AI can be used to:•Provide senior management with a view of performance against goals and identify hotspots tomonitor the actions to be deployed
Alert senior management proactively on risks and areas to deploy the required resources andprovide a view of the risk status post-implementation•

Assess CMMI
Maturity 2

1 – Use case conceptualization

12|

To determine the CMMI maturity level of a project, the gen AI
assistant parses the project information, such as planning andtracking, quality management, and performance and provides steps
to achieve and sustain higher CMMI maturity levels.

2 – Solution under development 3 – Solution is live for use

Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performanceCognizant has initiated work on all the assistants mentioned
above and has started deploying and embedding them inthe lifecycle stages of projects.
Striving for process excellence in the era of gen AI
When CMMI was introduced, achieving the highest level of maturity in CMMI—ML5 (Optimizing),
represented a significant strategic advantage. But in today’s highly competitive market, it has
become table stakes, a baseline requirement that organizations use to demonstrate theircapabilities and maintain relevance in the market.
It is in this context that companies should consider how they can elevate their use of the CMMI
model through emerging and advanced technologies like gen AI to strengthen the deploymentof CMMI practices and unleash new possibilities across the software, product and service
development lifecycle.

Authors and contributors

13|

Alexis Samuel

Prabha Anand

Senior Vice President,
Head of Global Delivery
Excellence and PPM
Alexis.Samuel@cognizant.com

Vice President, Delivery Excellence,
Head for CTI practice, Process
and Platform
Prabha.Anand@cognizant.com

Kiran Ramachandraiah

Jayashree Ravikumar

Senior Director, Delivery
Excellence, Head for Process
and M&A Delivery Integration
Kiran.Ramachandraiah@cognizant.com

Senior Director, Delivery
Excellence, Head for Europe
and APJ

Steve Moss

Anjana Sankaranarayanan

Senior Director
Delivery Excellence,
Head for UK&I

Senior Manager, Delivery
Excellence, Strategy Lead andEnable Lead for ASEAN

Elevating excellence: Integrating generative AI into CMMI for improved efficiency, quality and performanceReferencesa. CMMI V3.0 updates: https://cmmiinstitute.com/products/cmmi/
cmmi-model-viewer
b. Responsible AI guidelines:
I.

NIST AI Risk Management Framework: https://www.nist.
gov/itl/ai-risk-management-frameworkII.

UAI Act: https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/

III. ISO 42001:2023: https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html
IV. A link to the guidelines being adopted globally for AI
systems development: Guidelines for secure AI systemdevelopment (ncsc.gov.uk)
V.

Article about this recent update in the AI world: Released:
AI security guidelines backed by 18 countries - Help Net
Security

VI. US Presidential Executive Order around AI: Executive Orderon the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development andUse of Artificial Intelligence | The White Housec.

Cognizant’s point of view from various forums
1.

Article published by Cognizant CEO in WEF: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/02/generative-aisociety-equalizer/

2.

Check out the latest episode of Trusted Voices
to hear Duncan Roberts and Ollie O’Donoghue
discuss our landmark study on gen AI, conducted inpartnership with Oxford Economics.
https://cogniz.at/3uhXJZn

3.

Hear how we’re ensuring transparency andaccountability with AI in our latest episode of Trusted
Voices with Babak Hodjat and Tahir Latif, FIP:
https://cogniz.at/42dUui2

Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) engineers modern businesses. We help our clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stayahead in our fast-changing world. Together, we’re improving everyday life. See how at www.cognizant.com or @Cognizant.

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