Assignment 2: Software Engineering, CMMI, and ITIL

Realizing that an organization's CMMI level impacts an organization's success on requests for proposals (RFPs), your CIO wants to get the software development processes to CMMI level 3. Your organization has started developing software applications and database systems for their customers. The CIO wants to ensure that the software development and database development processes are being properly managed and audited, and he wants to ensure that the organization begins taking the necessary steps to progress to CMMI level 3. In preparation for your response, review the CMMI information available at the Carnegie Mellon Website.

IT managers will commonly manage software development and systems integration activities. Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you:

1. Describe the software engineering process, the challenges in managing software development activities, and the potential interface issues from the software development perspective.

2. Analyze the CMMI levels and define a roadmap that the organization will need to follow in order to get their software development processes to CMMI level 3. Note: This is important because the CMMI level that an organization achieves impacts their software development reputation.

3. Explain the auditing tasks that must be performed in order to achieve level 3.

4. Determine the continuous assurance auditing activities that the organization will need to implement to help achieve CMMI level 3.

5. Analyze the ITIL service management guidelines and principles.

6. Examine how ITIL service management practices relate to CMMI levels and continuous service auditing.

7. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe the process of performing effective information technology audits and general controls.

• Describe information technology general controls based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices.

• Describe the various general controls and audit approaches for software and architecture to include operating systems, telecommunication networks, cloud computing, service-oriented architecture and virtualization.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in information technology audit and control.

• Write clearly and concisely about topics related to information technology audit and control using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.