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FCU becomes leading university to pass CMMI evaluation

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An agreement between Feng Chia University and the National Space Program Office (NSPO) was signed by Director General Lance Wu of NSPO and FCU President An-Chi Liu, along with Director Tien-Ying Chou of FCU on March 29.

On January 17, 2006, the Systems Development Section and Information Technology Center of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) underwent CMMI-SW/SS ML3 evaluation by a judging committee headed by Mr. Ramamurthy Rangarajan of KMPG India. Following this evaluation, FCU became a leading institution of higher learning to pass CMMI-SW/SS evaluation.

In March of 2004, under the authority of FCU President An-Chi Liu, OIT Dean Don-Lin Yang, OIT Associate Dean Lu-Mei Wang and Dr. Nien-Lin Hsueh of the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science formed a task force to carry out information flow improvements. This task force, along with the management consulting firm ProVision, worked tirelessly for 22 months to initiate CMMI-stipulated flow improvements, including improvements in quality management, engineering management, organizational management and project management. 

FCU President Liu noted that information management units in most universities in North America and Europe purchase software packages and systems packages, and then carry out partial customization. Their main responsibility is the maintenance of user systems, and they do not involve themselves in software engineering. However, from its beginning, FCU's OIT has been tasked with the research and development of information systems to satisfy educational, administrative and research needs. In addition, OIT has continuously worked to improve the management of software engineering processes. 

Using CMMI standards as a blueprint for flow improvements, better management capacities have emerged in the development of software, project management, software and systems management and systems maintenance, with continued improvement the ultimate objective. The effort to pass evaluation was also transformed into an educational exercise, improving the content and educational value of Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science courses, and furthering the university's internationalization efforts.

OIT Dean Yang pointed out that since 2002, when ISO9001:2000 certification was received, in addition to adhering to ISO9001:2000 work procedures and quality improvement objectives in systems development, hardware maintenance and network management, importance has been placed on continued flow improvements. Obtaining CMMI certification is an index of university and domestic software engineering education. It is expected that implementation of the CMMI model will not only enable OIT to continuously improve flow and service quality, but will also assist faculty and students in carrying out practical software engineering training, allowing domestic training in software engineering to reach higher standards.