Letter: Status of EIA/IS-731 (and transition to the CMMI)

On behalf of the Systems Engineering Committee (G-47) of the Government Electronics & Information Technology Association (GEIA) I would like to inform you about the current status of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) Interim Standard (IS) EIA/IS-731, Systems Engineering Capability Model. This standard was originally issued as an Interim Standard as a step toward the development of a full standard conforming to ANSI and EIA requirements. Further development of EIA/IS-731 was held in abeyance during the development of the CMMI. Subsequently, the EIA made a policy decision to discontinue use of interim standards, because the processes and requirements were indistinguishable from a full EIA (i.e. non-Interim) standard. The time period for the original EIA/IS-731 has now expired. GEIA has therefore been confronted with the need to resolve the status of the interim standard. Based on a unanimous vote of the qualified voting members of G-47 present at the meeting of the committee on 9 April 2002, it was decided to convert the interim standard to EIA Standard 731, and to develop a sunset plan for EIA-731. We specifically decided that we would continue EIA 731 as a standard to provide the opportunity for current users to begin their own transition to the CMMI on schedules compatible with their other business activities.