VSTI Achieves CMMI Level 3 Rating 33% Faster with Rally's Agile Application Lifecycle Management Platform

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. and BOULDER, Colo., July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- VSTI can now better meet the rapidly changing needs of customers in the United States Government Intelligence Community by adopting Agile in government projects (http://www.rallydev.com/customers/agile_government). Rally's Agile solution enabled VSTI, a SAS Company, to achieve a Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI®) Level 3 rating in just two years – 33% faster than average times reported by CMMI's governing body, the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI).  

VSTI is an industry-leading provider of advanced software systems to the U.S. Federal Government Intelligence Community. Rally's Agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform created a single source of record across VSTI's business and automated the documentation process required for a CMMI Level 3 rating.

According to the SEI, CMMI is a process improvement approach whose goal is to integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

VSTI deployed Rally's Agile ALM platform to help them manage the Agile development process and provide evidence that each CMMI practice is being fully implemented. VSTI underwent a rigorous Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) appraisal, led by David Quinn of Cepeda Systems & Software Analysis (CSSA).

Comments on the news:

"This was my first encounter with Rally in a federal contracting organization and I was very impressed," said Quinn. "I've seen other solutions for managing Agile development, but they never captured the Agile process as well as Rally does. The input of information into Rally was integrated into VSTI's day-to-day work, completely automating the documentation process and providing good visibility into the implementation of CMMI practices."

"CMMI is focused on process and documentation, while Agile emphasizes flexibility and speed of code delivery," said VSTI's Business Solutions Architect Catherine Clark. "So while CMMI and Agile methodologies are seemingly at odds, Rally has provided a way to facilitate Agile processes while maintaining and automating the proper documentation that CMMI requires."

"In federal programs, we have customers that change directions at any moment based on world events," said Clark. "Rally has given us the ability to quickly adapt and change, and has improved customer communication and transparency, and ultimately, customer satisfaction."

About VSTI, a SAS company

Founded in 1997, VSTI is an industry-leading provider of advanced software systems that assist with high-volume contextual data reduction, analytic discovery, information dissemination, and alerting of the intelligence analysis within the US federal government IC. In addition to the IC, customers include the US Department of Defense, Navy, Air Force and the state of Maryland Consulting and Technical Services. For more information, visit www.vsticorp.com.

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know®. For more information, visit www.sas.com.

About Rally

Rally is the recognized leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM). We are dedicated to helping organizations embrace Agile and Lean development practices that increase the pace of innovation and improve product quality. According to a study by QSM Associates, software-driven companies that rely on Rally's Agile ALM products and services are 50% faster to market and 25% more productive than industry averages. The company's experienced services group, including training through Agile University, guides companies through the organizational change required to become innovative, Agile businesses. Together, Rally's Agile ALM platform and its leading Kanban-based project collaboration tool, AgileZen, support more than 9,700 corporate customers, 126,000 projects and 112,000 users in 101 countries. For more information, visit www.rallydev.com.

Rally, the Rally logo, Rally Software Development, Agile University and AgileZen are trademarks of Rally Software Development Corp. Capability Maturity Model and CMMI are registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Rally Software