2 cissp ® Official Study Guide Eighth Edition

5: Learning
As with any quality improvement process, the organization must continu-
ously analyze its efforts to determine whether it has achieved the desired goals and, when 
necessary, propose new actions to put the organization back on course.
The IDEAL model is illustrated in Figure 20.4.
F I g u r e 2 0 . 4
The IDEAL model
Special permission to reproduce “IDEAL Model,” ©2004 by Carnegie Mellon University,
is granted by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute.
Characterize
Current & 
Desired States
Develop
Recommendations
Set
Priorities
Develop
Approach
Plan
Actions
Create
Solution
Pilot Test
Solution
Refine
Solution
Implement
Solution
Analyze
and
Validate
Propose
Future
Actions
Charter
Infrastructure
Set
Context
Build
Sponsorship
Learning
Acting
Establishing
Diagnosing
Initiating
Stimulus for Change

---

Introducing Systems Development Controls 
887
SW-Cmm and IDeal model memorization
To help you remember the initial letters of each of the 10 level names of the SW-CMM and 
IDEAL models (II DR ED AM LO), imagine yourself sitting on the couch in a psychiatrist’s 
office saying, “I…I, Dr. Ed, am lo(w).” If you can remember that phrase, then you can 
extract the 10 initial letters of the level names. If you write the letters out into two col-
umns, you can reconstruct the level names in order of the two systems. The left column 
is the IDEAL model, and the right represents the levels of the SW-CMM.
Initiating
Initiating
Diagnosing
Repeatable
Establishing
Defined
Acting
Managed
Learning
Optimized