TORONTO - CCH, Canada's premier provider of tax and accounting, compliance and research tools, announced that its tax and accounting software division has been awarded a renewal of the coveted Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level 2 designation by the David Consulting Group (DCG) of Paoli, Pennsylvania. The appraisal was performed according to strict benchmarks set by Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

"This is a fine accomplishment by a dedicated group of high achievers," said Ian Rhind, president and CEO of CCH in Canada. "Our perfect score demonstrates that we are following best practices in the marketplace and assures our customers that they are receiving the highest possible level of quality in the software products we produce. What's more, it validates our track record of releasing software on-time and bug-free for the last 4 years."

CMMI is a software development process improvement approach that was conceived at Carnegie Mellon in the 1980s to evaluate U.S. government contractors' abilities to complete software development on schedule. It is an approach that has been adopted by customer-focused development organizations throughout the world.

CCH was appraised using the Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement, otherwise known as SCAMPI. It is the official SEI method to provide benchmark-quality ratings relative to CMMI model. CCH received its Maturity Level 2 designation by demonstrating it has successfully adopted the development rigour necessary for this level in multiple process areas ranging from requirements management and project planning to configuration management and process and product quality assurance.

"While the appraisal process found that CCH Canadian was a CMMI Maturity Level 2, we were impressed to observe that the organization had embraced the tenets of quality and process at a very deep level," said Tom Cagley, a member of the David Consulting Group who performed the appraisal "The organization seeks to do the right thing for their customers in the right way, a lesson learned much later by companies operating at higher maturity levels. The combination of flexibility, customer focus and best in class processes has set CCH Canadian apart."

"CCH is not in the business of boasting, but we can't help but take pride in what I believe is a true success story that benefits all of our customers," said Rhind. "Accountants can't afford to make mistakes. They need software they can trust to deliver error-free statements, reports, returns and information. Our Level 2 designation and perfect score show that our technology can stand up to the demands of an accountant's practice and enable our clients to do their jobs with confidence, agility and authority."