Year
2006
Abstract
The primary elements of sustainability comprise the foundation in the major nuclear nonproliferation programs for complete transition of responsibility for upgraded nuclear weapon protection systems and processes. A basic consideration is that the more modern the technology being applied, the more an advanced support infrastructure is required for long-term sustainability. Although some elements of sustainability are tangible, others are not hardware oriented, such as life-cycle planning methodologies and configuration management principles. A Sustainability Maturity Model (SMM) offers a holistic approach for determining the health of a site or system taking into account fundamental elements of sustainability to provide a comprehensive view of the current condition. The concept of establishing a Sustainability Maturity Model is derived from Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). CMM Integration provides guidance for improving an organization’s processes and the ability to manage the development, acquisition, and maintenance of systems, products, and services. These types of models help organizations appraise their organizational maturity or process area capability, establish priorities for improvement, and implement improvements. Each defined element of sustainability has a defined set of metrics to determine the maturity level. The maturity level defines the capability for the organization to sustain security effectiveness. The SMM provides a consistent way to determine the effectiveness of the current Sustainability approach and then identify gaps in capability. This approach provides the flexibility to assess the current condition of a site or system and then determine the level of support needed to bring the site or system up to a specified level of sustainability. Proper application also provides a tool for all interested parties to assess sustainability maturity on a recurring basis to assure continuing protection effectiveness.