Model history From CMM to SOM Institute Kept and changed
Where the model comes from.
The maturity model of the Solar Operations Maturity Institute (SOM Institute) was developed by SolrBoost. Its shape comes from software engineering: the Capability Maturity Model.
This page sets out where that shape comes from, why it fits solar operations, and what SolrBoost kept and changed.
- Model
- The SOM Institute maturity model
- Developed by
- SolrBoost
- Shape from
- The Capability Maturity Model (CMM), from software engineering
01 The source
The Capability Maturity Model.
- Developed at
- The Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, in the late 1980s, from Watts Humphrey’s work.
- Published
- 1991As CMM v1.0.
- Built for
- Originally the US Department of Defense, so that it could judge how reliably a contractor could deliver software.
- Levels
- 5
- 1 Initial
- 2 Repeatable
- 3 Defined
- 4 Managed
- 5 Optimizing
Its lasting idea
- 01
Recognisable stages
Capability matures in recognisable stages.
- 02
How an organisation works
A level describes how an organisation works, not how one project turned out.
- 03
Measurement at the top
The top level is defined by measurement and continuous improvement.
Since
CMM was succeeded by CMMI in the early 2000s, and the staged-maturity idea has since been applied in many fields.
02 Why it fits solar O&M
A fleet’s output depends on its practices.
What a fleet produces over its life depends on how it is run: on seven practices, each one an area of the model.
- 01 Monitoring
- How faults are found.
- 02 Performance
- How production is judged against expectation.
- 03 Data Quality
- How far the data can be trusted.
- 04 Data Analysis
- How deep the analysis goes.
- 05 Optimisation
- Whether settings are ever revisited.
- 06 Finance
- Whether energy becomes money.
- 07 Reporting
- What reaches the people who decide.
Why a ladder
The same gaps recur across fleets, and a described ladder is more useful than a score: it says what the next step looks like.
03 Kept and changed
What SolrBoost kept, and what it changed.
| Level | CMM Five levels, 1–5 | SOM Institute Six levels, 0–5 |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No level 0 | BlindAdded |
| 1 | Initial | Manual |
| 2 | Repeatable | Reactive tooling |
| 3 | Defined | Systematic |
| 4 | Managed | Automated & integrated |
| 5 | Optimizing | Optimised & quantified |
In the SOM Institute model
The six levels are one spine, the same in every area, and each level is defined concretely within each of the seven areas. See the model in full.
-
Kept from CMM
- Staged levels.
- One plain-language description per level.
- The highest level is defined by measurement, verification and continuous improvement.
-
Changed for solar
- A level 0, “blind”. Many fleets have no monitoring at all, so the ladder starts below “manual”.
- Seven solar-specific areas on one shared spine, so levels compare across areas.
- An importance and a target for each area, set by each respondent, so the gap is measured against their own ambition.
- Areas weighted equally.
- Area by area: the benchmark compares one area at a time.
- No single score is ever shown.
04 How it was built
Experience, and commissioned research.
- 01
Experience
SolrBoost’s own experience running monitoring and analytics for solar fleets.
- 02
Commissioned research
Research by an independent research partner, commissioned by SolrBoost.
05 The benchmark
From model to benchmark.
The survey turns the model into a benchmark for the South African industry.
The SOM Institute maturity model was developed by SolrBoost. The SOM Institute benchmark — this survey, the South African cohort it builds and the industry insights it produces — is run in partnership with the University of Cape Town, TruePoint South Africa and Partnerships for Growth (P4G). The three benchmark partners receive aggregated, anonymised results only.