Development of a Generic Tool for the Application of Maturity Models--Results from a Design Science Approach

The determination of the maturity level of an object or an activity is an expensive and complex challenge. Tools for determining the maturity level offer a way to reduce costs and complexity. Such tools can be used by persons, even if they have not received sophisticated training for the applied maturity model. As a result, high training costs can be avoided. Furthermore, the costs of a maturity assessment are minimized because the tools automatically perform the analysis. This paper develops a list of requirements which a tool must fulfill for the application of maturity models and presents a possible implementation of such a tool. As the implemented tool can handle several maturity models, we refer to it as a generic tool.