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Munich RE Successfully Applies Essence Kernel -The OMG Release Case Study

The Object Management Group® (OMG®), an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium, released a [new case study](http://www.omg.org/news/whitepapers/Munich_Re_Essence_Case_Study-2014-12-01_JP.pdf) detailing Munich RE’s successful application of the Essence standard with guidance provided from Ivar Jacobson International (IJI).

Essence provides a common ground for defining software development practices and includes the essential elements that are always prevalent in every software engineering endeavor (i.e.: Requirements, Software System, Team, and Work). These elements have states representing progress and health, so as the endeavor moves forward, the states associated with these elements progress. The kernel also helps practitioners compare methods and make better decisions about their practices. Essence was officially adopted by the OMG as a standard in June 2014.

As a Platform-level member of the Object Management Group (OMG), IJI helped lead the effort in the adoption of the OMG Essence standard. In 2010, the IT function for reinsurance of Munich Re came to the conclusion that it required a new way of developing applications. A main objective was to define a standard lifecycle(s) as blueprints for “healthy” projects.

The challenge, however, was that there was no common language to characterize the “healthiness” of a project. Participants in the discussions used different approaches, used different terms or even the same terms but with different meanings. “By engaging with Ivar Jacobson International and applying Essence, Munich Re was able to build a practice library from which individual projects could select not only foundational practices but also practices specific for each individual project,” said Dr. Ivar Jacobson, chairman of IJI.

“Using Essence and applying a common language; teams are now able, in a method independent way, to describe the overall progress and health of their projects.” According to the case study the OMG Essence standard will continue to play an important role at Munich Re as it guarantees consistency across the board for all software development projects, helps create a learning organization, allows teams to measure progress and health, and helps Munich Re in scaling agile.

Read the case study on the OMG website: (http://www.omg.org/news/whitepapers/Munich_Re_Essence_Case_Study-2014-12-01_JP.pdf) To learn more about Munich RE’s lean and agile transformation, download the IJI Munich RE Case Study

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