Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a development model created after study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. The term "maturity" relates to the degree of formality and optimization of processes, from ad hoc practices, to formally defined steps, to managed result metrics, to active optimization of the processes. The model's aim is to improve existing software-development processes, but it can also be applied to other processes. [1]
Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Levels[2]
In CMMI models there are five maturity levels with a staged representation 1-5:
Maturity Level 1. Initial - Company has no standard process for software development. Nor does it have a project-tracking system that enables developers to predict costs or finish dates with any accuracy.
Maturity Level 2. Managed- Company has installed basic software management processes and controls. But there is no consistency or coordination among different groups.
Maturity Level 3. Defined - Company has pulled together a standard set of processes and controls for the entire organization so that developers can move between projects more easily and customers can begin to get consistency from different groups.
Maturity Level 4. Quantitatively Managed - In addition to implementing standard processes, company has installed systems to measure the quality of those processes across all projects.
Maturity Level 5. Optimizing - Company has accomplished all of the above and can now begin to see patterns in performance over time, so it can tweak its processes in order to improve productivity and reduce defects in software development across the entire organization.
source: ISTBQ
See Also
Information Technology Capability
Business Capability
Business Architecture
Business Model
Business Process
Business Analysis
Balanced Scorecard
Business Process Management
IT Strategy
eBusiness
e-Strategy
Business IT Alignment
IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF)
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)