CMMI - Maturity Levels

A maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau toward achieving a mature software process. Each maturity level provides a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement.

CMMI models with staged representation, have five maturity levels designated by the numbers 1 through 5. They are:

• Initial
• Managed
• Defined
• Quantitatively Managed
• Optimizing

CMMI Staged Representation Maturity Levels

The following image shows the maturity levels in a CMMI staged representation.

Now we will learn the details about each maturity level. Next section will list down all the process areas related to these maturity levels.

Maturity Level Details

Maturity levels consist of a predefined set of process areas. The maturity levels are measured by the achievement of the specific and generic goals that apply to each predefined set of process areas. The following sections describe the characteristics of each maturity level in detail.

Maturity Level 1 Initial

At maturity level 1, processes are usually ad hoc and chaotic. The organization usually does not provide a stable environment. Success in these organizations depend on the competence and heroics of the people in the organization and not on the use of proven processes.

Maturity level 1 organizations often produce products and services that work; however, they frequently exceed the budget and schedule of their projects.

Maturity level 1 organizations are characterized by a tendency to over commit, abandon processes in the time of crisis, and not be able to repeat their past successes.

Maturity Level 2 Managed

At maturity level 2, an organization has achieved all the specific and generic goals of the maturity level 2 process areas. In other words, the projects of the organization have ensured that requirements are managed and that processes are planned, performed, measured, and controlled.

The process discipline reflected by maturity level 2 helps to ensure that existing practices are retained during times of stress. When these practices are in place, projects are performed and managed according to their documented plans.

At maturity level 2, requirements, processes, work products, and services are managed. The status of the work products and the delivery of services are visible to management at defined points.

Commitments are established among relevant stakeholders and are revised as needed. Work products are reviewed with stakeholders and are controlled.

The work products and services satisfy their specified requirements, standards, and objectives.

Maturity Level 3 Defined

At maturity level 3, an organization has achieved all the specific and generic goals of the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

At maturity level 3, processes are well characterized and understood, and are described in standards, procedures, tools, and methods.

A critical distinction between maturity level 2 and maturity level 3 is the scope of standards, process descriptions, and procedures. At maturity level 2, the standards, process descriptions, and procedures may be quite different in each specific instance of the process (for example, on a particular project).

At maturity level 3, the standards, process descriptions, and procedures for a project are tailored from the organization's set of standard processes to suit a particular project or organizational unit. The organization's set of standard processes includes the processes addressed at maturity level 2 and maturity level 3. As a result, the processes that are performed across the organization are consistent except for the differences allowed by the tailoring guidelines.

Another critical distinction is that at maturity level 3, processes are typically described in more detail and more rigorously than at maturity level 2. At maturity level 3, processes are managed more proactively using an understanding of the interrelationships of the process activities and detailed measures of the process, its work products, and its services.

Maturity Level 4 Quantitatively Managed

At maturity level 4, an organization has achieved all the specific goals of the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2, 3, and 4 and the generic goals assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

At maturity level 4, sub-processes are selected that significantly contribute to the overall process performance. These selected sub-processes are controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques.

Quantitative objectives for quality and process performance are established and used as criteria in managing the processes. Quantitative objectives are based on the needs of the customer, end users, organization, and process implementers. Quality and process performance are understood in statistical terms and are managed throughout the life of the processes.

For these processes, detailed measures of process performance are collected and statistically analyzed. Special causes of process variation are identified and, where appropriate, the sources of special causes are corrected to prevent future occurrences.

Quality and process performance measures are incorporated into the organization's measurement repository to support fact-based decision making in the future.

A critical distinction between maturity level 3 and maturity level 4 is the predictability of process performance. At maturity level 4, the performance of processes is controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques, and is quantitatively predictable. At maturity level 3, processes are only qualitatively predictable.

Maturity Level 5 Optimizing

At maturity level 5, an organization has achieved all the specific goalsof the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the generic goals assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

Processes are continually improved based on a quantitative understanding of the common causes of variation inherent in processes.

This level focuses on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements.

The quantitative process-improvement objectives for the organization are established, continually revised to reflect changing business objectives, and used as criteria in managing process improvement.

The effects of deployed process improvements are measured and evaluated against the quantitative process-improvement objectives. Both the defined processes and the organization's set of standard processes are targets of measurable improvement activities.

Optimizing processes that are agile and innovative, depends on the participation of an empowered workforce aligned with the business values and objectives of the organization. The organization's ability to rapidly respond to changes and opportunities is enhanced by finding ways to accelerate and share learning. Improvement of the processes is inherently a role that everybody has to play, resulting in a cycle of continual improvement.

A critical distinction between maturity level 4 and maturity level 5 is the type of process variation addressed. At maturity level 4, processes are concerned with addressing special causes of process variation and providing statistical predictability of the results. Though processes may produce predictable results, the results may be insufficient to achieve the established objectives. At maturity level 5, processes are concerned with addressing common causes of process variation and changing the process (that is, shifting the means of the process performance) to improve process performance (while maintaining statistical predictability) to achieve the established quantitative process-improvement objectives.

Maturity Levels Should Not be Skipped

Each maturity level provides a necessary foundation for effective implementation of processes at the next level.

• Higher level processes have less chance of success without the discipline provided by lower levels.
• The effect of innovation can be obscured in a noisy process.

Higher maturity level processes may be performed by organizations at lower maturity levels, with the risk of not being consistently applied in a crisis.

Maturity Levels and Process Areas

Here is a list of all the corresponding process areas defined for a software organization. These process areas may be different for different organization.

This section provides the names of the related process areas. For more details about these Process Areas go through the CMMI Process Areas Chapter.

Level	Focus	Key Process Area	Result
5 Optimizing	Continuous Process Improvement	Organizational Innovation and Deployment Causal Analysis and Resolution	Highest Quality / Lowest Risk
4 Quantitatively Managed	Quantitatively Managed	Organizational Process Performance Quantitative Project Management	Higher Quality / Lower Risk
3 Defined	Process Standardization	Requirements Development Technical Solution Product Integration Verification Validation Organizational Process Focus Organizational Process Definition Organizational Training Integrated Project Mgmt (with IPPD extras) Risk Management Decision Analysis and Resolution Integrated Teaming (IPPD only) Org. Environment for Integration (IPPD only) Integrated Supplier Management (SS only)	Medium Quality / Medium Risk
2 Managed	Basic Project Management	Requirements Management Project Planning Project Monitoring and Control Supplier Agreement Management Measurement and Analysis Process and Product Quality Assurance Configuration Management	Low Quality / High Risk
1 Initial	Process is informal and Adhoc		Lowest Quality / Highest Risk

SEI CMMI - Representations

A representation allows an organization to pursue different improvement objectives. An organization can go for one of the following two improvement paths.

Staged Representation

The staged representation is the approach used in the Software CMM. It is an approach that uses predefined sets of process areas to define an improvement path for an organization. This improvement path is described by a model component called a Maturity Level. A maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau towards achieving improved organizational processes.

CMMI Staged Representation:

• Provides a proven sequence of improvements, each serving as a foundation for the next.
• Permits comparisons across and among organizations by the use of maturity levels.
• Provides an easy migration from the SW-CMM to CMMI.
• Provides a single rating that summarizes appraisal results and allows comparisons among organizations.

Thus Staged Representation provides a pre-defined roadmap for organizational improvement based on proven grouping and ordering of processes and associated organizational relationships. You cannot divert from the sequence of steps.

CMMI Staged Structure

Following picture illustrates CMMI Staged Model Structure.

Continuous Representation

Continuous representation is the approach used in the SECM and the IPD-CMM. This approach allows an organization to select a specific process area and make improvements based on it. The continuous representation uses Capability Levels to characterize improvement relative to an individual process area.

CMMI Continuous Representation:

• Allows you to select the order of improvement that best meets your organization's business objectives and mitigates your organization's areas of risk.
• Enables comparisons across and among organizations on a process-area-by-process-area basis.
• Provides an easy migration from EIA 731 (and other models with a continuous representation) to CMMI.

Thus Continuous Representation provides flexibility to organizations to choose the processes for improvement, as well as the amount of improvement required.

CMMI Continuous Structure

The following picture illustrates the CMMI Continuous Model Structure.

Continuous vs Staged Representations

Continuous Representation	Staged Representation
Process areas are organized by process area categories.	Process areas are organized by maturity levels.
Improvement is measured using capability levels. Capability levels measure the maturity of a particular process across an organization; it ranges from 0 through 5.	Improvement is measured using maturity levels. Maturity levels measure the maturity of a set of processes across an organization: it ranges from 1 through 5.
There are two types of specific practices: base and advanced. All specific practices appear in the continuous representation.	There is only one type of specific practice. The concepts of base and advanced practices are not used. All specific practices appear in the staged representation except when a related base-advanced pair of practices appears in the continuous representation, in which case only the advanced practice appears in the staged representation.
Capability levels are used to organize the generic practices.	Common features are used to organize generic practices.
All generic practices are included in each process area.	Only the level 2 and level 3 generic practices are included.
Equivalent staging allows determination of a maturity level from an organization's achievement profile.	There is no need for an equivalence mechanism to back the continuous representation because each organization can choose what to improve and how much to improve using the staged representation.

Which Representation is Better?

Each representation has its advantages over the other, some organizations use both representations to address particular requirements at various times in their improvement programs.

Organizational maturity is the focus of the staged representation, whereas process area capability is the focus of the continuous representation.

Organizational maturity and process area capability are similar concepts. The difference between them is that organizational maturity pertains to a set of process areas across an organization, while process area capability deals with a set of processes relating to a single process area or specific practice.

The following diagram depicts both the presentations. In this diagram, ML indicates Maturity Level and PA Indicates Process Area.

CMMI – 5 Levels of Maturity

CMMI Level 1
Level 1 is an immature state. The software process is characterized as ad hoc, and occasionally even chaotic. Few processes are defined, and success depends on individual effort. Here there is no objective basis for judging product quality or for solving product or process problems. Therefore product quality is difficult to predict. Activities intended to enhance quality such as reviews and testing are often curtailed or eliminated when projects fall behind schedule. Below points are the characteristics of this level.

• The processes within the organization are highly unstable and unpredictable
• During crisis, all the processes and procedures are either abandoned or skipped
• The projects are purely person dependant. i.e., when the persons involved leave the project or the company, things come to a halt. Also, the performance depends on the capabilities of the individuals rather then the organizational capability.
• Even if some processes remain, they are constantly changed or modified as the work progresses. (i.e…, the process is ad hoc).
• There are no process areas at Level 1. Level 1 is just a denotation of ad-hoc behavior.

CMMI Level 2
Level 2 in CMM Integrated – Managed Level. Managed, as the word means, the project management is defined at this level. Basic project management principles are established to track cost, schedule and functionality. The necessary process discipline is in place to repeat earlier success on projects. An effective process can be characterized as practiced, documented, enforced, trained, measured, and able to improve. Projects in Level 2 organizations have installed basic software management controls. Some of the important points are:

• Realistic project commitments are based on the results observed on previous projects and on the requirements of the current project.
• The project managers for a project track software costs, schedules, defects and functionality; problems in meeting commitments are identified when they arise.
• The project’s process is under the effective control of a project management system, following realistic plans based on the performance of previous projects.
• Level 2 has seven process areas. Each process area has certain goals which need to be met by the organization.

CMMI Level 3
Level 3 which is The Defined Level, looks at building engineering processes and organizational level processes using the strong base set at Level 2. Level 3 is, when an organization will have processes for Requirements gathering (Test Requirements Gathering), Design & Build (Strategize and Prepare Test Cases / Scripts), Reviews, Testing (Execute Test Cases / Scripts) etc, defined at organization level. Information and artifacts of previous projects is available for re-use within the organization through mechanisms of knowledge sharing.

There are 13 process areas in Level 3 of CMMI. Apart from engineering processes and organizational level processes, there are a few process areas focused on certain critical aspects like risk management, decision making, team work etc..

CMMI Level 4
Level 4 in CMMI is a very critical step. It is called “Quantitatively Managed” level. At this level, the organization has achieved all the goals of PAs in Level 2, 3 and 4. They key attribute of Level 4 is sub process performance. The selected sub processes are controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques

At Level 4, process and project management happens through Quantitative techniques. Quantitative objectives are based on the needs of the client, end users, organization and process improvement. Quality and process performances are understood in statistical terms and are managed throughout the life of the processes.For the various processes, measures of process performance are collected and statistically analyzed. Special Causes of process performance are identified and corrected to prevent future occurrences.

The crucial difference between Level 3 and 4 is Predictability. At Level 4, performance of process is quantitatively predictable.

CMMI Level 5
Level 5 – The Optimizing Level, focuses on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative improvements. The effects of deployed process improvements are measured and evaluated. A critical distinction between Level 4 and 5, is the type of process variation that is addressed. At maturity Level 4, we look at Special cause of variation (Through Statistical Process Control or other statistical techniques).

At Level 5, we are concerned with addressing common causes of variation and changing the process (Ex – Defect & Problem Prevention)

CMMI Maturity Levels

A maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau toward achieving a mature software process. Each maturity level provides a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement.

In CMMI models with a staged representation, there are five maturity levels designated by the numbers 1 through 5

1. Initial
2. Managed
3. Defined
4. Quantitatively Managed
5. Optimizing

CMMI Staged Represenation- Maturity Levels

Now we will give more detail about each maturity level. Next section will list down all the process areas related to these maturity levels.

Maturity Level Details:

Maturity levels consist of a predefined set of process areas. The maturity levels are measured by the achievement of the specific and generic goals that apply to each predefined set of process areas. The following sections describe the characteristics of each maturity level in detail.

Maturity Level 1 - Initial

At maturity level 1, processes are usually ad hoc and chaotic. The organization usually does not provide a stable environment. Success in these organizations depends on the competence and heroics of the people in the organization and not on the use of proven processes.

Maturity level 1 organizations often produce products and services that work; however, they frequently exceed the budget and schedule of their projects.

Maturity level 1 organizations are characterized by a tendency to over commit, abandon processes in the time of crisis, and not be able to repeat their past successes.

Maturity Level 2 - Managed

At maturity level 2, an organization has achieved all the specific and generic goals of the maturity level 2 process areas. In other words, the projects of the organization have ensured that requirements are managed and that processes are planned, performed, measured, and controlled.

The process discipline reflected by maturity level 2 helps to ensure that existing practices are retained during times of stress. When these practices are in place, projects are performed and managed according to their documented plans.

At maturity level 2, requirements, processes, work products, and services are managed. The status of the work products and the delivery of services are visible to management at defined points.

Commitments are established among relevant stakeholders and are revised as needed. Work products are reviewed with stakeholders and are controlled.

The work products and services satisfy their specified requirements, standards, and objectives.

Maturity Level 3 - Defined

At maturity level 3, an organization has achieved all the specific and generic goals of the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

At maturity level 3, processes are well characterized and understood, and are described in standards, procedures, tools, and methods.

A critical distinction between maturity level 2 and maturity level 3 is the scope of standards, process descriptions, and procedures. At maturity level 2, the standards, process descriptions, and procedures may be quite different in each specific instance of the process (for example, on a particular project). At maturity level 3, the standards, process descriptions, and procedures for a project are tailored from the organization's set of standard processes to suit a particular project or organizational unit. The organization's set of standard processes includes the processes addressed at maturity level 2 and maturity level 3. As a result, the processes that are performed across the organization are consistent except for the differences allowed by the tailoring guidelines.

Another critical distinction is that at maturity level 3, processes are typically described in more detail and more rigorously than at maturity level 2. At maturity level 3, processes are managed more proactively using an understanding of the interrelationships of the process activities and detailed measures of the process, its work products, and its services.

Maturity Level 4 - Quantitatively Managed

At maturity level 4, an organization has achieved all the specific goals of the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2, 3, and 4 and the generic goals assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

At maturity level 4 Subprocesses are selected that significantly contribute to overall process performance. These selected subprocesses are controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques.

Quantitative objectives for quality and process performance are established and used as criteria in managing processes. Quantitative objectives are based on the needs of the customer, end users, organization, and process implementers. Quality and process performance are understood in statistical terms and are managed throughout the life of the processes.

For these processes, detailed measures of process performance are collected and statistically analyzed. Special causes of process variation are identified and, where appropriate, the sources of special causes are corrected to prevent future occurrences.

Quality and process performance measures are incorporated into the organization.s measurement repository to support fact-based decision making in the future.

A critical distinction between maturity level 3 and maturity level 4 is the predictability of process performance. At maturity level 4, the performance of processes is controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques, and is quantitatively predictable. At maturity level 3, processes are only qualitatively predictable.

Maturity Level 5 - Optimizing

At maturity level 5, an organization has achieved all the specific goals of the process areas assigned to maturity levels 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the generic goals assigned to maturity levels 2 and 3.

Processes are continually improved based on a quantitative understanding of the common causes of variation inherent in processes.

Maturity level 5 focuses on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements.

Quantitative process-improvement objectives for the organization are established, continually revised to reflect changing business objectives, and used as criteria in managing process improvement.

The effects of deployed process improvements are measured and evaluated against the quantitative process-improvement objectives. Both the defined processes and the organization's set of standard processes are targets of measurable improvement activities.

Optimizing processes that are agile and innovative depends on the participation of an empowered workforce aligned with the business values and objectives of the organization. The organization's ability to rapidly respond to changes and opportunities is enhanced by finding ways to accelerate and share learning. Improvement of the processes is inherently part of everybody's role, resulting in a cycle of continual improvement.

A critical distinction between maturity level 4 and maturity level 5 is the type of process variation addressed. At maturity level 4, processes are concerned with addressing special causes of process variation and providing statistical predictability of the results. Though processes may produce predictable results, the results may be insufficient to achieve the established objectives. At maturity level 5, processes are concerned with addressing common causes of process variation and changing the process (that is, shifting the mean of the process performance) to improve process performance (while maintaining statistical predictability) to achieve the established quantitative process-improvement objectives.

Maturity Levels Should Not be Skipped:

Each maturity level provides a necessary foundation for effective implementation of processes at the next level.

• Higher level processes have less chance of success without the discipline provided by lower levels.
• The effect of innovation can be obscured in a noisy process.

Higher maturity level processes may be performed by organizations at lower maturity levels, with the risk of not being consistently applied in a crisis.

Maturity Levels and Process Areas:

Here is a list of all the corresponding process areas defined for a S/W organization. These process areas may be different for different organization.

This section is just giving names of the related process areas, for more detail about these Process Areas go through CMMI Process Areas Chapter.

Level	Focus	Key Process Area	Result
5 Optimizing	Continuous Process Improvement	Organizational Innovation and Deployment Causal Analysis and Resolution	Highest Quality / Lowest Risk
4 Quantitatively Managed	Quantitatively Managed	Organizational Process Performance Quantitative Project Management	Higher Quality / Lower Risk
3 Defined	Process Standardization	Requirements Development Technical Solution Product Integration Verification Validation Organizational Process Focus Organizational Process Definition Organizational Training Integrated Project Mgmt (with IPPD extras) Risk Management Decision Analysis and Resolution Integrated Teaming (IPPD only) Org. Environment for Integration (IPPD only) Integrated Supplier Management (SS only)	Medium Quality / Medium Risk
2 Managed	Basic Project Management	Requirements Management Project Planning Project Monitoring and Control Supplier Agreement Management Measurement and Analysis Process and Product Quality Assurance Configuration Management	Low Quality / High Risk
1 Initial	Process is informal and Adhoc		Lowest Quality / Highest Risk