CMMI Maturity Levels

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.

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

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cmmi/cmmi-maturity-levels.htm

• Process Area Organization

In CMMI models, the process areas are organized in alphabetical order according to their acronym. However, process areas can be grouped according to maturity levels or process area categories.

Maturity Levels: CMMI for Development

There are Five maturity levels. However, maturity level ratings are awarded for levels 2 through 5. The process areas below and their maturity levels are listed for the CMMI for Development model:
Maturity Level 2 - Managed

• CM - Configuration Management
• MA - Measurement and Analysis
• PMC - Project Monitoring and Control
• PP - Project Planning
• PPQA - Process and Product Quality Assurance
• REQM - Requirements Management
• SAM - Supplier Agreement Management

Maturity Level 3 - Defined

• DAR - Decision Analysis and Resolution
• IPM - Integrated Project Management
• OPD - Organizational Process Definition
• OPF - Organizational Process Focus
• OT - Organizational Training
• PI - Product Integration
• RD - Requirements Development
• RSKM - Risk Management
• TS - Technical Solution
• VAL - Validation
• VER - Verification

Maturity Level 4 - Quantitatively Managed

• OPP - Organizational Process Performance
• QPM - Quantitative Project Management

Maturity Level 5 - Optimizing

• CAR - Causal Analysis and Resolution
• OPM - Organizational Performance Management

Maturity Levels: CMMI for Services

The process areas below and their maturity levels are listed for the CMMI for Services model:
Maturity Level 2 - Managed

• CM - Configuration Management
• MA - Measurement and Analysis
• PPQA - Process and Product Quality Assurance
• REQM - Requirements Management
• SAM - Supplier Agreement Management
• SD - Service Delivery
• WMC - Work Monitoring and Control
• WP - Work Planning

Maturity Level 3 - Defined

• CAM - Capacity and Availability Management
• DAR - Decision Analysis and Resolution
• IRP - Incident Resolution and Prevention
• IWM - Integrated Work Management
• OPD - Organizational Process Definition
• OPF - Organizational Process Focus
• OT - Organizational Training
• RSKM - Risk Management
• SCON - Service Continuity
• SSD - Service System Development
• SST - Service System Transition
• STSM - Strategic Service Management

Maturity Level 4 - Quantitatively Managed

• OPP - Organizational Process Performance
• QPM - Quantitative Project Management

Maturity Level 5 - Optimizing

• CAR - Causal Analysis and Resolution
• OPM - Organizational Performance Management

Maturity Levels: CMMI for Acquisition

The process areas below and their maturity levels are listed for the CMMI for Acquisition model:
Maturity Level 2 - Managed

• AM - Agreement Management
• ARD - Acquisition Requirements Development
• CM - Configuration Management
• MA - Measurement and Analysis
• PMC - Project Monitoring and Control
• PP - Project Planning
• PPQA - Process and Product Quality Assurance
• REQM - Requirements Management
• SSAD - Solicitation and Supplier Agreement Development

Maturity Level 3 - Defined

• ATM - Acquisition Technical Management
• AVAL - Acquisition Validation
• AVER - Acquisition Verification
• DAR - Decision Analysis and Resolution
• IPM - Integrated Project Management
• OPD - Organizational Process Definition
• OPF - Organizational Process Focus
• OT - Organizational Training
• RSKM - Risk Management

Maturity Level 4 - Quantitatively Managed

• OPP - Organizational Process Performance
• QPM - Quantitative Project Management

Maturity Level 5 - Optimizing

• CAR - Causal Analysis and Resolution
• OPM - Organizational Performance Management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_area_%28CMMI%29

• What is CMMI and what's the advantage of implementing it in an organization?

 It is a process improvement approach that provides companies with the essential elements of an effective process. CMMI can serve as a good guide for process improvement across a project, organization, or division.

 the areas which CMMI addresses:
 Systems engineering: This covers development of total systems. System engineers concentrate on converting customer needs to product solutions and supports them throughout the product lifecycle.

Software engineering: Software engineers concentrate on the application of systematic, disciplined, and quantifiable approaches to the development, operation, and maintenance of software.

Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD): Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) is a systematic approach that achieves a timely collaboration of relevant stakeholders throughout the life of the product to better satisfy customer needs, expectations, and requirements. This section mostly concentrates on the integration part of the project for different processes. For instance, it's possible that your project is using services of some other third party component. In such situations the integration is a big task itself, and if approached in a systematic manner, can be handled with ease.

Software acquisition: Many times an organization has to acquire products from other organizations. Acquisition is itself a big step for any organization and if not handled in a proper manner means a disaster is sure to happen.

What's the difference between implementation and institutionalization?
Institutionalization is the output of implementing the process again and again. The difference between implementation and institutionalization is in implementation if the person who implemented the process leaves the company the process is not followed, but if the process is institutionalized then even if the person leaves the organization, the process is still followed.

http://www.indiabix.com/technical/software-testing/cmmi/

• A maturity model is a business tool used to assess people/culture, processes/structures, and objects/technology.[1] Two approaches for designing maturity models exist. With a top-down approach, such as proposed by Becker et al.,[2] a fixed number of maturity stages or levels is specified first and further corroborated with characteristics (typically in form of specific assessment items) that support the initial assumptions about how maturity evolves. When using a bottom-up approach, such as suggested by Lahrmann et al.,[3] distinct characteristics or assessment items are determined first and clustered in a second step into maturity levels to induce a more general view of the different steps of maturity evolution. Topics that are covered in maturity models include

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maturity_model#PLM

• What is a Maturity Model, and why use one?

The use of a maturity model allows an organization to have its methods and processes assessed according to management best practice, against a clear set of external benchmarks. Maturity is indicated by the award of a particular "Maturity Level"
http://www.apmg-international.com/en/consulting/what-maturity-model.aspx

• A maturity model is a tool that helps people assess the current effectiveness of a person or group and supports figuring out what capabilities they need to acquire next in order to improve their performance. 

http://martinfowler.com/bliki/MaturityModel.html