The Capability Maturity Model for Software

This chapter introduces the capability maturity model (CMM) for Software as an alternative vehicle to assess an organization's abilities. This includes an introduction of the CMM in the wider sense, and, specifically, the CMM for Software. The CMM is about the capability and maturity of an organization. It is a model that identifies the requirements that a process needs to satisfy to improve in both capability and maturity. The CMM model provides organizations with guidance on how they can gain control of processes and evolve through a number of incremental stages toward a culture of software engineering and management excellence. The CMM framework can be used in a number of ways, such as seeking certification, internal review, and tool/ methodology comparison. Each maturity level contains a number of key process areas (KPA). Each KPA has a series of associated activities which, when performed together, achieve a set of goals. All goals of a KPA must be achieved to satisfy that KPA and therefore achieves a certain level of maturity in the model. The KPAs are organized by common features. These are attributes that address whether the implementation and institutionalization of a KPA is effective, repeatable, and lasting.