(
Capability
Maturity
Model) A process developed by SEI in 1986 to help improve, over time, the application of an organization's supporting software technologies. The process is broken into five levels of sequential development: Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimizing.
Rating an Organization's Maturity
The levels provide a scale for measuring an organization's capacity to effectively use its software technologies. They also help prioritize software improvement efforts. The more an organization depends on formal rules to keep software projects relevant, within budget and on schedule, the more advanced the organization's software development "maturity."
CMMI (CMM Integration)
A more rigorous version of CMM, CMMI defines more process areas and best practices. See
SEI.