CMMI Basics

The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM) is a framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. The CMM describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immature process to a mature, disciplined process. This framework has been developed by SEI (Software Engineering Institute). The SEI is a federally funded research and development center contract was competitively awarded to Carnegie Mellon University in December 1984.The SEI staff has extensive technical industry, and academia.The SEI mission is to provide leadership in advancing the state of the practice of software engineering to improve the quality of systems that depend on software. The SEI accomplishes this missionby promoting the evolution of software engineering from an ad hoc, labor-intensive activity to a discipline that is well managedand supported by technology.The CMM covers practices forplanning, engineering, and managing software development and maintenance. When followed, these key practices improvethe ability of organizations to meet goals for cost,schedule, functionality, and product quality.The CMM establishes a yardstick against which it is possible to judge, in a repeatable way, the maturity of an organization's software process and compare it to the state of the practice of the industry. The CMM can also be used by an organization to plan improvements to its software process .