What is SEI CMM or Capability Maturity Model?

According to the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, CMM is a common-sense application of software or Business Process Management and quality improvement concepts to software development and maintenance. Its a community-developed guide for evolving towards a culture of engineering excellence, model for organizational improvement. The underlying structure for reliable and consistent software process assessments and software capability evaluations.

The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM) is a framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. There are CMMs for non software processes as well, such as Business Process Management (BPM). The CMM describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immature process to a mature, disciplined process. The CMM covers practices for planning, engineering, and managing software development and maintenance. When followed, these key practices improve the 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. It also reflects the needs of individuals performing software process, improvement, software process assessments, or software capability evaluations; is documented; and is publicly available.