The first of a series of CMM FAQs has been launched. This covers basic definitions. An extract follows:

1. What is the Capability Maturity Model (CMM)?
The CMM is designed to help organizations identify best practices and enhance the maturity of their processes. It is essentially a process improvement model.

2. When was it first published?
It was developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and first published in 1993 as a software maturity model (SW-CMM ).

3. What is CMMI?
CMMI is the Capability Maturity Model Integrated Project. It is seen by many as a natural evolution of CMM, which of course was originally designed for software focus. The scope of CMMI is 'multi-disciplinary' development.

4. Is it widely used?
Yes. CMMI has been adopted across the world.

5. Is there any official certification?
There is no official accreditation body at present. CMMI is a self assessment scheme, although of course external bodies can be used.

6. What are the CMM 'maturity levels'?
The model describes five evolutionary levels, 1-5., whereby 1 is the lowest level of maturity and 5 the highest. The five levels are actually:
- Level 1: Initial
- Level 2: Repeatable
- Level 3: Defined
- Level 4: Managed
- Level 5: Optimizing