Generic Process Maturity Illustration

Description

Process Maturity Model broadly refers to a process improvement approach that is based on a process model. A process model is a structured collection of practices that describe the characteristics of effective processes; the practices included are those proven by experience to be effective. It is used to assess an organization against a scale of five process maturity levels. Each level ranks the organization according to its standardization of processes in the subject area being assessed.

5 Levels of the PMM

• Level 1 – Initial: Processes are usually ad hoc with no documentation. Success in these organizations depends on the competence and heroics of the people in the organization and not on the use of proven processes.
• Level 2 – Repeatable: Software development successes are repeatable.
• Level 3 – Defined: The organization’s set of standard processes is established and improved over time. These standard processes are used to establish consistency across the organization.
• Level 4 – Managed: Using precise measurements, management can effectively control the software development effort. At this level organization set a quantitative quality goal for both software process and software maintenance.
• Level 5 – Optimizing: Focusing on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements.

A maturity model can be used as a benchmark for assessing different organizations for equivalent comparison. It describes the maturity of the company based upon the project the company is dealing with and the clients.