CMM levels

can anyone explain CMM levels

The cmm is designed to be an easy to understand methodology for ranking a company's it related activities. The cmm has six levels 0 – 5. Level 0 – not performed level 1 – performed informally level 2 – planned and tracked level 3 – well-defined level 4 – quantitatively controlled level 5 – continuously improving level 0: not performed level 0 is common for companies that are just entering the it field. At this level there are few or no best practices. Level 1: performed informally at level 1 consistent planning and tracking of it activities is missing and deliverables are accomplished via “heroic” effort. “heroic” effort means that a team might work long hours in order to build a particular application; however, there are very few it standards and reuse/sharing is minimal. Fortune 500 companies and large government organizations are at a cmm level of 1. Level 2: planned and tracked level 2 has it deliverables that are planned and tracked. In addition, there are some defined best practices within the enterprise (e.g. Defined it standards/documents, program version control, etc.). Some repeatable processes exist within an it project team/group, but the success of this team/group is not transferable across the enterprise level 3: well-defined it best practices are documented and performed throughout the enterprise. At level 3 it deliverables are repeatable and transferable across the company. This level is a very difficult jump for most companies. Not surprisingly, this is also the level that provides the greatest cost savings. Level 4: qualitatively controlled companies at level 4 have established measurable process goals for each defined process. These measurements are collected and analyzed quantitatively. At this level, companies can begin to predict future it implementation performance. Level 5: continuously improving at level 5 enterprises have quantitative (measurement) and qualitative (quality) understanding of each it process. It is at this level that a company understands how each it process is related to the overall business strategies and goals of the corporation. Every programmer should understand how each line of sql will assist the company in reaching their strategic goals.

In CMM the successes and failures of the project are studied and changes to the processes are recommended. It describes the process information content recommended by the CMM. The process checklists are further refined into checklists for:
• roles
• entry criteria
• inputs
• activities
• outputs
• exit criteria
• reviews and audits
• work products managed and controlled
• measurements
• documented procedures
• training
• tools
CMM has five levels-

Level 1: The organization achieves the specific goals of the respective process area(s).

Level 2: The organization institutionalizes a managed process for the respective process area(s).

Level 3: The organization institutionalizes a defined process for the respective process area(s).

Level 4: The organization institutionalizes a quantitatively managed process for the respective process area(s).

Level 5: The organization institutionalizes an optimizing process for the respective process area(s).