An Overview of CMM
as team reviews), outputs, and completion criteria. Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and understood. Because the software process is well defined, management has good insight into technical progress on all projects. Project cost, schedule, and requirements are under control, and product quality is tracked.
4. Managed Level: At the managed level, the organization establishes metrics for products and processes and measures results. Projects achieve control over their products and processes by narrowing the variation in their process performance to fall within acceptable boundaries. Meaningful variations in process performance can be distinguished from random variation (noise). The risks involved in moving new product technology, manufacturing processes and markets are known and carefully managed. The development process is predictable because the process is measured and operates within measurable limits. This level of process capability allows an organization to predict trends in process and product quality within the quantitative bounds of these limits. When these limits are exceeded, action is taken to correct the situation. As a result, products are of predictably high quality.
5. Optimized Level: At the optimized level, the entire organization is focused on continuous process improvement. The organization has the means to identify weaknesses and strengthen the process proactively, with the goal of preventing the occurrence of defects. Data on the effectiveness of the development process is used to perform cost benefit analyses of new development technologies and proposed changes to the organization's development process. Innovations that exploit the best integrated product development practices are identified and transferred throughout the organization. Product development teams analyze failures and defects to determine their causes. Development processes are evaluated to prevent known types of failures and defects from recurring, and lessons learned are disseminated to other projects. Improvement occurs because of both incremental advances in the existing process and by innovations using new technologies and methods.