• Developed by the software community in 1986 with the leadership from the SEI.
• Has become the factor standard for assessing and improving processes related to software development.
• Has evolved into a process maturity framework Provides guidance for measuring software process maturity helps establish process improvement programs.

Maturity levels

• Initial
• Repeatable
• Defined
• Manageable
• Optimizing

Level 1: Initial
Each maturity level decomposes into several key process areas that indicate the areas an organization should focus on to improve its software process.

Level 2 – Repeatable:Key practice areas

• Requirements management
• Software project planning
• Software project tracking&oversight
• Software subcontract management
• Software quality assurance
• Software configuration management

Level 3 – Defined: Key practice areas

• Organization process focus
• Organization process definition
• Training program
• Integrated software management
• Software product engineering
• Inter group coordination
• Peer reviews

Level 4 – Manageable: Key practice areas

• Organization process focus
• Software Quality Management