Capability maturity model

The Capability Maturity Model (CMM), also known as the Software CMM (SW-CMM), was first described by Watts Humphrey in his book Managing the Software Process . The CMM is a process model based on software best-practices effective in large-scale, multi-person projects. The CMM has been retired and not been updated in over 10 years. CMM has been superseded by CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration).The CMM has been used to assess the maturity levels of organization areas as diverse as software engineering,  system engineering, project management, risk management, system acquisition, information technology (IT) or personnel management, against a scale of five key processes, namely: Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimized.
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Capabilities Maturity Model

<software> (CMM) The Software Engineering Institute's model of software engineering that specifies five levels of maturity of the processes of a software organisation. CMM offers a framework for evolutionary process improvement. Originally applied to software development (SE-CMM), it has been expanded to cover other areas including Human Resources and Software Acquitition.
The levels - focii - and key process areas are:
Level 1 Initial - Heroes - None.
Level 2 Repeatable - Project Management - Software Project Planning, Software Project Tracking and Oversight, Software Subcontract Management, Software Quality Assurance, Software Configuration Management, Requirements Management.
Level 3 Defined - Engineering Process - Organisation Process Focus, Organisation Process Definition, Peer Reviews, Training Program, Inter-group Coordination, Software Product Engineering, Integrated Software Management.
Level 4 Managed - Product and Process Quality - Software Quality Management, Quantitative Process Management.
Level 5 Optimising - Continuous Improvement - Process Change Management, Technology Change Management, Defect Prevention.
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(2001-04-28)

A framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. It's an evolutionary improvement path from an immature process to a mature, disciplined process. The CMM covers practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance. When followed, these key practices improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost, schedule, functionality and product quality.