How is CMMI implemented?
There are two ways to implement CMMI: Continuous Representation and Staged Representation. The continuous representation is designed to allow organizations to select the order and extent of their process improvement effort. The continuous representation contains six capability improvement levels: (0) incomplete, (1) performed, (2) managed, (3) defined, (4) quantitatively managed, and (5) optimizing. The staged representation is a prescribed (normalized) process improvement implementation. While the continuous representation focuses on evolving capability, the staged representation measures organizational maturity using a five-tier scale: (1) initial, (2) managed, (3) defined, (4) quantitatively managed, and (5) optimizing.