CMMI Architecture

The CMMI for Development has twenty-two process areas, and the CMMI for
Services has twenty-four. The CMMI can be used in either the staged or
continuous representation. The staged representation, which groups process areas
into five maturity levels, is the most common choice, but an organization can also
pick and choose the Process Areas that make the most sense for them to work on by
using the continuous representation.
There is no difference in content between these two representations. When choosing
Staged an organization follows a pre-defined pattern of process areas that are
organized by Maturity Level. When choosing continuous, they pick process areas
based on their interest in improving only specific areas. In the Continuous
representation, Process Areas are organized by Category.
Within the Process Areas in the CMMI, there are multiple Specific Goals (SGs) and
Specific Practices (SPs). These practices define the expected behaviors of projects
and organizations.
There are also twelve Generic Practices (GPs) that provide guidance for
organizational excellence including behaviors such as setting expectations, training,
measuring quality, monitoring process performance, and evaluating compliance.