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Each of the five maturity levels of the CMM is represented by its own set of KPAs; for an
organization to achieve a specific maturity level, it must implement all of the practices in
each of the KPAs for that level. The CMMI also contains five maturity levels; however,
some of the focus of the CMMI has been drawn away from maturity levels in favor of
implementing specific practices and goals. It does, however, still support a level-based
assessment.
The most important part of each KPA is a set of one or more goals that define the “heart
and soul” of each KPA. For example, the Project Planning KPA of CMMI v1.1 contains
three goals:

Establish Estimates
Estimates of project planning parameters are established and maintained.
Develop a Project Plan
A project plan is established and maintained as the basis for managing the project.
Obtain Commitment to the Plan
Commitments to the project plan are established and maintained.

These are sensible goals that, if met, will lead to a well-planned project; if any of these
goals is not met, then the project will have a clear planning problem. The remainder of the
KPA lists specific practices that should be performed, in order to meet those goals. For
example, the “Establish Estimates” goal is met with specific practices:
Estimate the Scope of the Project
Establish a top-level work breakdown structure (WBS) to estimate the scope of the
project.
Establish Estimates of Work Product and Task Attributes
Establish and maintain estimates of the attributes of the work products and tasks.
Define Project Life Cycle
Define the project life cycle phases upon which to scope the planning effort.
Each practice is further defined with subpractices. For example, the “Estimate the Scope of
the Project” practice requires that a WBS is developed, work packages are defined in suffi-

cient detail to provide estimates, and work products are identified that will be acquired
externally or reused. Again, these are all sensible activities that need to be performed in
order to estimate the scope of a project.
Within each practice and subpractice is additional information providing advice and tips
for implementation. There are usually lists of typical work products—for example, the
subpractice for estimating the scope of a project lists the task descriptions and WBS as
work products. However, these are just suggestions. The most important part of the CMM
and CMMI is meeting the goals, and the practices are simply an efficient way of meeting
those goals.

284 CHAPTER TWELVE