WHAT IS CMM?

Capability Maturity Model Levels for Companies
The Capability Maturity Model defines following levels for the organizations depending upon the processes being followed by them.

CMM Level 0 - Companies:
CMM - Level 0 companies are the ones, which do not have any structured Processes, Tracking Mechanisms & Plans. It is left to the developer or any person responsible for Quality to ensure that the product meets the expectations.
CMM Level 1 - Companies: Work is Performed Informally
CMM - Level 1 companies are the ones, where the teams put in extra hard work to achieve the results. These are primarily the startup companies. Such companies do not have any structured Tracking Mechanisms & defined Standards. The software development work is performed informally but it is not properly documented. Such companies usually have technically strong & more experienced people, hence the product churned out by them is definitely a quality product. Since the company has strong teams, they won't ask for many guidelines.
CMM Level 2 - Companies: Work is Planned and Tracked
CMM - Level 2 companies are the ones, which follow two main guidelines like 1) Defined guidelines 2) Focus on reusability. These companies have some planned processes within the teams and the teams are made to repeat them or follow these processes for all projects being handled by them. However these process are not standardized across the organization. All the teams within the organization do not follow the same standard.
CMM Level 3 - Companies: Work is Well-Defined
CMM - Level 3 companies are the ones, where the processes are well defined and are followed throughout the organization. Such companies have strong team, well-defined guidelines, Focus on reusability & lay major focus on documentation.
CMM Level 4 - Companies: Work is Quantitatively Controlled
CMM - Level 4 companies are the ones, where the processes are well defined and are followed throughout the organization. In such companies, Goals to be achieved are well defined and the actual output is measured. Such companies have proper mechanism to collect the Metrics to measure each and every work in the organization, hence future performance can predicted.
CMM Level 5 - Companies: Work is based upon Continuous Improvement
CMM - Level 5 companies are the ones, which have well defined processes, which are properly measured. Such organizations have good understanding of IT projects which have good effect on the Organizational goals. Level - 5 organizations lay major emphasis on Research and development & are able to continuously improve their processes