Assessments are internal reviews aimed at making an organization better from

the inside, and they are critical tools for process improvement. The CMMI

(Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a U.S. government-sponsored model

to help organizations improve their processes, and perhaps more importantly,

demonstrate their level of process quality to vendors. Many organizations

adopt the CMMI because it is required in many government contracts. In order

to improve process, these organizations must first know their level of CMMI

maturity, but these organizations struggle in this assessment. This book spells

out the specific steps an organization must take to gather an accurate CMMI

assessment. The resulting assessment will help the organization improve their

processes and advance their level of CMMI maturity. The authors, noted

CMMI experts, use anecdotal histories of incidents they have encountered on

actual assessments to illustrate key teaching points.