Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

The CMMI Product Suite is at the forefront of process improvement because it provides the latest best practices for product and service development and maintenance. The CMMI models improve the best practices of previous models in many important ways. CMMI best practices enable organizations to do the following:

•more explicitly link management and engineering activities to their business objectives

•expand the scope of and visibility into the product lifecycle and engineering activities to ensure that the product or service meets customer expectations

•incorporate lessons learned from additional areas of best practice (e.g., measurement, risk management, and supplier management)

•implement more robust high-maturity practices

•address additional organizational functions critical to their products and services
more fully comply with relevant ISO standards

LiveChain CMMI overview

LiveChain has passed CMMI level 3 Formal assessments on December, 2007. The company has formed a standard software development system which adapted to outsourcing and products develop services. The system prescribe that each projects has its unique develop process as time and condition differences. The whole process can be controlled and was formed document, as well as supervised by project to ensure the activities and products keep in a transparent state that will be Easy-to-find and solve problems.  Through the control of develop process, LiveChain accumulated wealth experience of success that could guarantee project process successfully.
Based on pervious data and information experiences, LiveChain is working on CMMI level 4 Process Improvement, which is Analysis of the organizational process performance and trends through control chart and other analysis methods as well as achieve process and product Quantitative control by Quantitative management of the project development process

Characteristic of CMMI

Levels of the Capability Maturity Model

There are five levels defined along the continuum of the CMM[5], and, according to the SEI: "Predictability, effectiveness, and control of an organization's software processes are believed to improve as the organization moves up these five levels. While not rigorous, the empirical evidence to date supports this belief."

Level 1 - Ad hoc (Chaotic)
It is characteristic of processes at this level that they are (typically) undocumented and in a state of dynamic change, tending to be driven in an ad hoc, uncontrolled and reactive manner by users or events. This provides a chaotic or unstable environment for the processes.
Organizational implications

(a) Institutional knowledge tends to be scattered (there being limited structured approach to knowledge management) in such environments, not all of the stakeholders or participants in the processes may know or understand all of the components that make up the processes. As a result, process performance in such organizations is likely to be variable (inconsistent) and depend heavily on the institutional knowledge, or the competence, or the heroic efforts of relatively few people or small groups.

(b) Despite the chaos, such organizations manage to produce products and services. However, in doing so, there is significant risk that they will tend to exceed any estimated budgets or schedules for their projects - it being difficult to estimate what a process will do when you do not fully understand the process (what it is that you do) in the first place and cannot therefore control it or manage it effectively.

(c) Due to the lack of structure and formality, organizations at this level may over-commit, or abandon processes during a crisis, and it is unlikely that they will be able to repeat past successes. There tends to be limited planning, limited executive commitment or buy-in to projects, and limited acceptance of processes.

Level 2 - Repeatable
It is characteristic of processes at this level that some processes are repeatable, possibly with consistent results. Process discipline is unlikely to be rigorous, but where it exists it may help to ensure that existing processes are maintained during times of stress.
Organizational implications

(a) Processes and their outputs could be visible to management at defined points, but results may not always be consistent. For example, for project/program management processes, even though (say) some basic processes are established to track cost, schedule, and functionality, and if a degree of process discipline is in place to repeat earlier successes on projects with similar applications and scope, there could still be a significant risk of exceeding cost and time estimates.

Level 3 - Defined
It is characteristic of processes at this level that there are sets of defined and documented standard processes established and subject to some degree of improvement over time. These standard processes are in place (i.e., they are the AS-IS processes) and used to establish consistency of process performance across the organization.
Organizational implications

(a) Process management starts to occur using defined documented processes, with mandatory process objectives, and ensures that these objectives are appropriately addressed.

Level 4 - Managed
It is characteristic of processes at this level that, using process metrics, management can effectively control the AS-IS process (e.g., for software development ). In particular, management can identify ways to adjust and adapt the process to particular projects without measurable losses of quality or deviations from specifications. Process Capability is established from this level.
Organizational implications

(a) Quantitative quality goals tend to be set for process output - e.g., software or software maintenance.

(b) Using quantitative/statistical techniques, process performance is measured and monitored and generally predictable and controllable also.

Level 5 - Optimizing
It is a characteristic of processes at this level that the focus is on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological changes/improvements.
Organizational implications         

(a) Quantitative process-improvement objectives for the organization are established, continually revised to reflect changing business objectives, and used as criteria in managing process improvement. Thus, process improvements to address common causes of process variation and measurably improve the organization’s processes are identified, evaluated, and deployed.

(b) The effects of deployed process improvements are measured and evaluated against the quantitative process-improvement objectives.

(c) Both the defined processes and the organization’s set of standard processes are targets for measurable improvement activities.

(d) A critical distinction between maturity level 4 and maturity level 5 is the type of process variation addressed.