Maturity model

A maturity model is a framework for measuring an organization's maturity, or that of a business function within an organization,^[1] with maturity being defined as a measurement of the ability of an organization for continuous improvement in a particular discipline (as defined in O-ISM3 ^{[dubious – discuss]}).^[2] The higher the maturity, the higher will be the chances that incidents or errors will lead to improvements either in the quality or in the use of the resources of the discipline as implemented by the organization.

Most maturity models assess qualitatively people/culture, processes/structures, and objects/technology.^[3]

Two approaches to implementing maturity models exist. With a top-down approach, such as proposed by Becker et al.,^[4] a fixed number of maturity stages or levels is specified first and further corroborated with characteristics (typically in form of specific assessment items) that support the initial assumptions about how maturity evolves. When using a bottom-up approach, such as suggested by Lahrmann et al.,^[5] distinct characteristics or assessment items are determined first and clustered in a second step into maturity levels to induce a more general view of the different steps of maturity evolution.

Notable models

Analytics

• Big data maturity model

Cybersecurity

• Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC)

Human resources

• People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) (for the management of human assets)

Information security management

• Open Information Security Maturity Model (O-ISM3)^[6]

Information technology

• Capability Maturity Model (CMM, focusing on software development, largely superseded by CMMI)
• Open Source Maturity Model (for open-source software development)
• Service Integration Maturity Model (for SOA)
• Modeling Maturity Levels (for software specification)
• Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Maturity Model
• Richardson Maturity Model (for HTTP-based web services)
• ISO/IEC 15504 (for process maturity, deprecated)
• ISO/IEC 33000 series (for Information technology Process assessment)

Project management

• OPM3 (Organisational Project Management Maturity Model)
• P3M3 (Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model)

Quality management

• Quality Management Maturity Grid (QMMG)

Testing

• Testing Maturity Model (TMM) (assessing test processes in an organization)

Universal

• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)