Level 1 and Level 2:-
This is the biggest steps for any organization. Because the organization moves from a immature position to a more mature organization. Level l is adhoc process in which people have created personal process to accomplish certain task. With this approach there is lot of redundant work and people do not share their information also. This leads to heroes’ in the project, so when people out of the organization the knowledge also moves out and organization suffers.
In maturity level 2 individual share their lesson and best practices, which leads to devising preliminary process at project and in some cases it also moves to organization level. In level 2 we focus on project management issues that affect day to day routine. It has seven process areas as shown in figure below.
So in short difference between level 1 and level 2 is of immature and mature organization.
Figure: - From level 1 to Level 2
Level 2 to Level 3:-
Now that in Level 2 good practices are practiced at project level it is time to move these good practices to organization level so that every one is benefited from the same. So the biggest difference between Level 2 and Level 3 is good practices from the projects are bubbled up to organization level. Organization approach of doing business is documented. To perform Maturity level 3 first Maturity 2 should be achieved with the 14 process as shown in the given figure.
Figure: - Level 2 to Level 3
Level 3 to Level 4:-
Maturity level 4 is all about numbers and statistics. All aspects of the project are managed by numbers. All decisions are made by numbers. Product quality and process are measured by numbers. So in Level 3 we if we say this is good in quality, in Level 4 we say this is good in quality because the defect ratio is less than 1 %. So there two process areas in Level 4 as shown below. In order to Level 4 you should have achieved all the PA's of Level 3 and also the below two process areas.
Figure: - Level 3 to Level 4
Level 4 to Level 5:-
Level 5 is all about improvement as compared to Level 4. Level 5 concentrates on improving quality of organization process by identifying variation, by looking at root causes of the conditions and incorporating improvements for improve process. Below are the two process areas in Level 5 as shown in figure below. In order to get level 5 all level 4 PA's should be satisfied. So the basic difference between level 4 and level 5 is in Level 4 we have already achieved a good level of quality, and in level 5 we are trying to improve the quality.
Figure: - Level 4 to Level 5