There are five maturity levels in staged representation as shown in figure below.
Maturity Level 1(Initial):- In this level everything is adhoc. Development is completely chaotic with budget and schedules often exceeded. In this scenario we can never predict quality and the project are run by heroes’. If the heroes go off the whole project goes for a toss.
Maturity Level 2 (Managed):- In managed level basic project management are in place. But the basic project management and practices are followed only in the project level.
Maturity Level 3 (Defined):- To reach this level the organization should have achieved first level 2. In the previous level the good practice and process was only done at project level. But in this level all these good practice and process is brought at the organization level. There are set and standard practice defined at the organization level which every project should follow. Maturity Level 3 moves ahead with defining a strong, meaningful, organization view approach to developing products. An important distinction between Maturity Levels 2 and 3 is that at Level 3, processes are described in more detail and more rigorously than at Level 2 and are at organization level.
Maturity Level 4 (Quantitively measured):- To start with this level organization should have achieved Level 2 and Level3. In this level more of statistics comes in to picture. Organization controls its project by statistical and other quantitative techniques. Product quality, process performance, and service quality are understood in statistical terms and are managed throughout the life of the processes. Maturity Level 4 concentrates on using metrics to make decisions and to truly measure whether progress is happening and the product is becoming better. The main difference between Levels 3 and 4 are that at Level 3, processes are qualitatively predictable. At Level 4, processes are quantitatively predictable. Level 4 addresses causes of process variation and takes corrective action.
Maturity Level 5 (Optimized):- The organization has achieved goals of Maturity Levels 2, 3, and 4. In this level Processes are continually improved, based on an understanding of common causes of variation within the processes. This is like the final level everyone in the team is a productive member, defects are minimized, and products are delivered on time and within the budget boundary.
Below figure shows in detail all the maturity levels in a pictorial fashion.
Figure: - Maturity level in staged model