9. CMMI supports organizational business objectives.

6. CMMI is not prescriptive.

The CMMI consists of many process areas. Those process areas are so interrelated as to make them mandatory. While tailoring of the model is discussed in the body of the CMMI (with tailoring meaning "tailoring out" a process or practice), the resulting instructions or information describing tailoring options tend to disparage the tailoring out of anything. We feel that the process areas listed and their accompanying practices basically attempt to provide the steps that must be taken to achieve a level, or to be successful in improving your organization's process capability.

Where the model is not prescriptive is in the details describing the practices. This omission is unfortunate, as that is the area where more guidance is necessary but cannot really be found. Appraisal teams have reported that during SCAMPIs, it was difficult to not ask "Yes/No" questions when trying to ascertain whether a practice had been implemented and how it had been implemented. And when more guidance was needed to understand the practice, there was none.