Required, Expected, and Informative Components

Process area components are grouped into three categories required, expected, and informative that reflect how to interpret them.

Required Components

Required components describe what an organization must achieve to satisfy a process area. This achievement must be visibly implemented in an organization's processes. The required components in CMMI are the specific and generic goals. Goal satisfaction is used in appraisals as the basis for deciding if a process area has been achieved and satisfied.

Expected Components

Expected components describe what an organization will typically implement to achieve a required component. Expected components guide those who implement improvements or perform appraisals. Expected components include the specific and generic practices.

Before goals can be considered satisfied, either the practices as described or acceptable alternatives to them are present in the planned and implemented processes of the organization.

Informative Components

Informative components provide details that help organizations get started in thinking about how to approach the required and expected components. Subpractices, typical work products, discipline amplifications, generic practice elaborations, goal and practice titles, goal and practice notes, and references are all informative model components.

The CMMI glossary of terms is not a required, expected, or informative element of CMMI models. The terms in the glossary should be interpreted in the context of the model component in which they appear.