A software process is a series of steps used to solve a problem. The following figure shows a pictorial view of how an organization has defined a way to solve risk problems. In the diagram we have shown two branches: one is the process and the second branch shows a sample risk mitigation process for an organization. For instance, the risk mitigation process defines what step any department should follow to mitigate a risk. The process is as follows:

Below are some of the cost elements involved in the implementing process:


• Salary: This forms the major component of implementing any process, the salary of the employees. Normally while implementing a process in a company either organization can recruit full-time people or they can share resources part-time for implementing the process.
• Consultant: If the process is new it can also involve consultants which are again an added cost.
• Training Costs: Employees of the company may also have to undergo training in order to implement the new process
• Tools: In order to implement the process an organization will also need to buy tools which again need to be budgeted for.

A maturity level specifies the level of performance expected from an organization.

A model is nothing but best practices followed in an industry to solve issues and problems. Models are not made in a day but are finalized and realized by years of experience and continuous improvements.

Many companies reinvent the wheel rather than following time tested models in the industry.

A process area is the area of improvement defined by CMMI. Every maturity level consists of process areas. A process area is a group of practices or activities performed collectively to achieve a specific objective. For instance, you can see from the following figure we have process areas such as project planning, configuration management, and requirement gathering.