No. The SW-CMM and CMMI models are the intellectual property of Carnegie Mellon University. Any person or organization that produces works that build on the intellectual property of Carnegie Mellon must formally obtain permission to use that intellectual property. The SEI is the steward of all CMM-related intellectual property produced within Carnegie Mellon, including CMMI and People CMM. Therefore, another organization that wished to release a new version by building on an SEI-developed CMM would have to gain SEI agreement to do so, and Carnegie Mellon will sanction no such work.

For the latest mappings as well as articles and reports discussing the compatibility of CMMI with other standards, methods, and approaches, see the CMMI Compatibility page.

To upgrade to CMMI, organizations that are using one or more CMMs should compare their current processes and approach with the CMMI model and create an upgrade strategy that meets their business needs.

Many of the skills used in applying the Software CMM are useful in implementing a CMMI-based process improvement program, since many of the best practices, issues, and improvement approaches are very similar. Organizations close to a process improvement milestone using the Software CMM may want to measure their progress before upgrading to CMMI.

Safety is covered in an extension to CMMI models called +SAFE, this model extension is available as the technical note +SAFE, V1.2: A Safety Extension to CMMI-DEV, V1.2.

Security is covered in multiple places in the three CMMI models. Work is underway to add more substantial security content to CMMI.

Yes. The People CMM may become an addition that can be optionally used with any of the CMMI models. However, the P-CMM model will likely remain a standalone model as well. This work is not final and is subject to change.