CMMI for Development is a reference model that covers the development and maintenance activities applied to both products and services. Organizations from many industries, including aerospace, banking, computer hardware, software, defense, automobile manufacturing, and telecommunications, use CMMI for Development.

Models in the CMMI for Development constellation contain practices that cover project management, process management, systems engineering, hardware engineering, software engineering, and other supporting processes used in development and maintenance. The CMMI for Development +IPPD model also covers the use of integrated teams for development and maintenance activities.