Whether used for process improvement or appraisals, both representations are designed to offer essentially equivalent results. Nearly all of the CMMI model content is common to both representations. Therefore, an organization need not select one representation over another.

In fact, an organization may find utility in both representations. It is rare that an organization will implement either representation exactly as prescribed. Organizations that are successful in process improvement often define an improvement plan that focuses on the unique needs of that organization and therefore use the principles of both the staged and the continuous representations.

For example, organizations that select the staged representation and are at maturity level 1 often implement the maturity level 2 process areas but also the Organizational Process Focus process area, which is included at maturity level 3. Another example is an organization that chooses the continuous representation for guiding its internal process improvement effort and then chooses the staged representation to conduct an appraisal.