Support process areas cover the activities that support product development and maintenance. The Support process areas address processes that are used in the context of performing other processes. In general, the Support process areas address processes that are targeted toward the project and can address processes that apply more generally to the organization.

For example, Process and Product Quality Assurance can be used with all the process areas to provide an objective evaluation of the processes and work products described in all the process areas.

The five Support process areas in CMMI-DEV are as follows:

· Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR)

· Configuration Management (CM)

· Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR)

· Measurement and Analysis (MA)

· Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA)