The fundamental unit of a process. A process may be defined in terms of subprocesses or process elements. A subprocess can be further decomposed; a process element cannot.

Each process element covers a closely related set of activities (for example, estimating element, peer review element). Process elements can be portrayed using templates to be completed, abstractions to be refined, or descriptions to be modified or used. A process element can be an activity or task.

1. This glossary is from Appendix C of Technical Report CMU/SEI-2002-TR-004.
2. ® CMMI is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University.