ISO/IEC NP 26581

Software and systems engineering — Methods and tools for configuration management in feature-based product line engineering

Scope

This International Standard provides configuration management guidance for feature-based PLE as defined in ISO/IEC 26580. Because a PLE factory in ISO/IEC 26580 aggregates shared assets across multiple lifecycle domains and tools, such as requirements, models, source code, documentation, test cases, calibration data, and so forth, the CM capabilities of the different lifecycle domains have to be aligned and integrated into a holistic CM solution. We refer to this integrated PLE factory CM solution as Temporal Management. Using the system-of-systems concept, Temporal Management is the overarching system that arises from the aggregation of the individual CM systems for the tools for the constituent lifecycle domains in a feature-based PLE solution.

As the name implies, the scope of temporal management deals with product line variation in time, but specifically excludes variation across product space since that is fully prescribed in ISO/IEC 26580. Other feature-based PLE concerns identified in ISO/IEC 26580 that are outside of the scope of Temporal Management in this document include the following, which will be topics of future standards in the 2658X series.

• Change control and change management;
• Traceability, relationships, and digital threads among the artefacts in the different lifecycle domains.

Configuration management of the individual elements in a PLE Factory, including each of the shared assets across the lifecycle domains, feature catalogue, and bills-of-features, can be handled by configuration management tools and methods for each of those individual elements.

Because ISO/IEC 26580 is a specialization of the more general description of PLE in ISO/IEC 26550, the scope of this International Standard is likewise a more narrowly focused specialization of the ISO/IEC 26563 CM standard associated with ISO/IEC 26550.

The intended audience for this document comprises:
• technology providers who wish to provide temporal management for their ISO/IEC 26580 compliant feature-based PLE factory;
• champions within an organization who wish to introduce feature-based PLE throughout that organization;
• IT staff within a PLE organization who will introduce and maintain the necessary technology to support temporal management in feature-based PLE;
• practitioner stakeholders who will use the temporal management tools and methods to practice feature-based PLE;
• technical and business managers who will sponsor and direct the methods necessary to practice temporal management in feature-based PLE;
• university professors, researchers, corporate trainers, and other educators who will create and share pedagogical materials and benefits regarding temporal management in feature-based PLE.