ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010

Information technology — Systems and software engineering — Guide for configuration management tool capabilities

Configuration management (CM) is a process central to the software engineering life cycle. CM has been established as an ISO/IEC standard life cycle process in ISO/IEC 12207:2008, Information technology — Software life cycle processes and ISO/IEC 15288: 2008, Information technology — System life cycle processes. ISO/IEC 12207:2008 and ISO/IEC 15288:2008 describe a comprehensive set of processes, activities and tasks to be performed when acquiring or developing software. However, these documents do not address the capabilities that a CM tool user can expect from a tool in order to support the CM process and other software engineering life cycle activities. There is a gap between CM process descriptions and corresponding CM process automation services which affects both tool users and tool suppliers. ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010 provides guidance in the evaluation and selection for CM tools during acquisition. CM tool evaluation by prospective users can be complex, time consuming, and expensive. ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010 helps to characterize what a CM tool can and cannot do in the CM process. ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010 provides guidance for tool manufacturers in implementing a minimum set of capabilities. The capabilities defined in ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010 are linked to ISO/IEC 12207:2008 and ISO/IEC 15288:2008, and will provide tool manufacturers with guidance on the characteristics their tools should support to meet these International Standards.

Technologies de l'information — Ingénierie des systèmes et du logiciel — Guide pour les capacités d'outil de gestion de configuration

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 01-Feb-2010
• ICS: 35.080 - Software
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 - Software and systems engineering
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7/WG 4 - Tools and environment
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 02-Feb-2010
• Due Date: 01-Jan-2011
• Completion Date: 01-Jan-2011

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
First edition
2010-02-15
Information technology — Systems and
software engineering — Guide for
configuration management tool
capabilities
Technologies de l'information — Ingénierie des systèmes et du
logiciel — Guide pour les capacités d'outil de gestion de configuration

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2010
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ii © ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope.1
2 Normative references.1
3 Terms and definitions .1
4 Application of this Technical Report.3
4.1 Overview.3
4.2 CM personnel.3
4.3 Tool suppliers .3
4.4 Acquirers.3
5 Capabilities of configuration management tools.4
5.1 Overview of configuration management tool capabilities .4
5.2 Configuration management tool capabilities .4
5.3 Configuration identification.6
5.4 Configuration baselining .7
5.5 Configuration control.8
5.6 Configuration status accounting .12
5.7 Configuration auditing.13
5.8 Release management and delivery.15
5.9 Other configuration management tool capabilities .16
Annex A (informative) Focus areas of each reference.17
Annex B (informative) Configuration management services .20
Bibliography.27

© ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, the joint technical committee may propose the publication of a Technical Report
of one of the following types:
— type 1, when the required support cannot be obtained for the publication of an International Standard,
despite repeated efforts;
— type 2, when the subject is still under technical development or where for any other reason there is the
future but not immediate possibility of an agreement on an International Standard;
— type 3, when the joint technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that which is
normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example).
Technical Reports of types 1 and 2 are subject to review within three years of publication, to decide whether
they can be transformed into International Standards. Technical Reports of type 3 do not necessarily have to
be reviewed until the data they provide are considered to be no longer valid or useful.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TR 18018, which is a Technical Report of type 2, was prepared by Joint Technical Committee
ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
iv © ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved

Introduction
Configuration management (CM) is a process central to the software engineering life cycle. CM has been
established as an ISO/IEC standard life cycle process in ISO/IEC 12207:2008, Systems and software
engineering — Software life cycle processes and ISO/IEC 15288:2008, Systems and software engineering —
System life cycle processes.
ISO/IEC 12207 and ISO/IEC 15288 describe a comprehensive set of processes, activities and tasks to be
performed when acquiring or developing software. However, these documents do not address the capabilities
that a CM tool user can expect from a tool in order to support the CM process and other software engineering
life cycle activities. There is a gap between CM process descriptions and corresponding CM process
automation which affects both tool users and tool suppliers.
This Technical Report provides guidance in the evaluation and selection for CM tools during acquisition. CM
tool evaluation by prospective users can be complex, time consuming, and expensive. This Technical Report
helps to characterize what a CM tool can and cannot do in the CM process.
This Technical Report provides guidance for tool manufacturers in implementing a minimum set of capabilities.
The capabilities defined in this Technical Report are linked to ISO/IEC 12207 and ISO/IEC 15288, and will
provide tool manufacturers with guidance on the characteristics their tools should support to meet these
International Standards.
© ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved v

TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 18018:2010(E)

Information technology — Systems and software engineering —
Guide for configuration management tool capabilities
1 Scope
This Technical Report provides guidance for configuration management tool capabilities from which systems
and software development life cycle activities can be supported.
ISO/IEC 14102:2008, Information technology — Guideline for the evaluation and selection of CASE tools,
details a set of evaluation criteria for CASE tools without referencing a specific activity or task which the tool
supports. This lack of consideration on a specific activity or task causes users confusion and difficulty in
evaluating and selecting the right tools.
This Technical Report supplements ISO/IEC 14102:2008 by providing a set of minimum tool capabilities for
configuration management. It can be used as the set of criteria by a potential user during an acquisition
process, or by a configuration management tool supplier to help identify desirable tool capabilities.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 12207:2008, Systems and software engineering — Software life cycle processes
ISO/IEC 15288:2008, Systems and software engineering — System life cycle processes
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
attribute
property associated with a set of real or abstract things that is some characteristic of interest
3.2
baseline
version of a configuration, specification, or product that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, that
thereafter serves as the basis for further development, and that can be changed only through formal change
control procedures
[ISO/IEC 12207:2008 and ISO/IEC 15288:2008]
3.3
branch
deviation from the main development line for a configuration item, which allows different persons to work on
the same item at the same time
© ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved 1

3.4
build
process of generating (archiving) an executable and testable system from source versions or baselines
NOTE The build needs to compile and link the various versions in the correct order. The build tools can be integrated
into a configuration management tool.
3.5
change request
CR
formal procedure for submitting a request for an adjustment of a configuration item
3.6
configuration item
entity within a configuration that satisfies an end use function and that can be uniquely identified at a given
reference point
[ISO/IEC 12207:2008 and ISO/IEC 15288:2008]
3.7
configuration management
CM
coordinated activities to direct and control configuration
3.8
CM services
abstract description of work done by CM tools
NOTE A service is self contained, coherent, discrete, and can be composed of other services.
3.9
CM tool
software product that can assist software engineers by providing automated support for configuration
management activities
3.10
configuration status accounting
CSA
element of configuration management that consists of the recording and reporting of information needed to
manage a configuration effectively
[ISO/IEC 24765]
3.11
delta
difference between two versions
3.12
software/system element
element that defines and prescribes what a software or system is composed of (for example, requirements,
design, code, test cases, and version number)
NOTE An element can contain sub elements or other software/system elements that are dependent on the top level
element.
3.13
release
particular version of a configuration item that is made available for a specific purpose (for example, test
release)
2 © ISO/IEC 2010 – All rights reserved

3.14
traceability
degree to which each element in a software development product establishes its reason for existing
3.15
version
identified instance of a configuration item
NOTE Modification to a version of a software product, resulting in a new version, requires configuration management
action.
3.16
version identifier
supplementary information used to distinguish a version of a configuration item from other versions
NOTE Version numbers are used to compare the version of the software product against another version.
4 Application of this Technical Report
4.1 Overview
This clause presents the benefits to groups of people that acquire, supply, develop, operate, and maintain a
CM tool. The objective is to provide a road map for the users of this Technical Report so that they can orient
themselves in it and apply it judiciously.
4.2 CM personnel
Personnel involved in the performance of one or more CM activities will benefit from this Technical Report as
follows:
⎯ obtain a better understanding of the relationship between the activities in which they are involve
...