IEEE/ISO/IEC 12207-2008

This International Standard establishes a common framework for software life cycle processes, with well defined terminology, that can be referenced by the software industry. It contains processes, activities, and tasks that are to be applied during the acquisition of a software product or service and during the supply, development, operation, maintenance and disposal of software products. Software includes the software portion of firmware. This International Standard applies to the acquisition of systems and software products and services, to the supply, development, operation, maintenance, and disposal of software products and the software portion of a system, whether performed internally or externally to an organization. Those aspects of system definition needed to provide the context for software products and services are included. This International Standard also provides a process that can be employed for defining, controlling, and improving software life cycle processes. The processes, activities and tasks of this International Standard either alone or in conjunction with ISO/IEC 15288—may also be applied during the acquisition of a system that contains software.

The purpose of this International Standard is to provide a defined set of processes to facilitate communication among acquirers, suppliers and other stakeholders in the life cycle of a software product. This International Standard is written for acquirers of systems and software products and services and for suppliers, developers, operators, maintainers, managers, quality assurance managers, and users of software products. This International Standard is intended for use in a two-party situation and may be equally applied where the two parties are from the same organization. The situation may range from an informal agreement up to a legally binding contract. The International Standard may be used by a single party through a self-imposed set of processes. This clause does not prevent the use of ISO/IEC 12207 by suppliers or developers of off-the-shelf software. This International Standard is written for acquirers of systems and software products and services and for suppliers, developers, operators, maintainers, managers, quality assurance managers, and users of software products. This International Standard is intended for use in a two-party situation and may be equally applied where the two parties are from the same organization. The situation may range from an informal agreement up to a legally binding contract. The International Standard may be used by a single party through a self-imposed set of processes. This clause does not prevent the use of ISO/IEC 12207 by suppliers or developers of 0ff-the-shelf software.

Revision Standard - Superseded. Supersedes Std. 12207.0 and also makes 12207.2 obsolete. This International Standard was jointly developed by ISO/IEC and IEEE. This International Standard establishes a common framework for software life cycle processes, with well-defined terminology, that can be referenced by the software industry. It applies to the acquisition of systems and software products and services, to the supply, development, operation, maintenance, and disposal of software products and the software portion of a system, whether performed internally or externally to an organization. Those aspects of system definition needed to provide the context for software products and services are included. Software includes the software portion of firmware. This revision integrates ISO/IEC 12207:1995 with its two amendments and was coordinated with the parallel revision of ISO/IEC 15288:2002 (System life cycle processes) to align structure, terms, and corresponding organizational and project processes. This standard may be used stand alone or jointly with ISO/IEC 15288, and supplies a process reference model that supports process capability assessment in accordance with ISO/IEC 15504-2 (Process assessment). An annex provides support for IEEE users and describes relationships of this International Standard to IEEE standards.