BS ISO/IEC 26551:2016

What is ISO/IEC 26551 - Tools and methods for product line requirements engineering about?  

ISO/IEC 26551 within the context of tools and methods of requirements engineering for software and systems product lines: 

• Provides the terms and definitions specific to requirements engineering for software and systems 
• Product lines and associated member products 
• Defines process groups and their processes performed during product line requirements engineering (those processes are described in terms of purpose, inputs, tasks, and outcomes) 
• Defines method capabilities to support the defined tasks of each process 
• Defines tool capabilities to automate/semi-automate tasks or defined method capabilities 

ISO/IEC 26551 concerns processes and capabilities of requirements tools and methods for a family of products, not for a single system. 

System-level artefacts and software lifecycle artefacts such as requirements documents, architectural data, validation plans, behavioural models, etc. are produced using methods and tools in t ISO/IEC 26551.  

In the case of the software components of a system, ISO/IEC 26551 can apply twice: once to handle the system elements of the product line and a second time to handle the software elements of the product line, if any. The product line processes are recursive within the different levels of products. 

Note : ISO/IEC 26551 is not applicable to physical artefacts 

Who is ISO/IEC 26551 - Tools and methods for product line requirements engineering for? 

ISO/IEC 26551 on Tools and methods for product line requirements engineering is useful for: 

• Product line organizations 
• Providers of tools and methods 
• System and software engineers 
• Information technology industry 

Why should you use ISO/IEC 26551 - Tools and methods for product line requirements engineering? 

The main purpose of ISO/IEC 26551 is to establish a baseline for the capabilities of tools and methods of software and systems product line (SSPL) requirements engineering. ISO/IEC 26551 defines how the tools and methods can support the software and systems product line specific requirements engineering processes.  

A decision for the initial boundaries of domain is made to define a product line scope before initiating domain requirements engineering processes. Domain requirements engineering is carried out in a comprehensive manner because common and variable requirements and captured variabilities have consequential impacts on member products in a product line. The outcomes of domain requirements engineering processes are transferred into the requirements of a family of products at the application requirements engineering processes. Therefore, requirements engineering tools and methods are to be considered (both engineering processes), namely domain requirements engineering, and application requirements engineering. 

Product line requirements engineering can be differentiated from a single product requirement engineering because of the following reasons: 

• There are two core processes in requirements engineering, domain requirements engineering and application requirements engineering. The major aims of the domain requirements engineering processes are to analyse commonality and variability for a family of products and to prepare necessary variability information for variability modelling. The major aims of the application requirements engineering processes are to define application-specific requirements and bind variability defined in domain requirements engineering processes 
• It is essential to analyse the costs and benefits estimate of a product line and thereby, an organization can make a go/no-go decision. Moreover, the costs and benefits estimate plays a pivotal role as an indicator for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of a product line. 

ISO/IEC 26551 can be used in the following modes: 

• By the users of this International Standard: to benefit people who develop, operate, and manage requirements engineering for software and systems product lines 
• By a product line organization: to provide guidance in the evaluation and selection for tools and methods for product line requirements engineering 
• By providers of tools and methods: to provide guidance in implementing or developing tools and methods by providing a comprehensive set of the capabilities of tools and methods for product line requirements engineering 

What’s changed since the last update?  

BS ISO/IEC 26551:2016 supersedes the first edition ISO/IEC 26551:2012, which has been technically revised.