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Copyright © 1998 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Copyright © 1998 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published 2 December 1998. Printed in the United States of America.
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IEEE Std 1074-1997
(Revision of IEEE Std 1074-1995;
Replaces IEEE Std 1074.1-1995)
IEEE Standard for Developing
Software Life Cycle Processes
Sponsor
Software Engineering Standards Committee
of the
IEEE Computer Society
Approved 9 December 1997
IEEE Standards Board
Abstract:
A process for creating a software life cycle process is provided. Although this standard
is directed primarily at the process architect, it is useful to any organization that is responsible for
managing and performing software projects.
Keywords:
software life cycle, software life cycle model, software life cycle process
ii
Copyright © 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved.
iii
Introduction
(This introduction is not part of IEEE Std 1074-1997, IEEE Standard for Developing Software Life Cycle Processes.)
This introduction is intended to provide the reader with some background into the rationale used to develop
this standard. This information is being provided to aid in the understanding and usage of this standard. This
introduction is nonbinding.
Background
This is a standard for the generation of the process that governs software development and maintenance for a
project. This standard requires the definition of a user’s software life cycle and shows mapping into typical
software life cycles. It is not intended to define or imply a software life cycle of its own.
This standard applies to the management and support activities that continue throughout the entire life cycle,
as well as all aspects of the software life cycle from concept exploration through retirement.
The utilization of these Activities maximizes the benefits to the user when the use of this standard is initiated
early in the software life cycle. Software that has proceeded past the initialization phase when this standard
is invoked should gradually move into compliance with this standard.
This standard was written for any organization that is responsible for managing and conducting software
projects. It will be useful to project managers, software developers, quality assurance organizations,
purchasers, users, and maintainers. It can be used where software is the total system or where software is
embedded into a larger system.
This standard allows for continuing harmonization with IEEE/EIA 12207.0-1996 and EIA/IEEE J-STD-016-
1995 and their successors.
Terminology
The word
shall
and the imperative verb form identify the mandatory material within this standard. The
words
should
and
may
identify optional material. As with other IEEE Software Engineering Standards, the
terminology in this document is based on IEEE Std 610.12-1990, IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engi-
neering Terminology. To avoid inconsistency when the Glossary is revised, the definitions are not repeated in
this document. New terms and modified definitions are included.
History
Since the original publication of this standard, considerable worldwide attention has been paid to software
life cycle processes. Use of IEEE Std 1074-1991, IEEE Std 1074-1995, and other quality system and life
cycle standards activity has been carefully considered in preparing this substantive revision of this standard.
(The 1995 version of this standard was a minor revision to correct specific errors found in the 1991 version.)
The following changes are among those that are included in this current version:
— Activities are rearranged into more logical groupings (called Activity Groups), such as placing all
planning Activities into the new Project Planning Activities Activity Group, collecting all Project Ini-
tiation Activities, and collecting and expanding all Review Activities.
— The term “Process,” as was used in earlier versions of this Standard, was replaced with the term
“Activity Group” to identify collections of Activities. Some users of this standard were misinterpret-
iv
Copyright © 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved.
ing the collections as actual “processes” and were trying to execute them as such. The term “Activity
Groups” should eliminate this misconception.
— The importance of risk management led to the addition of a new Activity, Manage Risks.
— The recognition that software can be acquired from other sources, for use in the system being devel-
oped, led to the addition of the Software Importation Activity Group.
Participants
This standard was developed by a working group consisting of the following members who attended two or
more meetings, provided text, or submitted comments on more than two drafts of this standard:
David J. Schultz,
Chair
Dennis E. Nickle,
Vice Chair
Susan M. Burgess,
Configuration Manager
John W. Horch,
Editor
The following individuals also contributed to the development of this standard by attending one meeting or
providing comments on one or two drafts:
David W. Burnett
Ron Dean
Jean A. Gilmore
Arthur Godin
Daniel Gray
Lynn Ihlenfeldt
Robert J. Kierzyk
Pat Marcinko
Keith Middleton
Robert W. Shillato
Diane Switzer
Alan Braaten
W. Larry Campbell
Bostjan K. Derganc
Dorothy Deutch
Leo Egan
Michael Frehse
John Garth Glynn
Sam Godfrey
Rob Harker
John Jenkins
Denis Meredith
Noritoshi Murakami
Christopher Neubert
John Pellegrin
David Pepper
James Shimp
David Smith
John Swearingen
Allan Willey
Natalie Yopconka
Janusz Zalewski
Copyright © 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved.
v
The following persons were on the balloting committee:
When the IEEE Standards Board approved this standard on 9 December 1997, it had the following
membership:
Donald C. Loughry,
Chair
Richard J. Holleman,
Vice Chair
Andrew G. Salem,
Secretary
*Member Emeritus
Also included are the following nonvoting IEEE Standards Board liaisons:
Satish K. Aggarwal
Alan H. Cookson
Jeremy A. Adams
Syed Ali
Mikhail Auguston
Leo Beltracchi
H. Ronald Berlack
Richard E. Biehl
William J. Boll
Alan L. Bridges
M. Scott Buck
David W. Burnett
Edward R. Byrne
Leslie Chambers
Keith Chan
Theo Clarke
Sylvain Clermont
Francois Coallier
Virgil Lee Cooper
Geoff Cozens
Gregory T. Daich
Bostjan K. Derganc
Perry R. DeWeese
Sherman Eagles
Leo Egan
Richard L. Evans
William Eventoff
Jonathan H. Fairclough
John W. Fendrich
Jon J. Fineman
Jay Forster
Simon Gabrihelidis
Hiranmay Ghosh
Marilyn Ginsberg-Finner
John Garth Glynn
Lawrence M. Gunther
David A. Gustafson
John Harauz
Rob Harker
Carol J. Harkness
William Hefley
Manfred Hein
Mark Heinrich
Mark Henley
John W. Horch
Jerry Huller
Peter L. Hung
Fabrizio Imelio
George Jackelen
John O. Jenkins
Frank V. Jorgensen
Vladan V. Jovanovic
William S. Junk
George X. Kambic
Diana Kang
Myron S. Karasik
Ron S. Kenett
Judy Kerner
Robert J. Kierzyk
Dwayne L. Knirk
Shaye Koenig
Thomas M. Kurihara
John B. Lane
J. Dennis Lawrence
Michael Lines
David Maibor
Robert Martin
Tomoo Matsubara
Sue McGrath
Bret Michael
Alan Miller
James W. Moore
R. Muralidharan
Pavol Navrat
Dennis E. Nickle
Myrna L. Olson
Mike Ottewill
Gerald L. Ourada
Indradeb P. Pal
Mark Paulk
Warren L. Persons
John G. Phippen
Alex Polack
Peter T. Poon
Margaretha W. Price
Lawrence S. Przybylski
Kenneth R. Ptack
Ann Reedy
Annette D. Reilly
Dennis Rilling
Patricia Rodriguez
Andrew P. Sage
Helmut Sandmayr
Stephen R. Schach
Norman Schneidewind
David J. Schultz
Gregory D. Schumacher
Robert W. Shillato
Carl A. Singer
James M. Sivak
Alfred R. Sorkowitz
Donald W. Sova
Luca Spotorno
Julia Stesney
Fred J. Strauss
Christine Brown Strysik
Robert N. Sulgrove
Toru Takeshita
Patricia A. Trellue
Leonard L. Tripp
T. H. Tse
Margaret C. Updike
Theodore J. Urbanowicz
Glenn D. Venables
Udo Voges
Ronald L. Wade
Dolores Wallace
John W. Walz
Scott A. Whitmire
Paul A. T. Wolfgang
Natalie C. Yopconka
Weider D. Yu
Janusz Zalewski
Geraldine Zimmerman
Clyde R. Camp
Stephen L. Diamond
Harold E. Epstein
Donald C. Fleckenstein
Jay Forster*
Thomas F. Garrity
Donald N. Heirman
Jim Isaak
Ben C. Johnson
Lowell Johnson
Robert Kennelly
E. G. “Al” Kiener
Joseph L. Koepfinger*
Stephen R. Lambert
Lawrence V. McCall
L. Bruce McClung
Marco W. Migliaro
Louis-François Pau
Gerald H. Peterson
John W. Pope
Jose R. Ramos
Ronald H. Reimer
Ingo Rüsch
John S. Ryan
Chee Kiow Tan
Howard L. Wolfman
