ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023— System Life Cycle Processes

Individual phases of the application development life cycle help improve the chances of a project being successful because it minimizes project risks. The first few phases bring to light whether the project is even worth undertaking in the first place or not. ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023— Systems And Software Engineering – System Life Cycle Processes provides a common process framework for describing the life cycle of systems, adopting a systems engineering approach.

What Is ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288?

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023 establishes a common framework of process descriptions for describing the life cycle of systems. It concerns systems that can be configured with one or more of the following system elements: hardware elements, software elements, data, humans, processes, services, procedures, facilities, materials, and naturally occurring entities.

There is a wide variety of systems in terms of their purpose, domain of application, complexity, size, novelty, adaptability, quantity, location, life span, and evolution. The processes in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023 form a comprehensive set from which an organization can construct system life cycle models appropriate to its products and services. ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023 defines a set of processes to facilitate system development and information exchange among acquirers, suppliers, and other stakeholders in the life cycle of a system.

The goal of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023 is to improve communication and cooperation among the parties that create, utilize, and manage modern systems in order that they can work in an integrated, coherent fashion.

Systems vs SoS

A system is a group of interacting, interrelated and interdependent components that form a complex and unified whole, whereas a systems of systems (SoS) is the collection of multiple independent systems in context as part of a lager more, complex system. A SoS brings together a set of systems for a task that none of the systems can accomplish on its own. In other words, an SOS interacts to provide a unique capability that none of the constituent systems can accomplish on its own.

Each constituent system keeps its own development, management, utilization, goals, and resources while coordinating within the SoS and adapting to meet SoS goals. It interacts within the SoS to provide the unique capability of the SoS. The differences between systems and SoS are not in the structure or arrangement of the individual elements, but rather in the behavioral and managerial characteristics of those elements

Systems Development Life Cycle

In systems engineering, information systems, and software engineering, the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life cycle, is a process for planning, creating/building, testing, and deploying an information system. It is a complex project management model that encompasses system or software creation from its initial idea to its finalized deployment and maintenance. There are multiple stages in the SDLC cycle: planning, analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.

The SDLC concept is essential to the field of software engineering and applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. It originated back in the 1960s when groups of developers would band together to figure out the most efficient way to manage an information system. Thanks to SDLC, every step of a software engineering project is not pushed to completion but rather is documented and used for future projects. Hence, the goal of SDLC is to minimize the project risks via planning so that software meets customer expectations during production and beyond.

What Are the Changes in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023?

This second edition of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015), which has been technically revised. The main changes are as follows:

• Improvements to selected technical processes including business or mission analysis, system architecture definition, system analysis, implementation, integration, operations, and maintenance
• Improvements to selected technical management processes including risk management and configuration management
• Updates to Clause 5, key concepts, including a better description of iteration, recursion, system-of systems, quality characteristics, etc.
• New content in Clause 5 on concept and system definition, and expanded content on process application and system concepts
• Updates to the terms and definitions
• A new annex addressing model-based systems engineering (MBSE)

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2023— Systems And Software Engineering – System Life Cycle Processes is available on the ANSI Webstore and in the Standards Packages: ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 / ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 – Systems And Software Engineering Package and ISO/IEC 12207 and 15288 Systems and Software Engineering Package.