Purpose & Scope

The only changes that should be incorporated into a product and its product configuration information are those that have been coordinated with impacted areas of responsibility and approved for incorporation by the appropriate change approval authority.

To define a change and facilitate informed decisions, the documentation for each requested change should include:

  • A clear statement of the change.
  • Change classification for the requested change.
  • What product(s) components and interfacing products are affected by the requested change.
  • What product configuration definition information is affected by the requested change.
  • Scope and description of the requested change, including its impacts on specified performance, test, qualification, operation, maintenance, servicing, operation and maintenance training, repair parts, support and test equipment.
  • Reason or justification for the requested change, including consequences, if any, of not doing the requested change.
  • Proposed effectivity of the change.
  • Estimated cost increase or savings associated with the change.
  • Implementation plan and delivery schedules for the requested change.
  • Change approval date

CMplus assets

  • Template for documenting design decision.

Learning objectives

  • Knowledge about what type of information that should be included in a documented design decision.

Managed capability

  • Process and/or method descriptions for documenting design decisions provide support for all concerned stakeholders.
  • Design decisions are documented with satisfying results.

Performed capability

  • Process and/or method descriptions exist for documenting design decisions, but they are incomplete or too abstract to provide any real support.
  • Design decisions are documented in a structured manner to some degree.

Incomplete capability

  • No documented process or method exists for documenting design decisions.
  • Design decisions are not at all documented or are documented in an arbitrary manner.