13.1 Analyst

Analysts, also referred to as systems engineers , carry out early activities in the life cycle of a product, producing requirement specifications, such as for software, and other documents, such as user manuals. Analysts also maintain these documents throughout the lifetime of the product, producing new versions according to change requests . Analysts use the configuration management system for analysis activities to the extent that configuration management is performed.

Analysts must have configuration management in mind when working. This may include requirements regarding variants, which should be handled in conformity with the current configuration management system. Analysts contribute to the performance of configuration management by

• Identifying relevant configuration items

• Placing relevant items in storage after due approval

• Producing appropriate event registrations for the items used in connection with analysis (such as contracts or user requirement specifications)

Analysts may also be involved with configuration control boards in evaluating event registrations in later development activities.

Benefits

On top of the benefits of placing their own products under configuration management, analysts may benefit from configuration management by

• Extracting related configuration items as the basis for producing analysis objects, such as contracts or user requirement specifications

• Getting information about the status and history of these items

• Getting trace analysis results toward these items, to ensure the analysis covers all requirements

References

More details about relevant subjects may be found in Chapter 16 Documentation Activities (Specifications and Design).