Chapter 14. External Roles

Configuration management is not always limited to the company that develops and maintains a product. In the context of this book, this company may be regarded as the contractor. Both customers and subcontractors may have a say in the contractor's development and maintenance of the product. Figure 14-1 shows the relationships between the concepts of customer, contractor, and subcontractor and the way deliveries normally occur.

Figure 14-1. Customer, Contractor, and Subcontractor

However some communication in connection with configuration management often occurs and may flow in both directions. Therefore, all parties should have clearly defined interfaces for exchanging both deliveries and configuration management information.