14.2 Subcontractor

This section describes the subcontractor's configuration management role in connection with a subdelivery and the interfaces between the contractor's and subcontractor's configuration management systems. This is not directly about the subcontractor's own configuration management, though in many cases the subcontractor's level will define the upper limit for requirements that can be fulfilled. If the difference between the contractor's and the subcontractor's levels of configuration management is large, it will take an extra effort from both parties to make the cooperation work.

The subcontractor must live up to the obligations concerning configuration management that are specified in the contract between him and the contractor. A subcontractor must have knowledge of configuration management at least to the level the subcontractor is required to fulfill, and preferably further. A subcontractor must be able to study, understand, and use the contractor's configuration management system to the extent required for cooperation and in the contract. A subcontractor must also be able to implement and use a configuration management system at the level required by the contract. The subcontractor's activities will depend upon what is agreed upon but may in principle include all configuration management activities. If cooperation is close, the subcontractor may follow the same rules as the contractor and possibly even work on the same configuration items. This could be seen as parallel or multisite development.

In the case of a more separated development process, the focus will often be on the contents of the delivery and on change control, especially documentation of changes from an earlier delivery and their consequences. Here, the interface between the two configuration management systems might influence the form and the contents of the subdelivery and the connected history of change.

The contractor often delivers event registrations or change requests (depending on the form of cooperation) to the subcontractor. The opposite may also happen, especially when cooperation is close; however, a subcontractor rarely creates change requests to the contractor.

References

More details about relevant subjects may be found in Chapters 13Person Responsible for Customer Contact, 20Multisite Development, 20Multiple Stakeholders, and 20Parallel Development.