6.2 Types of Objects in Product Perspective

Products may be composed of different types of subproducts , such as software, hardware, network, data, and services. For each type of subproduct, individual objects of many types may be placed under configuration management. An object for a subproduct could also be a subcomponent, component, or product itself.

In the following, some examples of objects to place under configuration management for the actual product are given for each type of subproduct. The lists are by no means exhaustive but may serve as inspiration when considering objects to place under configuration management.

Note that it may sometimes be difficult to draw a firm line between types of subproducts. Each company must establish its own definition of individual subproductsthe one used here is just an example.

Software

For software- related objects, the types to place under configuration management may, for example, be header files, include files, source code files, system libraries, object files, and executable files. The last two types are derived types of the others. It may be expedient to place such objects under configuration management along with (or possibly instead of) the types of objects used for their production. The considerations may include speed of delivery and space for storage.

Hardware

Hardware in this context is the hardware to be delivered as part of the product. This may be cables, machinery (mainframe, personal computer, workstation), print cards, storage (ROM/EPROM/EEROM), a programmable logical device (PLD), or peripherals (CD burner , plotter, printer, scanner).

It's important to keep different environments apart, such as the development environment, test environment, production environment, and so on. The same objects may be part of more than one environmentfor example, if the test environment is used for production after the test activities. In such instances, it's necessary to attach a time factor to the objects, to keep them from being part of more environments at the same time, as this may cause severe problems.

Network

The network subproduct of a product may be complicated, and it may well be that some of it, such as the Internet, is outside the control of the company delivering the product. Objects to place under configuration management for the network subproduct may be firewalls (both software and hardware firewalls exist), a physical network (LAN/WAN), ports or cards, protocol interfaces, servers, and switches. These objects may be either electronic or physical and must be treated accordingly .

Data

Data to be delivered for a product may be parameter values or basic system data, like allowed currencies. Data will often be delivered as files, either flat files or database files. This means that data is electronic and must be treated as such.

Services

Services to be delivered for a system are intangible and cannot be placed under configuration management. Tangible objects may sustain them, however, and these may be placed under configuration management. This could be procedure descriptions, service agreements or contracts, training material (computer-assisted training material, teacher's manual, slides) or user manuals. These objects may be electronic or physical and must be treated accordingly.

Tools

Tools used for the production of the abovementioned objects may be placed under configuration management. Tools may be word processor(s), drawing tools, editor(s), compiler(s), database tools, and many others.