ISO/IEC 26580:2021

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 26580
First edition
2021-04
Software and systems engineering —
Methods and tools for the feature-
based approach to software and
systems product line engineering
Ingénierie du logiciel et des systèmes — Méthodes et outils pour
l'approche basée sur les caractéristiques dans l'ingénierie de lignes de
produits logiciels et systèmes
Reference number
ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2021

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ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)

COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO/IEC 2021
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
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Published in Switzerland
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ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)

Contents Page
Foreword .vi
Introduction .vii
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 2
4 Overview of feature-based product line engineering . 4
4.1 General . 4
4.2 Shared assets . 5
4.3 Features . 6
4.4 Automated means of production . 7
5 A feature-based specialization of software and systems product line engineering .7
6 Reference model for the feature-based approach to software and systems product
line engineering .11
6.1 General .11
6.2 Key elements of the feature-based PLE factory .12
6.2.1 General.12
6.2.2 Feature catalogue .13
6.2.3 Bill-of-features and bill-of-features portfolio .13
6.2.4 Shared asset supersets .14
6.2.5 PLE factory configurator .14
6.2.6 Product asset instances . .14
6.3 Relationships among the key elements of the factory .15
6.3.1 General.15
6.3.2 Feature-based abstractions: feature catalogue and bill-of-features portfolio .15
6.3.3 Domain supersets: feature catalogue and shared asset supersets .16
6.3.4 Assets: shared asset supersets and product asset instances .17
6.3.5 Product instances: bill-of-features portfolio and product asset instances .18
6.4 Reference model layers .19
6.5 Feature language .20
6.6 Support for a hierarchical product line of product lines .20
6.7 Other concerns .21
6.7.1 General.21
6.7.2 Configuration management concern .21
6.7.3 Traceability concern .21
6.7.4 Change management concern .22
6.7.5 Access control concern .22
7 Technology layer .22
7.1 General .22
7.2 Feature language .22
7.3 Feature catalogue .25
7.4 Bill-of-features portfolio .25
7.5 Shared asset supersets .25
7.6 Product asset instances .26
7.7 PLE factory configurator.26
7.8 PLE factory development environment .26
8 Technical organization management layer .27
8.1 General .27
8.2 Relationship to ISO/IEC 26550 technical management process group and ISO/IEC
26556 .28
8.3 Feature catalogue engineering .29
8.3.1 Purpose .29
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ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)

8.3.2 Role .29
8.3.3 Outcomes .29
8.3.4 Inputs .29
8.3.5 Tasks .29
8.3.6 Tools .30
8.4 Bill-of-features portfolio engineering .31
8.4.1 Purpose .31
8.4.2 Role .31
8.4.3 Outcomes .31
8.4.4 Inputs .31
8.4.5 Tasks .31
8.4.6 Tools .32
8.5 Shared asset superset engineering .32
8.5.1 Purpose .32
8.5.2 Role .33
8.5.3 Outcomes .33
8.5.4 Inputs .33
8.5.5 Tasks .33
8.5.6 Tools .34
8.6 Automated configuration of the product asset instances .35
8.6.1 Purpose .35
8.6.2 Role .35
8.6.3 Outcomes .35
8.6.4 Inputs .35
8.6.5 Task — Configure the shared asset supersets using the PLE factory
configurator.35
8.6.6 Tools .35
8.7 Verification, validation, and product delivery of the product asset instances .35
8.7.1 Purpose .35
8.7.2 Role .36
8.7.3 Outcomes .36
8.7.4 Inputs .36
8.7.5 Tasks .36
8.7.6 Tools .36
8.8 Configuration management .37
8.8.1 Purpose .37
8.8.2 Role .37
8.8.3 Outcomes .37
8.8.4 Inputs .37
8.8.5 Tasks .37
8.8.6 Tools .38
8.9 Traceability management .38
8.9.1 Purpose .38
8.9.2 Role .38
8.9.3 Outcomes .38
8.9.4 Inputs .39
8.9.5 Tasks .39
8.9.6 Tools .39
8.10 Change management .40
8.10.1 Purpose .40
8.10.2 Role .40
8.10.3 Outcomes .40
8.10.4 Inputs .40
8.10.5 Tasks .40
8.10.6 Tools .41
9 Business organization management layer .41
9.1 General .41
9.2 Incorporation of ISO/IEC 26550, ISO/IEC 26556 and ISO/IEC 26562 processes .42
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9.3 Fund the PLE factory .44
9.3.1 Purpose .44
9.3.2 Outcomes .44
9.3.3 Inputs .44
9.3.4 Task — Establish and execute a funding policy for the PLE factory .44
9.3.5 Tools .45
Annex A (informative) Terminology specialization from ISO/IEC 26550 to this document .46
Annex B (informative) UML 2.0 Diagrams for the feature-based PLE factory .50
Bibliography .51
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ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that
are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through
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take part in the work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives or www .iec .ch/ members
_experts/ refdocs).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents) or the IEC
list of patent declarations received (see patents.iec.ch).
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iso/ foreword .html. In the IEC, see www .iec .ch/ understanding -standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html and www .iec .ch/ national
-committees.
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ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)

Introduction
Feature-based software and systems product line engineering (“feature-based PLE” for short) is
a specialization of software and systems product line (SSPL) engineering and management that is
described in ISO/IEC 26550. ISO/IEC 26550 describes a very generalized approach to SSPL, focusing on
the benefits of exploiting a common platform of reusable assets for a product family. Each organization
that adopts SSPL under ISO/IEC 26550 is free to do so using their preferred techniques and methods.
What is the motivation for creating a standard for a specialization of SSPL? As the SSPL field has
matured and achieved widespread attention in the industry, a specific and repeatable approach to SSPL
has emerged that takes advantage of commercial off-the-shelf industrial-strength tools and technology,
along with robust best practices for methods and processes, that automate and formalize many of the
processes in domain and application engineering. The result is that less upfront analysis, design, and
implementation effort is required prior to gaining the benefits from the approach.
While SSPL in general provides significant benefits, it also requires a significant investment of time and
effort to adopt and to ultimately achieve those benefits. The feature-based PLE specialization is a more
narrowly defined solution that can be supported by off-the-shelf tools and methods, which has resulted
in lower investments when an organization adopts SSPL. Feature-based PLE embodies lessons learned
about SSPL practices that have been shown to provide some of the highest benefits and returns (see, for
example, References [2] and[8]).
This document provides a reference model consisting of an abstract representation of the key technical
elements, tools, and methods of feature-based PLE. The predominant specializations of general SSPL
that characterize feature-based PLE are:
a) a mapping from features to asset variation points that is sufficient to drive a fully automated
configurator that produces assets specific to member products;
b) a methodological shift of all design and implementation effort, change management, and
configuration management to domain engineering, so that application engineering is reduced to
automated configuration of member product instances and testing of configured member products
and member-product-specific assets.
This document embodies a distinct separation of concerns between the feature-based PLE technology
providers and feature-based technology users. For each of these stakeholder concerns, the scope of this
document is to define only what is necessary and sufficient to enable feature-based PLE practice. For
technology providers, this imparts flexibility in how the necessary and sufficient technical capabilities
are provided, as well as the opportunity to offer more expansive capabilities that are possible in an
ideal solution. For technology users, this provides flexibility to select among the technology providers
and to apply the methods that best match their technical and business objectives for feature-based PLE.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 26580:2021(E)
Software and systems engineering — Methods and tools
for the feature-based approach to software and systems
product line engineering
1 Scope
This document is a specialization of the more general reference model for software and systems
product line engineering and management described in ISO/IEC 26550. The specialization defined
herein addresses a class of methods and tools referred to as feature-based software and systems
product line engineering, or feature-based PLE, which has emerged as a proven and repeatable product
line engineering and management (PLE) practice supported by commercial tool providers.
This document:
— provides the terms and definitions specific to feature-based PLE;
— defines how feature-based PLE is a specialization within the general ISO/IEC 26550 reference model
for product line engineering and management;
— defines a reference model for the overall structure and processes of feature-
...