product_baseline Business Overview

The information defined by this UK_Defence Business Data Exchange Specification is used to represent a baseline of the product and reflects the structure that a project wishes to put in place as part of its Configuration Management Plan. It is used as an input to those processes which then manage the product through life.

The information defined by this DEX is generated by the following UK_Defence Business Processes:

UK_Defence/
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record/Manage Configuration Status
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record/Manage Configuration Status/Specify Configuration
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record/Manage Configuration Status/Specify Configuration/Establish Baseline
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record/Manage Configuration Status/Specify Configuration/Release Baseline

The information defined by this DEX is used by the following UK_Defence Business Processes:

UK_Defence/
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Manage Change
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Manage Change/Implement and Verify Change
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Manage Change/Implement and Verify Change/Update Baseline
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record
UK_Defence/Deliver Through Life Support Capability/Manage TLS Configuration/Maintain configuration status record/Establish configuration status

An example UK_Defence process showing the generation of this DEX is provided in Figure 1. Note that in the process model, the DEX (DEXProductBaseline), is specified as shouwn as a Draft Baseline. A baseline can be of any type of Product Configuration Information.

Figure 1 — Example generation of the Product Baseline DEX in the UK_Defence process model

In this example, the process Eastablish Baseline generates the "Draft Baseline" information as part of the output from the “Specify configuration” process, which is defined as:

This process establishes a baseline for the product configuration.
A baseline identifies an agreed description of the attributes of a product at a point in time and provides a known configuration to which changes are addressed. The concept of defining and applying baselines to a product as a means of exercising management is not unique. For example, for a programme to be managed an understanding of the planned cost and schedule - a baseline plan - is required to form the reference for subsequent achievement monitoring. Similarly, in order to define and implement a development or a modification to a product, a reference product definition against which that development can proceed, or modification can be defined, is required.
A Configuration baseline is a snapshot of an item's configuration at a point in time. More specifically, it is a fixed reference configuration established by defining and recording the approved Product Configuration Information (PCI) describing the object of interest at a point in time. While it is theoretically possible to establish a baseline for a component at any level of a PBS, it is rare, and indeed in the CM sense there is seldom any value, in establishing a formal configuration baseline for an object below the level of CI.
In a system development, configuration baselines may be established hierarchically as the Product Breakdown Structure [PBS] evolves. For example, the Allocated Base Line [ABL] at the highest system level may be interpreted as a series of Functional Base Lines [FBL] for each constituent system-level CI; some or more of these CIs will, in turn have an individual ABL which may define a series of FBLs for next-tier CI products. The CMP must be continually reviewed to reflect the evolving PBS over the life cycle of a product.
The above baselines represent an example of reference points that will provide a known configuration to which changes are addressed; once established, they remain under configuration management throughout the product life cycle. Within the development phase of the product life cycle a series of ‘Design’ reviews are undertaken. Each of these design reviews creates a baseline of approved product definition information. These baselines are referred to as ‘Development’ Baselines (DBL) and remain relevant and under configuration management for only so long as the reason for their establishment remain. Information Inputs