ISO/IEC 12207:1995

Software is an integral part of information technology and conventional systems, such as transportation, military, medical care, and finance. There is a proliferation of standards, procedures, methods, tools, and environments for developing and managing software. This proliferation has created difficulties in software management and engineering, especially in integrating products and services. The software discipline needs to migrate from this proliferation to a common framework that can be used by software practitioners to "speak the same language" to create and manage software. This International Standard provides such a common framework.

The framework covers the life cycle of software from conceptualization of ideas through retirement and consists of processes for acquiring and supplying software products and services. In addition, the framework provides for controlling and improving these processes.

The processes in this International Standard form a comprehensive set. An organization, depending on its purpose, can select an appropriate subset to fulfill that purpose. This International Standard is, therefore, designed to be tailored for an individual organization, project, or application. It is also designed to be used when software is a stand-alone entity, or an embedded or integral part of the total system.