Scope
- Feature Life Cycle Management includes features being subject to a Planning Cycle:
- new features are planned and specified before being developed and included in future releases.
- having passed the Planning Cycle new features are subjec to a Development Cycle.
- This article describes
- the policy for feature planning
- the mapping to the respective status in the Change Management System.
- Further resources for life cycle management
- for the overall Product Life Cycle see Release Policy - Product Life Cycle Management
- for information about release availability and maintenance see Release Policy - Platform availability and support
Life Cycle
Planned features will pass through the begin-of-life cylce with the following status before a decision is taken whether they will be developed or not:
OPEN
- A feature has been added but might not yet be assigned to any developer or release.
- The next step will be to CLARIFY the feature, i.e. to collect requirements and to decide on future development.
CLARIFY
- The feature has to be specified before any further status is assigned. This includes to check the validity of requirements and the feasibility.
- Subsequent to clarification the feature will then be ACCEPTED or DEFERRED for development, or it will be DISMISSED or classified as KNOWN ISSUE without further action.
KNOWN ISSUE
- The feature is classified as a known issue, i.e. as an inconvenience with a valid workaround available, and will by purpose not be changed.
- Being a known issue is an end status for a feature, therefore no further action will be taken.
DISMISSED
- The feature is dismissed, e.g. due to architectural constraints or invalid requirements. The feature is not considered for future development.
- Being dismissed is an end status for a feature, therefore no further action will be taken.
ACCEPTED
- The feature includes valid requirements and is accepted for development with the assigned release.
- Subsequently the feature will proceed through the Development Cycle, see Release Policy - Development Cycle.
DEFERRED
- The feature will be considered for development in a future release.
- However, the feature is not assigned to one of the planned releases. Instead, the feature is deferred for later consideration.