Purpose & Scope
Learning objectives
Unique identities
Incomplete capability
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Objects needed to be controlled lack identifiers and/or adequate versioning
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Understanding the purpose and scope of global and uniquely defined identifier
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Being aware of the purpose of versions and variants.
Performed capability
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All needed objects are defined by identifiers that are stable over time, but depend on manual operations.
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For many object types, changes is manually identified by a version code.
Managed capability
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All needed objects are automatically and uniquely defined by identifiers that are stable over time.
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All needed objects that changes are automatically identified by a version code.
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Unambiguous definitions and rules for assigning identifiers to objects.
Unique identifiers are the means to which you can tell different objects apart and be certain of which object you are referring to. This is necessary for objects that need to be controlled: parts, assemblies, documents, SW, requirements, change notices, individual instances of the product, etc.
If the definition of released objects is changed and there is a need to keep the old definition the identifier also includes a version code.
If two definitions are close to each other and will be changed by their own life cycle, the same identifier will be used to indicate the familiarity but separated by a variant code and versioned each by a version code.
When managing complex systems the following challenges might occur:
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Often an identifier is assigned to the an by the IT-tool it is defined or created in. But not all IT-tools have adequate support for this. Instead the identifier must be created outside the tool and then associated with the object manually.
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When information is exchanged between IT systems objects might be given additional identifiers (aliases).
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Unclear definitions of what the identifier exactly refers to, for example the difference between a part, an article and an individual instance of the article.