SYSE.13:0.1 - Terms and Distinctions
| Name in this pattern | What it denotes |
|---|---|
| actual configuration | The decision-relevant actual constituents, obtaining relations, and characteristic values of one identified actual System over an interval. A configuration description carries claims about that configuration; a database value or dashboard status is not the configured System. |
| configuration item | A decision-local designation of an already identified entity whose separate identity, parthood where relevant, and change matter to the receiving decision. The entity may be, for example, a System, physical part, software-package episteme, or description episteme. The designation creates no universal kind. |
| physical or serial unit | One actual System individual. Its part number, family description, bill of material, variant name, and status record are separate descriptions or claims. |
| product family | A stated grouping of actual Systems or possible-future System referents under a classification and variation scheme. The current claim must say whether it concerns a kind, set, lineage, or description. |
| variant | A combination of design or configuration claims, normally carried by a description and possibly realized by actual units. A variant label does not prove realization. |
| software package and installed realization | In this pattern, a package or build episteme specifies software content. The content installed in a unit and its actual operation in that unit are separate world-side facts whose correspondence to the package needs evidence. |
| description edition | One episteme related to an earlier edition only under an edition-continuity relation. A changed filename, timestamp, or revision number is insufficient. |
| baseline | A selected reference episteme or claim set used for one comparison. Actual configuration, evidential support, authority, and release require their own claims or decisions. |
| effectivity | A claim that a description, change, release, or configuration claim applies to identified subjects and conditions—for example, Systems, serial units, lots, sites, intervals, operating conditions, or a stated combination. A date alone is insufficient when the subject or condition is unknown. |
| status | A claim or decision value about a subject for a use and interval. A value such as approved, released, installed, or current in one tool does not establish the corresponding world-side fact. |
| comparison labels such as as-designed, as-realized, as-integrated, or as-maintained | Source terms for local comparison roles of configurations and descriptions. Recover the role used by the decision; the label imposes no lifecycle and guarantees no correspondence. |
Record the performing Agent, assignment, Method, and Work separately from the configuration basis and from the Systems, descriptions, and evidence it concerns. Record the deciding Agent separately when another Agent performs the configuration Work.