SYSE.19:1 - Problem Frame

Engineering decisions depend on changing sources. For example, a supplier can revise a material limit, a standard can change an interface claim, a MethodDescription can narrow an operating range, or a research result can weaken an evidence line. The engineered System may stay unchanged while the warranted decision basis changes. Conversely, a new carrier or revision label may leave every relied-on claim intact.

The project needs two kinds of continuity. Historical source and decision identities stay recoverable so earlier Work can be understood. Current decisions reopen only where a relied-on premise changed. Repeating everything is expensive and hides the reason for change; comparing only files can miss a one-sentence change that alters release.

A source-change impact decision connects changed claims to their actual use in engineering Work and states what revalidation is needed for the current configuration.