ISO/IEC TR 12182 specifies the manner in which categorizations of IT systems and software are organized and expressed. It provides the framework for categorizations, and a guide for applying it. This allows any community to clarify their scope of the systems by using their own definition of categories.

The scope of application of the framework is intended to IT systems and software, including services provided by IT systems, where they can be of main targets but not limited to.

The purpose of this Technical Report includes the following:

a) developers of systems and software engineering standards can define their applicability to different categories of target systems and software using annexes or guidelines, so that their users can easily identify relevant standards and clauses that they can apply;

b) suppliers of systems and software engineering tools and methods can clarify the types of target systems and software to which their technologies are applicable or limited so that their users can easily choose the right tools and methods among many candidates for their use;

c) providers of services can define characteristics of their services using classification axes so that they can specify the quality of their services;

d) developers and evaluators of the systems and software can categorize systems and software of similar characteristics by using classification axes so that they can obtain a better estimation and quality evaluation of their target systems and software to be developed;

e) the systems and software engineering community can exchange their research ideas and best practices with defined scope of application.

ISO/IEC TR 12182 does not provide a specific set of categorizations but the framework for categorizations and a guide for applying it to achieve the above purposes.

It is important that standards on systems and software engineering are properly applied to the procurement or development of certain kinds of systems. This Technical Report provides a categorization framework and a guide for applying it to assist in (1) defining the area of application of standards, and (2) positioning new standards. The annex of this Technical Report provides descriptive examples for relevant standards, each of which describes the area of application of the standard by using defined categorization.

NOTE Giving guidance on applicability might not be relevant to all standards.