Establish and maintain the environment needed to support the integration of the product components.

Refer to the Technical Solution process area for more information about make-or-buy decisions.

The environment for product integration can either be acquired or developed. To establish an environment, requirements for the purchase or development of equipment, software, or other resources will need to be developed. These requirements are gathered when implementing the processes associated with the Requirements Development process area. The product integration environment may include the reuse of existing organizational resources. The decision to acquire or develop the product integration environment is addressed in the processes associated with the Technical Solution process area.

The environment required at each step of the product integration process may include test equipment, simulators (taking the place of unavailable product components), pieces of real equipment, and recording devices.

Typical Work Products

1.    Verified environment for product integration

2.    Support documentation for the product integration environment

Subpractices

1.    Identify the requirements for the product integration environment.

2.    Identify verification criteria and procedures for the product integration environment.

3.    Decide whether to make or buy the needed product integration environment.

Refer to the Supplier Agreement Management process area for more information about acquiring parts of the integration environment.

4.    Develop an integration environment if a suitable environment cannot be acquired.

For unprecedented, complex projects, the product integration environment can be a major development. As such, it would involve project planning, requirements development, technical solutions, verification, validation, and risk management.

5.    Maintain the product integration environment throughout the project.

6.    Dispose of those portions of the environment that are no longer useful.