Software Engineering Institute

This report provides guidance for the community involved with developing and sustaining product lines of components used by the U.S. government. It complements, and should be read together with, the complementary SEI Component Product Line special reports: A Strategy for Component Product Lines: Report 1: Scoping, Objectives, and Rationale and A Strategy for Component Product Lines: Report 2: Specification Modeling for Components in a Component Product Line. Whereas the strategy outlines the overall intent and game plan for implementing a component product line approach (the “what” and the “why”), this governance report provides critical insight into “how” the authors envision a successful initiative to be implemented. The report describes the component product line ecosystem, explores scenarios that illustrate aspects of the product line lifecycle in which governance may be an issue, and details component product line processes.