The systematic direction and guidance of development and production to achieve two goals:
1) Correct data are used for each purpose and
2) Particularly during development, the purpose for each controlled data item is known
The data include (but are not limited to) designs, specifications, performance analysis, qualification results, and acceptance data.
The situation is “controlled” in the sense that the processes that use and produce the data items are the system being controlled, the data items are the resources being passed between those processes, and the objective of the control is a design and (possibly) manufactured products that where the conformity of those products to the requirements can be objectively shown.
In most cases, the mechanism of control is by way of formal changes of configuration(2), which can be thought of as “course corrections”. Specific data to be controlled for any particular are unique to the project based on the project’s objectives. For example, the items to be controlled in a CRAD project are properly defined in the SoW, either directly or by reference.
Contrast with Configuration Management.