Inclusion of the exact text of one document into another, placing the content under the unilateral Configuration Control of the latter – that is, creating a stream of future changes applicable to the new document that is independent from the stream of future changes in the original reference. This represents a fork in the road of whatever concepts are discussed in the document that is being incorporated.
This notion of “creating a…stream…independent…” is a significant strategic decision, not to be taken lightly – even though current practices in requirements management insist on doing so as a matter of course. It permits, or even encourages, divergence between the practices employed on different CI’s being developed by different sub-contractors and suppliers. Although it can drive the projected costs down at the start of a project, it can drive actual cost up during the back end of the development project (verification phase).
Contrast with incorporation by reference and tailoring.