Documentation Bundle

• Importance of a Bundle in Documentation
  • What Can Be Included in a Bundle
• A Bundle Is Not a Folder
• A Bundle Can Protect Records
  • Modifying a Locked Bundle
  • The Lock Does Not Apply to Status
• Related Records

A bundle is generally a group of records that share a logical connection.

A bundle enables working with the entire group collectively or protects objects. Bundles are either general
or intended for a specific use case—typically for data archiving and protection.

Importance of a Bundle in Documentation

A bundle allows creating a set of records that a user needs to work on together
or that have a logical connection.

Examples of bundles:

• A set of information and various record types provided to a supplier as sub-contract specifications
• A set of requirements implemented within a specific release (stream).

What Can Be Included in a Bundle

In general, any documentation can be inserted into a bundle. Usually, however, only records
that are directly related are included. Typically, a maximum of 5 types are added.
Bundles support content:

• Information
• Requirements
• Assets — e.g., test samples archived along with test results
• Logs — typically in a bundle documenting the execution of a specific set of tests
• Tests
• Tasks
• Analytical and product documentation
• Decisions
• Issues — typically used to create bundles of issues from tests, which are handed over to a department or supplier for resolution.

A Bundle Is Not a Folder

Although a bundle is similar to a folder, there is a fundamental difference. A folder is generally understood as the location of a record or file, with each record residing in one specific folder. Bundles, on the other hand, do not form exclusive locations. A single record can be in
any number of bundles.

A Bundle Can Protect Records

A bundle can create a lock preventing modifications to the records contained within it. This is typical especially for archive bundles, which are meant to preserve records in the form in which they were inserted. However, locking makes sense in many other cases, typically:

• A bundle of documentation provided to a supplier ensures, through locking, that nobody internally will alter its content. This prevents a scenario where the internal project team works with different documentation than the supplier.
• A bundle of issues that remained unresolved at handover and form part of the approval documentation regarding what needs to be fixed.

Modifying a Locked Bundle

When it turns out that a record in a bundle needs to be corrected, there are two options:

1. Create a new version of the record and mark the original as invalid
2. Temporarily disable the record lock, make the correction, and lock the bundle again
   Each approach makes sense depending on the reasons and consequences of the change being made.

The Lock Does Not Apply to Status

Even though a bundle locks the records contained within it, it does not lock their status. Therefore, it is possible to mark a requirement in a bundle as no longer valid or an issue as resolved. Status changes are archived, so the information on what status the record was in when it was inserted into the bundle is preserved.

Related Records

• Bundles can be defined by methodologies using a bundle definition. For example, the methodology restricts which records can be inserted into the bundle.
• A configuration bundle is a special case of a bundle used within configuration management. It complies with the requirements of standards such as SPICE, CMMI, and others.