This International Standard establishes a common framework for describing the life cycle of systems created by humans. It defines a set of processes and associated terminology. These processes can be applied at any level in the hierarchy of a system's structure. Selected sets of these processes can be applied throughout the life cycle for managing and performing the stages of a system's life cycle. This is accomplished through the involvement of all interested parties, with the ultimate goal of achieving customer satisfaction.

This International Standard also provides processes that support the definition, control and improvement of the life cycle processes used within an organization or a project. Organizations and projects can use these life cycle processes when acquiring and supplying systems.

This International Standard concerns those systems that are man-made and may be configured with one or more of the following: hardware, software, data, humans, processes (e.g., processes for providing service to users), procedures (e.g., operator instructions), facilities, materials and naturally occurring entities.

When a system element is software, the software life cycle processes documented in ISO/IEC 12207:2008 may be used to implement that system element. The two standards are harmonized for concurrent use on a single project or in a single organization. When the system element is hardware, refer to other International Standards outside the scope of SC7.