SR-04 · our practice ref · series-structure

Design and realise the elements

Practice SR-04 in the System Definition and Realisation group. The basis is series-structure, and the row asks for 3 pieces of evidence.

At a glance

Ref: SR-04
Process: System Definition and Realisation
Basis: series-structure
Source: Public abstract, process list
Evidence: 3 items
Gaps: 2 common

Evidence to keep

System Definition and RealisationThe design record for each element
System Definition and RealisationThe realisation record showing what was built or bought
System Definition and RealisationThe deviation log where the build differs from the design

Questions before you sign

Which element carries the most design risk?
Does the built thing match the design record?
Where did we deviate, and who approved it?

The practice, in our words

Design each element to its allocated requirements, build or acquire it, and record the design and the realisation. The evidence is not the drawing alone; it is the drawing, the decision and the built thing that matches them.

What it means in a VSE

Keep the design record at the level the element needs. For a bought element, the design record is the supplier's specification plus the acceptance evidence, not a copy of their drawings.

In a firm of 25 people or fewer, design and realise the elements has to earn its time. The test for SR-04 is not whether the team understands it but whether the artefact exists at the end of the project. Shrink the meeting. Shrink the document. Keep the record.

How to evidence it

Attach the artefacts above to the Design and realise the elements row with the project name, the owner and the date. The anchor for SR-04 is The design record for each element. A named person must produce it on request.

For SR-04, the reviewer will sample one live decision and ask for The realisation record showing what was built or bought. No artefact, no evidence. A file that depends on one person's mailbox is not a file for design and realise the elements.

What an assessor samples

An assessor reads the design and realise the elements practice, asks for its evidence and tests one project against it. For SR-04, the useful sample is the most recent project that used the practice, not the best one. A reconstruction written for the visit is a finding for SR-04 if the practice cannot be shown to have happened when it mattered.

Common gaps

Design documents that stop at the last review and never match the build
A bought element with no specification on file

What changes from the 2019 report. For SR-04, system definition and realisation holds most of the evidence. The transition work is to keep the record as the work proceeds, not to reconstruct it at the end.

Where the draft fits

The public abstract places design and realise the elements inside one of the four processes the Intermediate profile covers. For SR-04, the draft clause numbering and wording are not public, so this page cites Public abstract, process list and does not quote the draft. The basis label for SR-04 says whether the practice is stated in the public record, named as a process in the series, or our reading.

Related practices

Source for this page: Public abstract, process list. Open the record and compare it with the SR-04 statement above. Retrieved 2026-10-22.