ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207:2017还提供了可用于定义、控制和改进组织或项目内软件生命周期过程的过程
本文件中的过程、活动和任务也可在包含软件的系统的采购过程中应用，可以单独使用，也可以与ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015《系统和软件工程-系统生命周期过程》结合使用
在本文件和ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288的背景下，有一系列人造系统，从很少使用或不使用软件的系统到主要关注软件的系统。 很少会遇到没有软件的复杂系统，所有软件系统都需要物理系统组件（硬件）来运行，无论是作为感兴趣的软件系统的一部分，还是作为使能系统或基础设施。因此，是否将本文件应用于软件生命周期过程，或ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015《系统和软件工程-系统生命周期过程》，取决于感兴趣的系统。两个文档中的过程具有相同的过程目的和过程结果，但分别在执行软件工程或系统工程的活动和任务上有所不同。

ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207:2017 also provides processes that can be employed for defining, controlling, and improving software life cycle processes within an organization or a project.
The processes, activities, and tasks of this document can also be applied during the acquisition of a system that contains software, either alone or in conjunction with ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015, Systems and software engineering - System life cycle processes.
In the context of this document and ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, there is a continuum of human-made systems from those that use little or no software to those in which software is the primary interest. It is rare to encounter a complex system without software, and all software systems require physical system components (hardware) to operate, either as part of the software system-of-interest or as an enabling system or infrastructure. Thus, the choice of whether to apply this document for the software life cycle processes, or ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015, Systems and software engineering - System life cycle processes, depends on the system-of-interest. Processes in both documents have the same process purpose and process outcomes, but differ in activities and tasks to perform software engineering or systems engineering, respectively.