Establish and Document the Development or Engineering Primary Contact and Organization

This chapter addresses the Development or Engineering Organization that builds and changes the Application, and its primary contact for the Application.

Why a Primary Contact Matters

The IT Application Owner is accountable for an Application’s design, development, and engineering, but the work itself is carried out by a Development or Engineering Organization, which may be an internal team, a contractor, a vendor, or a combination. When someone needs to raise a Defect, request a change, ask a technical question, or coordinate a Release, they need to know which organization does the work and who in it to contact. The Development or Engineering Primary Contact is that person.

Establish the Development or Engineering Primary Contact and Organization

Identify the organization that designs, builds, and changes the Application, and the person within it who serves as the primary contact for the Application. Ensure that the IT Application Owner, or another appropriate authority, confirms both. Where more than one organization builds parts of the Application, identify each one and its primary contact, and make clear which part each is responsible for.

Document and Share the Development or Engineering Primary Contact and Organization

Record the Development or Engineering Organization and its Primary Contact, with current contact details, in the Application Documentation and the Application Record. Where development is performed by a vendor or contractor, also record the vendor relationship, as described in the chapter “Establish and Document the Application’s Vendor Information — Where Applicable.” Review this information with every Release.

Best Practice: Establish and Document the Development or Engineering Primary Contact and Organization

It is a best practice to both establish and document the solution for who builds and changes an Application: identify the Development or Engineering Organization responsible for it, confirm its primary contact for the Application, and record both.

Benefits: A named organization and primary contact give requesters, testers, support teams, and Release Managers a direct route to the people who can actually change the Application, shortening the path from a reported Defect or an approved change to the person who will act on it.

Connections to Related IF4IT Practices and Inventories

The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Best Practices addresses roles and accountability across the delivery lifecycle. The Vendors Inventory and Attributes describes how vendors and contractors that build Applications are recorded.