This International Standard establishes basic principles for Life-Cycle-Management of products and systems focused on industrial-process measurement, control and automation. These principles are applicable to various industrial sectors. This standard provides definitions and reference models related to the life-cycle and the life time of a product, and is applicable to hardware and software of automation products and systems. It defines a consistent set of generic reference models and terms. The key content of definitions are: Life-Cycle-Model; structure model; compatibility model. This document also describes the application of these models for Life-Cycle-Management strategies. The content is strongly focused on technical aspects concerning the design, planning, development and maintenance of automation products and system and the operation of the plant in addition to existing, predominantly market-oriented approaches. The definitions of generic models and terms regarding Life-Cycle-Management are indispensable for a common understanding and application by all partners in the value chain such as plant user, product and system producer, service provider, and component supplier. The models and strategies described in this standard are also applicable for related management systems, i.e. MES and ERP.