Concept of operations

A CONOPS generally evolves from a concept and is a description of how a set of capabilities may be employed to achieve desired objectives or end state.

[1] The first standard was 1362-1998 - IEEE Guide for Information Technology - System Definition - Concept of Operations (ConOps) Document that was superseded by the document 29148-2011 - ISO/IEC/IEEE International Standard - Systems and software engineering -- Life cycle processes --Requirements engineering.

Then came the 2012 AIAA revision proposal Guide: Guide to the Preparation of Operational Concept Documents (ANSI/AIAA G-043A-2012) (Revision of G-043-1992), and today we have ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015 Systems and software engineering -- System life cycle processes.

[3][4] CONOPS may also be used or summarized in system acquisition DODAF descriptions such as the OV-1 High Level Operational Concept Graphic.

Ideally it offers clear methodology to realize the goals and objectives for the system, while not intending to be an implementation or transition plan itself.