org.cispec.environment

core key recommended: any CI

org.cispec.environment records the operational programme, zone, or tier a Change Item is assigned to — not where it physically is, and not what it is certified or regulated as.

Three terms that are frequently but incorrectly conflated:

org.cispec.location — where the CI physically is
org.cispec.environment — what programme or zone the CI is assigned to
org.cispec.classification — what the CI is certified or regulated as

The Lockheed Martin example makes the distinction concrete:

org.cispec.location=warehouse-13
org.cispec.environment=blackops
org.cispec.classification=ts/sci
org.cispec.commonname=groom.lake

A server physically in warehouse 13, assigned to the black ops programme, cleared at TS/SCI, called Groom Lake. Four independent facts. The environment is the programme assignment — it would remain blackops if the server were moved to a different warehouse, and it would remain warehouse-13 if the server were reassigned to a different programme.

environment applies to any Change Item in any domain — software deployment tier, ICS operational zone, military programme, clinical trial, research programme, regulatory sandbox, maintenance window, or any other organisationally-meaningful operational context.

Value format

A lower-case slug: alphanumeric characters and hyphens only, optionally prefixed with a qualifier and colon for domain-specific environment classifications.

org.cispec.environment=production
org.cispec.environment=staging
org.cispec.environment=blackops
org.cispec.environment=clinical-trial-phase-2
org.cispec.environment=purdue-level:1
org.cispec.environment=homelab

Qualified form: ICS Purdue level

For industrial control system Change Items, environment MAY carry a purdue-level:<n> qualified value aligned with the Purdue Reference Model (formalised in ISA/IEC 62443), where <n> is an integer 0–5.

The Purdue Model divides an industrial facility into functional zones based on how close a system is to the physical process it controls. Level 0 is the physical process itself — motors, valves, sensors. Level 5 is the corporate enterprise network. The levels in between are where most ICS/OT assets live. Labelling a CI with its Purdue level tells downstream systems — vulnerability scanners, change management tools, network segmentation policies — which zone the asset belongs to and therefore what risk posture, patch cadence, and change-freeze rules apply to it.

Level	Zone	Examples
0	Physical process	Sensors, actuators, drives
1	Intelligent devices	PLCs, RTUs, IEDs
2	Control systems	SCADA servers, HMI workstations
3	Site operations	MES, historians, batch management
4	Site business	Site-level ERP, scheduling systems
5	Enterprise	Corporate network, cloud services

org.cispec.environment=purdue-level:1
org.cispec.environment=purdue-level:2

A CI at Level 1 (a PLC controlling a pump) has different change-freeze requirements from a Level 4 ERP system even if both are owned by the same organisation and assigned to the same operational programme. The Purdue level makes that distinction explicit and queryable.

Conformance

org.cispec.environment is RECOMMENDED for any Change Item where operational context affects criticality, change windows, or change-freeze policy. It is not REQUIRED for Declared conformance.

Attestation

environment is not independently attestable. It is a self-asserted operational assignment with no external registry to verify against.

Resolution and relation

Every Change Item sharing the same environment value forms an edge across your label set — “everything assigned to production” or “every purdue-level:1 device” are both real, expected queries for change-freeze management, incident response, and operational planning.

Document identifier

OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.42387.2.4.2
GUID: fb2fecdf-cbaf-5f0c-bd16-cffe882b9eb0