Continuous Acquisition and Lifecycle Support

A global strategy aimed at closer integration between enterprises by simplifying business processes and applying standards and technologies for development, management, exchange and use of business and technical information. CALS was initiated in 1985 by the US Department of Defense to provide the standards for electronic documentation in the weapon systems; further on it was widely implemented by other indusries. Nowadays the term is rarely used, being replaced with the concept of PLM.