Abstract: Traditionally, a software product is produced through distinctive stages, such as development stage, quality control stage and a production stage, often resulting in difficulty of communications and lack of collaborations among the stages. To provide a true collaborative environment, techniques for creating a model are described. The model, in one perspective, is a collection of instances of environments needed for the stages to achieve a predetermined status of the software product. According to one embodiment, the model includes a plurality of first and second elements. Each of the first elements pertains to one of the instances and each of the second elements represents relationships between or among the first elements. Further the model may include a plurality of third elements, each carrying instructions or data.