Articles Questions

Updated June 8, 2023

How Do SemVer Versions Map to Significant Changes for a Medical Device?

Dr. Oliver Eidel

Question

We’re using semantic versioning (semver) for assigning version numbers to our software which we want to certify as a medical device. For future updates, We’re currently trying to understand what constitutes a significant change. We’re wondering: Semver structures the version number as major.minor.patch. Does that mean that we can only increment the patch number as otherwise we’d be making a significant change and would have to get approval of our notified body?

Short Answer

No. You can increment whatever number you want. It depends entirely on the content of the change, not your version number. See my answer on significant changes.

Long Answer

When assessing (significant) changes, it’s all about what you’re changing, not what your new version number will look like. See the answer linked above.

Consider this thought experiment: Instead of semver, you use a versioning scheme which just has one integer number which is incremented. So the first release would be version 1 and the 25th release would be version 25. There’s no way to tell which release contains “major” changes in the semver sense. But some of those changes might still have been significant in the context of a medical device.

So: Use whatever versioning scheme you want, increment the numbers however you like, but assess the content of your changes whether they’re significant.

On a slighty different note: You want to get your medical software certified under MDR but don't know where to start? No worries! That's why we built the Wizard. It's a self-guided video course which helps you create your documentation yourself. No prior knowledge required. You should check it out.

Or, if you're looking for the most awesome (in our opinion) eQMS software to manage your documentation, look no further. We've built Formwork, and it even has a free version!

If you're looking for human help, did you know that we also provide some limited consulting? It's limited because we are not many people. We guide startups from start to finish in their medical device compliance.

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Dr. Oliver Eidel

I'm a medical doctor, software engineer and regulatory dude. I'm also the founder of OpenRegulatory.

Through OpenRegulatory, I've helped 100+ companies with their medical device compliance. While it's also my job that we stay profitable, I try to dedicate a lot of my time towards writing free content like our articles and templates. Maybe that will make consulting unnecessary some day? :)

If you're still lost and have further questions, just send me an email.

Read more about me here.

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