An element management system in which: a list of fully-qualified versions
of network elements is maintained, and the interface to each network
element is managed in accordance with the highest fully-qualified version
which is no later than the network element's actual version date, EVEN IF
there is also a fully-qualified later version. By specifying a "managed
level" which is fully qualified and is guaranteed not to be later than
the actual revision of the network element, the possibility of hidden
incompatibility is reduced. (Network elements are expected to be
backwards compatible, but the addition of features may introduce some
hidden forward incompatibility.).