The standards do cover more than just addressing stuff. However, some of them are "recommended" standards, which let people off the hook if they don't want to follow them.
If you are talking about "function mapping," then you are probably interested in CVs 33-46.
http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/standards_rps/rp922.html
Scroll down to Table 2, about 2/3 of the way down the page. This is where you set up how the decoder deals with function buttons and the forward-reverse lights, and how those interact with the various wires coming out of the decoder. These CVs are accessed normally via the programming track, if you want. They don't need the special manufacturer-specific programming devices.
If, on the other hand, you are trying to re-map sounds to different buttons, that's a completely different story. Soundtraxx decoders allow you to do limited re-mapping of sounds. Some decoders don't allow it at all. It's possible to re-map buttons on Digitrax SFX sound decoders, but you need access to the actual code, some knowledge of programming, a macro-compiler and a Digitrax PS3 to do that.
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