May 02, 2015 baselines a baseline is a software configuration management concept that helps us to control change. Jk rowling, harvard commencement address, 2008 a change request is a formal request to make a change to a baselined configuration item. Interface management identifies, develops, and maintains the external and internal interfaces necessary for system operation. Deviations, waivers and variances may indicate the need for a change request as recurring relaxing of requirements are not allowed. Cm is the application of sound program practices to establish and maintain consistency of a products or systems attributes with its requirements and evolving technical baseline over its life. There is clear service impact because at least one customer is affected by the change. It defines those items that are configurable, those that require formal change control, and the process for controlling changes to such items.
Broadly speaking, change management is a set of standardized methods and procedures that minimize the effect of changerelated incidents within the it organization. The following organizations in the information technology it services division will be involved in configuration management activities for the. The goal of this subsystem is to manage fundamental project constraints of scope, time, cost and quality. A baseline may also be established as the basis for future activities. In addition, two cm entities the sn change control board and the sn working group will provide crossorganizational cm control and. Involving factors configuration manager programmer cm operational scenario userproject manager 9. Training provides best practices to be followed while conducting cm activities in the organization, including selection of cm tool, change log, change impact analysis, baselining, versioning, storage of. Configuration management new versions of software systems are created as they change for different machinesos offering different functionality tailored for particular user requirements configuration management is concerned with managing evolving software systems system change is a team activity cm aims to control the. What are some examples of software configuration management. Configuration management cm is an information technology infrastructure library version 2 and an it service management process that tracks all of the individual configuration items ci in an it system which may be as simple as a single server, or as complex as the entire it department. Recognize the roles of cm team members and the relationships among them. Release management is the responsibility of a release managerwho works with a project managerto manage release activities, also called release components. And not only is it easy to change, but it is unconstrained by the physical laws that serve as the guardrails of what is possible with hardware systems. Software configuration management kansas state university.
Typical work products configuration management system with controlled work products. Very likely, someone would break the software because their changes didnt integrate with. The software configuration management activity, however, must not delay or impede the rapid software development schedule necessary to meet the harsh time to market needs of the eworld. Apply to software engineer, configuration manager, quality assurance tester and more.
Uncontrolled and undirected, imagination can quickly give rise to nightmare. Use configuration manager to help you with the following systems management activities. This key process area covers the practices for performing the software configuration mangement function. Change management, or more commonly called as software configuration management scm, is an activity that is applied throughout the software process. How to perform integrated change control in project. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. Its implementation is guided by international standards and procedures, in addition to an array of supporting tools. Change request submitted and evaluated to assess technical merit, potential side effects, overall impact on other configuration object and system function, and project cost of change. Sample it change management policies and procedures guide. Software configuration management scm is a supporting software life cycle process that benefits project management, development and maintenance activities, quality assurance activities, as well as the customers and users of the end product. Metadata is a database concept that means data about the data stored in the database. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was. The rfc must be discussed in the change advisory board cab meeting and approved by the change manager.
Dec 11, 2019 the main difference between the change management and configuration management systems is that change management deals with process, plans, and baselines, while configuration management deals with product specifications. Software configuration management linkedin slideshare. Software configuration management project management 101. Configuration management encompasses the technical and administrative activities concerned with the creation, maintenance, controlled change and quality control of the scope of work a configuration is the functional and physical characteristics of a product as defined in its specification and achieved through the deployment of project management plans. Basically, a change management plan is a generic plan that guides the project manager in terms of making any kind of change on the project, specially the ones that can impact the baselines scope, time, cost baselines, whereas, a configuration management plan only guides you in making changes which are specific to the product configuration. When thinking about change management, it is important to recognize there are strategic, tactical, and operational changes that need to be defined and managed to support your organizational service goals. Configuration management is essential to handle the influence of difference or changes in the configuration of the information systemnetwork. Jul, 2017 the number one activity is source code control. In software engineering, software configuration management scm or sw cm is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger crossdisciplinary field of configuration management.
Request for change rfc aka request for change proposal rfp. Itil change management change management process flow. Change control tools should support the following configuration management activities. It supports in streamlining the processes of change management and protect changes, which could detrimentally impact the security position of the system before they occur. Rfcs and rfps result in a change proposal that goes back to the customer for approval. Software configuration management is responsible for a weekly status report to the software engineering manager. In software engineering, software configuration management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger crossdisciplinary field of configuration management. For those planning software configuration management activities, this standard provides guidelines into the aspects which must be considered. Software configuration management involves identifying configuration items for. Change control is function of configuration management, which ensures that all changes made to software system are consistent and made as per organizational rules and regulations. Change control is manual step in software lifecycle. It is an environment needed to apply change management processes to admin all changes related to the organization project.
According to, a software developer, release management contributes to improved productivity, cost savings and increased efficiency of internal resources. Technically, every team employs some form of scm, whether they. Scm practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines. This chapter is the updated version of the software configuration management scm generally accepted knowledge to be used as a consistent view of this software engineering topic worldwide. The scm activities are management and planning of the scm process.
Itil change management process includes different steps that capture every detail about a change request for future tracking. Software has its own need for configuration management see section 3. Configuration management vs change management pm study circle. How to use configuration management in context of cmmi. An engineering change request ecr is generated for each approved change. A better model for software configuration management that is clearly understood and is scaleable is the subject of this paper. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies.
A configuration management plan documents how configuration management will be performed. Most of the time the eco process is enormously more cumbersome than software development could use and still stay productive. Its purpose is to ensure that all changes to a complex. Impact, urgency, and priority criteria bmc software.
The primary goal is to increase productivity with minimal mistakes. It is abbreviated as the scm process in software engineering. Software configuration management scm is a supportingsoftware life cycle process. It emphasizes the importance of configuration control in managing software production. In large organizations a configuration manager may be appointed to oversee and manage the cm process. When change request is identified formally, it is properly documented. Scm is the process of identifying and defining the items in the system, controlling the. But, there are a few important points of difference between configuration management vs change management. A few participants said that configuration management plan is part of change management plan.
A practical guide 042500 ii acknowledgements this document was prepared for the department of energy doe by a working group of the doe quality managers software quality assurance subcommittee sqas. Cmm key practices for level 2 software configuration management. Changes to baselines and the release of software products built from the software baseline library are systematically controlled via the change control and configuration auditing functions of software configuration management. A change management system includes the storage media, the procedures, and tools for recording and accessing change requests. Itil change management itil change management process. Although cm can seem laborious, if not employed, the. Software configuration management helps to limit this. Software configuration management jobs, employment. A change in the configuration of product goes through following steps identification a change request arrives from either internal or external source. This module introduces software configuration management scm as a. All the members of the project are involved in the software configuration management activities. Change control process is illustrated in following figure 2. Configuration management is unique identification, controlled storage, change control, and status reporting of selected intermediate work products, product components, and products during the life of a system. Pdf basic activities of software configuration management.
Verify and conduct an audit of all configurations are as per the requirements. Software configuration management plan introduction scope and intent of scm activities the primary focus of the software configuration management scm is to identify and control major software changes, ensure that change is being properly implemented, and report changes to any other personnel or clients who may have an interest. How change management and configuration management differ. Scm activities v software configuration management scm activities. Configuration control implementing a controlled change process. Release management process is responsible for successful deployment. Cmdb manages relationships across devices and change management process understands this relationship and impact before rolling out any new deployment. Software configuration management patterns software configuration management structure is comprised of a series of patterns that create an organization chart for developing software. You can watch and listen to the live video presentation on configuration management here. Software configuration management plan introduction. Configuration management cm a support process area at maturity level 2 purpose the purpose of configuration management cm is to establish and maintain the integrity of work products using configuration identification, configuration control, configuration status accounting, and configuration audits. Charles darwin configuration control is an important function of the configuration management discipline. This stage involves tracking what each version has and the changes that.
The configuration management system is a subsystem of overall project management. A real world example of change and configuration management. The key is to understand the touch points between the two. Feb 11, 2016 software configuration management software configuration management is a set of activities that have been developed to manage change throughout the life cycle of computer software. The program manager pm is responsible configuration management cm on their project or program. You do the following during configuration management. A configuration management system includes the storage media, the procedures, and the tools for accessing the configuration system. Change management, perhaps most notably, is powerful and farreaching, in that it supports every stage of the itil life cycle. Empower user productivity by providing the right software at the right time. Software configuration management an overview sciencedirect. Jun 02, 2017 however, the traditional approach of independent configuration management activities and configuration management roles is conducive to various forms of waste. Software configuration management in software engineering. Configuration management deals with identification, maintenance, status reporting, and verification of configurable items whereas change management deals with identification, impact analysis, documentation, and approving or rejecting of. Basic activities of software configuration management.
Software configuration management encompasses the disciplines and techniques of initiating, evaluating, and controlling change to software products during and after the development process. Software configuration management is a crucial activity for any software development effort. Jun 28, 2016 is configuration management part of change management. Unified change management is a softwareconfiguration management process for software development that spans the development life cycle, managing change to requirements, design models, documentation, components, test cases, and source code fundamental to ucm is the unification of the activities used to plan and track project progress. A few months ago, there was an interesting discussion on one of the linkedin forum.
In software engineering, software configuration management is the task of tracking and. The discussion was focused on configuration management vs change management. Its the process by which it admins or software track and identify changes that occur within an environment. In this case, change control has decided that a new version of the con. The change management process begins with the creation of a change request within. Software configuration management is defined as a process to systematically manage, organize, and control the changes in the documents, codes, and other entities during the software development life cycle. Basically, a change management plan is a generic plan that guides the project manager in terms of making any kind. What are configuration management activities in pmp. In a lean approach, these forms of waste are to be eliminated wherever possible. Cherwells itilbased visual workflows guide you through each core activity of change management.
Change management might involve changes to configuration items cis that are part of configuration management database,cmdb. Each pattern represents a step where code is either written, tested, or integrated into another pattern and eventually released as a new version of the software. Software configuration management involves identifying the configuration of the software i. Software configuration management software configuration management scm is the process of identifying and defining the scis in the system and coordinating the changes made to these items a formal definition. The four components of a configuration management system. Clearquest this tool is a change request management application that allows. Software configuration management is the discipline of managing the evolution of complex software systems ieee std 1987. Software configuration management can be functionally broken out into the areas of 1 version control, 2 document control, 3 change management 4 build management, and 5 release control.
Use the visualization manager to know in advance how changes will impact your assets, and eliminate conflictsboth upstream and downstream. Configuration management cm software quality assurance. Branches are used when activities could destabilize the main line or. Document and change management status accounting is the responsibility of the change control board and the system change management analyst. Software engineering system configuration management. Software configuration management scm process and procedure. Activities and roles in software configuration management some terminology configuration item, baseline, scm directory, version, revision release. At the process level, software maintenance activities share much in common with software development for example, software configuration management is a crucial activity in both. Software configuration management scm is a supportingsoftware life cycle process that benefits project management, development and maintenance activities, quality assurance activities, as well as the customers and users of the end product. The deadline is rapidly approaching and the team is assembled, ready to implement the recent revision changes made to both the system hardware and software. Maintenance also requires several activities that are not found in software development see section 3. Incident response and configuration management nist sp 800 100.
This guide defines and explains what software configuration management is, provides guidelines on how to do it, and defines in detail what a software configuration management plan should contain. Department of energy quality managers software quality. Configuration management vs change management pm study. Jul 01, 2014 software configuration management scm is a software engineering discipline consisting of standard processes and techniques often used by organizations to manage the changes introduced to its software products. In simple terms, change management needs a view of the infrastructure to. It supports control measures configuration management to ensure that all internal and external interface requirement changes are properly documented in accordance with the configuration management plan and communicated to all affected configuration items. System configuration management scm is an arrangement of exercises which controls change by recognizing the items. For those implementing software configuration management disciplines can use the sample configuration management plan attached. This is where instead of just saving your code to your desktop where you might lose it, or at least forget what it looked like yesterday before you decided to refactor everything and break everythin. Software configuration management activities promotion management, release management, change management outline of a software configuration.
Software configuration management plan environment. Software configuration management is a process to systematically manage. The change manager seeks advice on change authorization and planning. Basic concepts of scm configuration management activities configuration management tools conclusions references introduction definition of scm. Tools for managing software change requests support the change. Because change can occur at any time, scm activities are developed to. Configuration change management is usually described in the project change control plan or in a separate configuration management plan if project size and complexity justify it. Software configuration management scm is the adaptation of configuration management in software engineering to control changes to software products. Itil recommends implementing change management in conjunction with configuration management, but you dont need to implement 100% of configuration management before you can get started with change management. These processes ensure that the change is validated and tested before it moves to deployment. Increase it productivity and efficiency by reducing manual tasks and letting you focus on highvalue projects. Record and prepare a report for all configurable items. Software is bounded only by the limits of the human imagination.
Dqs india, cmmi authorised partner, provides configuration management training for better management of cm activities in your organization. Its perfectly okay for a company to use its own definition of configuration management, but its a good idea to investigate how that definition maps to the definition used in this book and other relevant definitions, to make sure no activity has been left out. It is a supporting software life cycle process that benefits several activities. The software configuration management process traces changes and verifies that the. Ccm is a continuous process of controlling and approving changes to information or. Actually in this project the same actor can be in charge of many activities. An example of a change management system can be additional funding requirements or a schedule extension, while an example of. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was changed and who changed it. Software configuration management scm can be defined as the control of the evolution of complex software systems. Software configuration management scm can be defined as the control of the evolution of complex. Software change, configuration and release management.
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