Configuration Management
In short, configuration management seeks to identify, monitor, and control product components. In other words, it allows full control over product components avoiding changes that should not occur. Activities included in it are, for example, registering the characteristics of the component. It also includes controlling the components by documenting the information of each component regarding their status, pieces of information, versions, person or team responsible, and how are related to other components. Another important activity is to implement a change control system to ensure that the team only implements approved changes. Finally, another activity is to audit the process to guarantee that only the approved components are available.
Configuration management is, also, known for:
- Ensuring that inside the project, is possible to manage, monitor, and also control the product components.
- Assuring the proper storage for the product
- Guarantees that the team only selected the necessary components to deliver the final product
- Last, but not least, it offers a system to record, monitor, and control de product and its components.
Configuration management has two major rules to guarantee that everything works well. The first rule is that only one person should be responsible for the configuration elements, and, therefore, only that person should be able to change them. Moreover, the second important rule is that that person should used to register changes and monitor the components’ progress.
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Configuration management and version control
Configuration management collects information necessary to update the components’ information in version control. The team should use version control practices with all products as well as documentation in the project. This is important, to guarantee that the team tracks all changes. It also helps the team to control the numerous modifications made in each product component or project document.
Roles and Responsibilities within Configuration Management
Like with any other project management process’ the team should define the roles, and responsibilities to ensure that everything works as planned.
In configuration management roles and responsibilities are normally:
- Sponsor – He/she should sponsor the configuration management approach to guarantee that everyone understands its importance
- Project Managers – Like with any other project plan, the project managers are responsible for developing the configuration management plan. They must decide how to manage configurations and documents, and how to share the information When the project is in progress they are also responsible for sharing the information with the relevant stakeholders.
- Project Management Office – The PMO should have the information regarding best practices and lessons learned from configuration management from previous projects. So, he should help the project manager by giving that information for the project manager to use.
In short, the importance of Configuration Management should not be underestimated because when it’s not properly done, projects can face dire consequences. Ensuring that all components are in line with what was planned and agreed upon keeps projects on track toward successful completion. Properly utilizing Configuration Management’s tools and techniques allows the project team to know exactly what is occurring with each component at each stage of the process.