Q. What do you mean by Configuration Management?

Because of several reasons software changes during its life cycle. Consequently of the change made multiple versions of the software exist at one time. These changes should be managed controlled and documented properly in order to have reliable systems. Configuration management assists the developers to manage these changes systematically by applying procedures as well as standards and by using automated tools.

Although multiple versions of the software exist in the tool repository merely one official version of set of project components exist called baseline. The diverse components of the baseline are called configuration items. A few examples of configuration items are SRS, project plan, Design document, test plans and user manuals etc. A group of people comprise Configuration Control Board (CCB) which controls the changes to be made to the software. When changes are to be made the following steps are followed

(i) Submit the change demand along with details to CCB

(ii) CCB accesses the change demand after proper evaluation.

(iii) Depending upon the results and the request is either accepted or rejected or can be deferred for the future assessment.

(iv) If accepted appropriate plan is prepared to implement the change.

(v) Once changes are made subsequent to validating by the quality personnel all configuration items are updated.

A number of popular configuration management tools are Clear CASE Visual Source Safe etc.