The purpose of Software Configuration Management is to establish and maintain the integrity of the products of the software project throughout the project's software life cycle. Software Configuration Management involves identifying configuration items for the software project, controlling these configuration items and changes to them, and recording and reporting status and change activity for these configuration items [SEI 2000a].
Configuration management (CM) refers to a discipline for evaluating, coordinating, approving or disapproving, and implementing changes in arti-facts that are used to construct and maintain software systems. An artifact may be a piece of hardware or software or documentation. CM enables the management of artifacts from the initial concept through design, implementation, testing, baselining, building, release, and maintenance.
At its heart, CM is intended to eliminate the confusion and error brought about by the existence of different versions of artifacts. Artifact change is a fact of life: plan for it or plan to be overwhelmed by it. Changes are made to correct errors, provide enhancements, or simply reflect the evolutionary refinement of product definition. CM is about keeping the inevitable change under control. Without a well-enforced CM process, different team members (possibly at different sites) can use different versions of artifacts unintentionally; individuals can create versions without the proper authority; and the wrong version of an artifact can be used inadvertently. Successful CM requires a well-defined and institutionalised set of policies and standards that clearly define
- the set of artefacts (configuration items) under the jurisdiction of CM
- how artefacts are named
- how artefacts enter and leave the controlled set
- how an artefact under CM is allowed to change
- how different versions of an artefact under CM are made available and under what conditions each one can be used
- how CM tools are used to enable and enforce CM
- These policies and standards are documented in a CM plan that informs everyone in the organisation just how CM is carried out.
