The task of improving configuration management may seem overwhelming. What to do? Where to go? How to get there? The maturity models for (software) development may help. Although this is not a book about process improvement, this part will deal with some general aspects of that subject from a configuration management point of view.
Capability Levels
One of the maturity models used today, CMMI, defines six capability levels, as shown in Figure V-1. Using CCMI or BOOTSTRAP, for example, a company can obtain an appraisal of the capability of its configuration management process. Even without a formal assessment, the definitions of capability levels and configuration management may be a guideline for implementing or improving those activities.
Figure V-1. CMMI Capability Levels
A project reaches capability level 1 when configuration management is performed to a degree that satisfies the goals for that capability level. To reach capability level 1, therefore, you have to start performing some configuration management. A project reaches capability level 2 when configuration management is planned and the products produced under it are themselves under configuration management to a sufficient degree.
To reach capability level 3, a company must have defined a standard process and supporting assets for performing configuration management. At capability level 4, the defined processes must be controlled using statistical and other quantitative techniques. At capability level 5, the company must continually optimize configuration management based on an understanding of the common causes of process variation.
At any capability level, you have to gauge the configuration management according to numerous conditions and constraints as discussed above.
