The purpose of the configuration and change management workflow is to maintain the integrity of the project artifacts as they evolve in response to change requests .
Configuration management deals with the product structure, identification of elements, version, valid configuration of elements, and workspaces.
Change request management encompasses the process of modifying artifacts in a consistent fashion.
Status and metrics can be extracted from configuration and change management information to assist in status assessment.
Tools such as ClearCase and ClearQuest automate the most tedious aspects of this workflow.