Introductory Notes

The Configuration Management process area involves the following:

• Identifying the configuration of selected work products that compose the baselines at given points in time

• Controlling changes to configuration items

• Building or providing specifications to build work products from the configuration management system

• Maintaining the integrity of baselines

• Providing accurate status and current configuration data to developers, end users, and customers

The work products placed under configuration management include the products that are delivered to the customer, designated internal work products, acquired products, tools, and other items that are used in creating and describing these work products. (See the definition of "configuration management" in the glossary.)

For Supplier Sourcing

Acquired products may need to be placed under configuration management by both the supplier and the project. Provisions for conducting configuration management should be established in supplier agreements. Methods to ensure that the data is complete and consistent should be established and maintained.

Examples of work products that may be placed under configuration management include the following:

• Plans

• Process descriptions

• Requirements

• Design data

• Drawings

• Product specifications

• Code

• Compilers

• Product data files

• Product technical publications

Configuration management of work products may be performed at several levels of granularity. Configuration items can be decomposed into configuration components and configuration units. Only the term "configuration item" is used in this process area. Therefore, in these practices, "configuration item" may be interpreted as "configuration component" or "configuration unit" as appropriate. (See the definition of "configuration item" in the glossary.)

Baselines provide a stable basis for continuing evolution of configuration items.

An example of a baseline is an approved description of a product that includes internally consistent versions of requirements, requirement traceability matrices, design, discipline-specific items, and end-user documentation.

Baselines are added to the configuration management system as they are developed. Changes to baselines and the release of work products built from the configuration management system are systematically controlled and monitored via the configuration control, change management, and configuration auditing functions of configuration management.

This process area applies not only to configuration management on projects, but also to configuration management on organization work products such as standards, procedures, and reuse libraries.

Configuration management is focused on the rigorous control of the managerial and technical aspects of work products, including the delivered system.

This process area covers the practices for performing the configuration management function and is applicable to all work products that are placed under configuration management.

Practice-to-Goal Relationship Table

Continuous Representation	Staged Representation
SG 1 Establish Baselines	SG 1 Establish Baselines
SP 1.1-1 Identify Configuration Items	SP 1.1-1 Identify Configuration Items
SP 1.2-1 Establish a Configuration Management System	SP 1.2-1 Establish a Configuration Management System
SP 1.3-1 Create or Release Baselines	SP 1.3-1 Create or Release Baselines
SG 2 Track and Control Changes	SG 2 Track and Control Changes
SP 2.1-1 Track Change Requests	SP 2.1-1 Track Change Requests
SP 2.2-1 Control Configuration Items	SP 2.2-1 Control Configuration Items
SG 3 Establish Integrity	SG 3 Establish Integrity
SP 3.1-1 Establish Configuration Management Records	SP 3.1-1 Establish Configuration Management Records
SP 3.2-1 Perform Configuration Audits	SP 3.2-1 Perform Configuration Audits
GG 1 Achieve Specific Goals
GP 1.1 Perform Base Practices
GG 2 Institutionalize a Managed Process	GG 2 Institutionalize a Managed Process
GP 2.1 Establish an Organizational Policy	GP 2.1 Establish an Organizational Policy
GP 2.2 Plan the Process	GP 2.2 Plan the Process
GP 2.3 Provide Resources	GP 2.3 Provide Resources
GP 2.4 Assign Responsibility	GP 2.4 Assign Responsibility
GP 2.5 Train People	GP 2.5 Train People
GP 2.6 Manage Configurations	GP 2.6 Manage Configurations
GP 2.7 Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders	GP 2.7 Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders
GP 2.8 Monitor and Control the Process	GP 2.8 Monitor and Control the Process
GP 2.9 Objectively Evaluate Adherence	GP 2.9 Objectively Evaluate Adherence
GP 2.10 Review Status with Higher Level Management	GP 2.10 Review Status with Higher Level Management
GG 3 Institutionalize a Defined Process	GG 3 Institutionalize a Defined Process
GP 3.1 Establish a Defined Process	GP 3.1 Establish a Defined Process
GP 3.2 Collect Improvement Information	GP 3.2 Collect Improvement Information
GG 4 Institutionalize a Quantitatively Managed Process
GP 4.1 Establish Quantitative Objectives for the Process
GP 4.2 Stabilize Subprocess Performance
GG 5 Institutionalize an Optimizing Process
GP 5.1 Ensure Continuous Process Improvement
GP 5.2 Correct Root Causes of Problems