12.2 CM standards

12.2.2 MIL-STD-483 CM Practices for Systems, Equipment, Munitions, and Computer Programs

The MIL-STD-483 is from the late 1970s. This standard defines CM practices, which are to be adjusted to specific programs and implemented by the contract work statement. The standard is approved for use by the Department of the Air Force and is available for use by all departments and agencies of the Department of Defense. The standard is arranged in two parts: general requirements for CM and appendixes, which supplement or add CM requirements not contained in some other military standards. The scope of the first part is to establish requirements for CM in the following areas: CM plan, configuration identification, configuration control, configuration audits, interface control, engineering release control, and CM reports /records. The purpose is to establish uniform CM practices that can be adjusted to all U.S. Air Force systems. This standard supplements or adds CM requirements not contained in MIL-STD-480, MIL-STD-481, MIL-STD-482, and MIL-STD-490.

12.2.3 ISO 10007:1995 Quality Management—Guidelines for CM

This standard is from the mid 1990s and is a guidance document only. It provides a set of guidelines that may be used to improve performance in the field. The standard provides a management overview and describes the process, organization, and detailed procedures. It is applicable to the support of projects from concept through design, development, procurement, production, installation, operation, and maintenance and to the disposal of products.

The CM process comprises the following integrated activities:

• Configuration identification —product structure creation, selection of CIs, documentation of CIs, numbering, and establishment of configuration baselines.

• Configuration control —to control all changes of CIs. Control includes evaluation, coordination, approval, and implementation of changes.

• Configuration status accounting —to record and report information of all CIs and all exemptions from the specified configuration baseline. All waivers and deviations must also be processed .

• Configuration auditing —to ensure that the product complies with its contracted or specified requirements and that the configuration documents accurately reflects the product.

The standard amplifies the CM elements found in ISO 9004-1. Other referenced standards are shown in Table 12.2.

12.2.4 EIA-649 Nonconsensus Standard for CM

A joint committee of the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) developed this standard. The standard discusses CM principles and practices from an enterprise view; it does not prescribe which CM activities individual organizations or teams within the enterprise should perform. Each enterprise assigns responsibilities in accordance with its own management policy.

In this standard, CM is described in terms of the following interrelated processes:

• CM planning and management. This process contains activities such as define application environment; select tools, techniques, and methods suitable for the environment; plan implementation; integrate CM with enterprise-defined processes, prepare procedures, perform training, and measure performance.

• Configuration identification. This process contains the following activities: define product structure to be managed, assign unique identifiers, select configuration documents, define product attributes and interfaces, review and coordinate configuration documentation, establish release process and baseline configuration documentation for design control, and ensure marking or labeling of products and documentation with applicable identifiers.

• Configuration change management. This process contains the following activities: identify a need for change, document each request for change, evaluate each change, classify each request, obtain required approvals , plan change implementation, implement change, and verify reestablished consistency of services, training, and product, documentation, operation, and maintenance information.

• Configuration status accounting. This process contains activities such as identify and customize information requirements; capture and report information about product configuration status, configuration documentation, current and old baselines, change requests , change proposals, and change notices; and provide availability and retrievability of data consistent with the needs of the various users.

• Configuration verification and audit. This process contains activities such as verify product; assure consistency of release information and product/modification information; conduct formal audit when required; review performance requirements, test plans, results, and other evidence to determine that the product performs as specified; record discrepancies; review to close out or determine action; record action items; and track action items to closure via status accounting.

• CM of digital data . This process contains the following activities: apply identification rules to document representations and files, use business rules based on status for change management and archiving of data, maintain data-product relationships, apply disciplined version control, assure accurate data transmittal, and provide controlled access.

EIA 649 was prepared in partnership with the Department of Defense CM Advisory Group, with the intent that MIL-STD-973 be canceled when a nongovernment standard (EIA 649) and MIL-STD-2549, CM Data Interface Standard, are available.

Table 12.3 shows standards that EIA 649 refers to: EIA 649 is compatible with certain other standards shown in Table 12.4.