6.4 Types of Objects in Cross-Organizational Perspective

Cross-Organizational Perspective

All companies have some cross-organizational objects or assets for which configuration management should be considered . This may be administrative documents, company product assets, infrastructure, or a quality system. Again, some examples are given for each of the abovementioned types, to serve as inspiration.

Administrative Documents

Administrative documents to place under configuration management may for example be correspondence ( letters , e-mail, faxes), sales material ( brochures , prototypes , presentations), order- related material (proposals, tender material, contracts), and plans (company vision, strategic plans, organizational plans, personnel plans). Some of these types may be project specific; others may be for an entire company or a smaller administrative unit within a company.

These types of objects are not often placed under configuration management, but it may be worth considering doing so, at least for some of the more important ones. What is important is, however, a company decision.

Company Product Assets

The development of products using a product-line approach is usually under cross-organizational responsibility. The company product assets may also be known as components for reuse. Such assets may be anything from the smallest piece of source code to entire subsystems. Inspiration for what to place under configuration management may be found in the two previous sections, as assets may be seen from both a product and a project perspective, and in the following section, as assets may well be deliveries. It is especially important to keep company product assets under strict configuration management, as much work depends on them; it's important that they remain assets and do not become liabilities.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure in a company provides the environments in which the employees work, such as development, test, production, and administration. For all types, the objects to place under configuration management may include development tools (compilers, linkers), hardware (personal computers, printers, workstations), operating systems, networks, and tools (word processors, drawing programs, and technical tools such as design and test tools).

Quality System

The "quality system" is the formal term for what may also be known as the company's process descriptions or documentation that describes how the company conducts its business. These may include process descriptions, templates, and standards. These may seem like a few simple object types, but it may be a huge task to keep them under configuration management. It's important for a company that wants to do well to have a good configuration management system for these types of objects.