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Configuration Management is the art of organizing, documenting and controlling systems which are continually evolving. It originated in the aerospace industry in the 1950s to enable accurate re-creation of the prototypes which were tested at various stages of the project. It has since been applied to many design and manufacturing processes.

Software Configuration Management has 4 main facets:

• Version Control - tracking the different software versions which exist as on-going application development work takes place.
• Environment Management - the control, at each stage of the project, of which version belongs in each environment, e.g. in development, in testing or released to the live site.
• Release Management - the control of software building for release.
• Process Control - the implementation of in-house procedures for software development.

Good Configuration Management has a key role in any mature software development process. It brings a number of important advantages:

• greater productivity
• an increase in software quality
• detailed management reporting
• faster response to customer needs and market changes
• a reduction in costs

Automating the process reduces the amount of time and effort which is expended on Configuration Management, while increasing the level of control.

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See Also: VC/m Overview