A Configuration
Management (CM) Definition:
CM is a management discipline for capturing and controlling product data. The goal of the CM discipline is to identify and control the product design and
build data from cradle to grave, i.e., including during the business activities
of proposal, contract negotiation, specification generation, design,
integration, test, manufacture, delivery, and support. It involves the
cooperation of all business personnel. A CM 'mindset' is a 'must' for today's
businesses, whether it be a small operation or an international corporation.
Product data must be fed to all partners of the business community, including
the customer, suppliers, subcontractors, and all internal and external company
program personnel. It is the job of the CM personnel to assure that 'everyone is
singing from the same sheet'.
The CM discipline establishes processes and procedures that may be implemented
either manually (as in the past) or via an automated system such as a Product
Data Management (PDM) system or a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system.
Data Management techniques are also employed in the accomplishment of CM goals.
CM is a comprised of five elements:
- Configuration Identification -- identify and document the product design and the
physical product; establish baselines
- Configuration Control -- identify and resolve problems; manage the configuration
and design change process
- Configuration Audits -- verify CM processes
- Configuration Status Reporting -- provide CM information to all who need it
- CM Planning -- identify, negotiate and document CM processes for each program;
establish roles and responsibilities
Program-specific processes and procedures make up each of these elements.
Configuration Management deals with the control of both the product design data
(files/paper) and the physical product, itself.
Some of you who are reading this definition may ask: "Whatever happened to the
older, classical definitions of CM?" They are listed below for anyone who likes
to read MIL-STD material:
MIL-STD-973 definition:
As applied to configuration items, a discipline applying technical and
administrative direction and surveillance over the life cycle of items to:
- Identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of
configuration items.
- Control changes to configuration items and their related documentation
- Record and report information needed to manage configuration items effectively,
including the
- Status of proposed changes and implementation status of approved changes
- Audit configuration items to verify conformance to specifications, drawings,
interface control documents, and other contract requirements
As applied to digital data files, the application of selected configuration
identification and configuration status accounting principles to:
- Uniquely identify the digital data files, including versions of the files and
their status (e.g. working, released, submitted, approved)
- Record and report information needed to manage the data files effectively,
including the status of updated versions of the files
How would you like to articulate that job definition to someone you just met at
a party or ran into on the street?
EIA 649 made life a little easier by providing the
following definition of CM:
A management process for establishing and maintaining consistency of a
product's performance, functional and physical attributes with respect to its
requirements, design and operational information throughout its life.
Configuration Audits -- verify CM processes" should include: "
Assure that
the product works and can be produced by verifification that compliance with its
requirements is verified through design evaluation tests (Functional
Configuration Audit) and by assuring that it conforms to its build documentation
(Physical Configuration Audit)." The new definition for CM: "A management
discipline for capturing and controlling product data" is pretty much
universally accepted, now. It really should supersede or at least come before
the older definitions .
Definition provided by David Lyon
Configuration
Management
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