We received some questions about how configuration management and change management work together. Configuration management is a component of the change management process. The business requirements or demands drive the scope, which is a project management function (requirements elicitation and control of scope). On completion of the elicitation, we have the scope baseline for the […]

Another piece of the configuration management pie is the ability to move backward and forward from revision to revision. To demonstrate the importance of this concept I will relate a story. There once was a developer who was writing in assembly language for a new product.  He was incrementally developing the features for the product […]

Configuration auditing occurs so we can verify that what we said we were going to do actually happened. MIL-STD-973 specifies two flavors of auditing: functional and physical. Functional configuration auditing occurs when we verify that the change functions as the engineering change proposal specified it would. A change can be to hardware, software, or both […]

Configuration control is generally, what first comes to mind when somebody brings up the topic of configuration management (CM). While it lies at the heart of the system, all the components of a CM system are critical. The purpose of this component is to: Maintain and control configuration baselines (known and defined states) Document and […]

MIL-STD-973 lists configuration identification as the first step in the configuration management (CM) process. We do not think this is some bureaucratic whim, but rather, one of the most important components of CM. Are speaking about systems, subsystems, components, parts, software revisions, and more? The simple answer is, yes! To avoid confusion when using bills […]

Once we are using a configuration management (CM) system, how do we ascertain the status of our engineering change? Configuration status accounting (CSA) is the method by which we accomplish this record tracking. We can get software support by using a dedicated tool or implementing a dedicated database that tracks what we want tracked: Approved/rejected […]

One of the principal roles of configuration management (CM) is to protect us from ourselves. In so doing, we also protect our suppliers and our customers. When high school or college students first encounter bills of materials, they experience shock and awe. An automotive wire harness with 368 leads must have a bill of materials […]

We have hardly seen instances of this issue being discussed. We are painfully aware of the large extent we often require of configuration management because we have to work with tools in the embedded environment called “cross-compilers.” These tools allow the developer to work in a familiar programming language such as C and then produce […]

We have discussed some issues regarding configuration management already and we will continue to discuss this underlying topic in this blog—it is that important! Mass customization presents specific issues. Mass customization occurs when set up our systems such that customers have the ability to request substantial modifications. Mass customization works when we take some sensible […]

We take a time out from the configuration management discussion. We see in the news numerous companies with field quality problems and we cannot help but think of the discussions we have had with colleagues about how many organizations handle their product testing. Testing, done right, is a lead indicator of product quality. It is […]