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Page 99 Of The Blue Book – Configuration Management System

Paul Naybour Paul Naybour

Published: 30th August 2012

I have just finished section 5, and am reviewing the exam questions at the end of the section on configuration management. The second question (on p 99) says “Describe five aspects of a configuration management system” but this doesnt seem to be answered in the text. Can anyone help? When the question says “aspects” I assume it means characteristics.

Thanks

  1. Paul says:

    Gordon, not it is asking about planning, identification etc, you have answered the benefits of configuration management.

  2. Student says:

    “Describe five aspects of a configuration management system”

    Assuming this is NOT asking us to describe the process of Planning, Identification, Control, Status Accounting, Audit, but rather, to contextualise the function within the PM enterprise:-

    1. Contributes to Quality Assurance. All stakeholders; from the Project Board to the client, benefit from the transparency that captures change, through change control, in configuration baseline maintenance. The Configuration Management Plan, for example, establishes the project team’s responsibilities against which the team can be called to account: to demonstrate adherence.
    2. Contributes to quality control. The Design Function specifies a configuration baseline ensuring components are fit for purpose and configuration management ensures that any change is routed through the Design Function for approval: ensuring ‘fitness for purpose’ persists: despite, and through managed change.
    3. Underpins change management. There is much overlap between change and configuration management but it is clear the need to maintain delivered system integrity: the configuration baseline represents, demands a Change Management system while configuration management must be invoked pending any decision on change to both assess consequences (and risk) as well as formally approving and tracking change.
    4. Reduces risk. For example; introducing changes to a designed system will engender a cascade of consequences which may or may not affect the altered design’s fitness for purpose and constitutes a risk that may vary in probability and impact from catastrophic to non existent. Configuration Management addresses and controls this risk.
    5. Vital Handover Documentation. A project may take years from Concept to Handover and incur a multitude of changes in components and functioning. Configuration management nails the history and status at handover leaving the client with a finely documented record not only what is but how it came to be that way.

  3. Student says:

    Thanks John. Not feeling very confident about the exam if I cant even understand the question!

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