Software configuration management scm a practical guide. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was changed and who changed it. To remove a configuration item from the configuration baseline, select a configuration item, and then click remove. Ci a component of a system that is treated as a self contained unit for the purposes of identification and change control.
Specify the important characteristics of each configuration item. A baseline is a configuration of a hardware, software, or system at a. In a new incident or problem, cis in which operational status is retired are filtered out from the configuration item list on the form. The challenge for configuration management solutions is that these software tools need the capability to provide and manage the released revision of the associated documentation at any point in time so the above comparable questions can be answered, and done so by users who may not be cm experts. Identify the associated artifacts to be contained in the programs technical baselines. Configuration management interacts with quality assurance, as illustrated by the item approval process that accompanies a configuration item from production to storage. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organize the development process. A configuration item, or ci, is anything uniquely identifiable that can be changed independently. Explaining configuration item ci, cmdb, cms and dml.
The steps to performing configuration management are as follows. Hardware configuration items in asx configuration management. Dec 27, 2016 a configuration item, or ci, is anything uniquely identifiable that can be changed independently. Starting in version 1806, select if you want to always apply this baseline for comanaged clients. Workload automation is still used by many organizations to handle eventbased scheduling and resource management across applications, databases, and. What are hardware configuration items and how are they used. It services are typically made up of a bunch of individual components things like servers, software and middleware, and unique configuration information. Simply put, for software development, a baseline is a static i. This revision of the standard expands the previous version to explain cm, including identifying and acquiring configuration items, controlling changes, reporting the status of configuration items, as well as software builds and release engineering. Erp needs a robust capability to track and support engineering changes. A software baseline locks in a version, build number, or release number at a particular moment in time. It is abbreviated as the scm process in software engineering. A configuration item, on the other hand, is subject to change control, which is baselinedand thats not true for every asset.
Configuration management is all about identifying, defining and mapping all your assets and their relationships to one another. This is the main table holding a record for each trackable configuration item. This is often named software configuration management scm. Oct 17, 2019 the design drawings are the configuration item, and its history is tracked because it has implications to potential project scope changes. Good leaders in the tech space will want to know what it takes to implement it. A product data management system or engineering document control system is a logical approach to addressing this and other documentation needs.
Use configuration items and configuration management. Sep 12, 2019 configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. Specify when each configuration item is placed under configuration management. Example configuration item hierarchy software configuration management is formally defined in ansiieee std 610.
Examples of cis include individual requirements documents, software, models, and plans. The cii when combined with the items part number, serial numberlot number, and the commercial and government entity cage code, definitively identifies a companys product from any other. The createtask ci action is used as a reference qualifier to the configuration item field of the incidentproblem tables. Software configuration item an overview sciencedirect.
Cis are the basic units of configuration management. Examples of configuration items include software and applications, locations and offices, employees and customers, documentation, hardware and companies, and even your incidents, changes and customers. Software engineering system configuration management. For more information about configuration item revisions, see management tasks for configuration data. The tailoring of this standard as it applies to this document is. After that, this article zooms in on the use of software configuration items sci. Create configuration baselines configuration manager. Each configuration item is also linked to a parent catalog item, and it is possible to display all of the other configuration items for that catalog item in the configuration management system cms.
The primary goal is to increase productivity with minimal mistakes. The goal of scm is to improve the speed of and quality by catching errors early and enabling quick fixes when they occur. This logical grouping provides ease of identification and controlled access. Configuration management database cmdb computer weekly. Software configuration management scm is a supportingsoftware life cycle process that benefits project management, development and maintenance activities, quality assurance activities, as well as the customers and users of the end product. A ci record within the cmdb contains the following data. Changes may be required to modify or update any existing solution or to create a new solution for a problem. They are used in service management, change management, configuration management, incident management and a variety of other processes related to directing and controlling change. The configurationmanagement system oversees the life of the cis through a combination of processes. Software configuration management scm process and procedure. The representations of these entities in the cmdb are configuration items cis. Configuration item management itil documentation agiloft help. Example characteristics of configuration items include author, document or file type, and programming language for software code files. Jan 05, 2017 with the help of processes and tools, configuration management looks after the configuration items, especially with regards to change management, status accounting, identification and any audits.
Configuration item ci cio wiki it management glossary. All configuration items cis are uniquely identified by ci registration codes and version numbers. Checklist configuration item ci record from the itil process map v2. Ein ci kann jede vorstellbare itkomponente sein, beispielsweise software. Administrators, technicians, and software developers can use.
Configuration management is focused on managing asset information that can be managed and controlled. It can have many child cis, such as an operating system, application software, and hardware components. In itil terminology, configuration items ci are components of an infrastructure that currently is, or soon will be under configuration management. Through the use of patterns, the authors show that a properly managed workflow can avert delays, morale problems, and cost overruns. Its predecessor defined only the contents of a software configuration management plan. Software configuration management is the process of identifying and defining the software configuration items in a system, controlling the release and change of these items throughout the system lifecycle, recording and reporting the. However, in the world of software development, a configuration management process is also identified. Software engineering system configuration management whenever a software is build, there is always scope for improvement and those improvements brings changes in picture. Jul 01, 2014 software configuration management scm is a software engineering discipline consisting of standard processes and techniques often used by organizations to manage the changes introduced to its software products.
Devops code software configuration items best read on. A configuration management system is basically just a set of tools like databases, files, etc. The configuration management system oversees the life of the cis through a combination of processes and tools by implementing and enabling the. Software configuration management encompasses the disciplines and techniques of initiating, evaluating and controlling change to software products during and after a software project standards approved by ansi ieee 828. Without a clear definition of what qualifies as a ci, you will constantly struggle with deciding whether to put certain kinds of data into the cmdb. With the help of processes and tools, configuration management looks after the configuration items, especially with regards to change management, status accounting, identification and any audits. What are hardware configuration items and how are they. Configuration item ci a configuration item is an entity in a configuration management solution such as a cmdb. Eine cmdb configuration management databasekonfigurationsdatenbank enthalt. Software configuration management scm is a software engineering discipline consisting of standard processes and techniques often used by organizations to manage the changes introduced to its software products.
List configuration items each item that requires tracking should be identified. Checklist configuration item ci record it process wiki. This is related to the older workload automation category of software. The term configuration item ci refers to the fundamental structural unit of a configuration management system. Software configuration management a aa ab ac aaa aab aca acb version 1 version 2 version 3 version 4 figure 2. Itil v3 describes configuration item ci as a subset of service asset that has a direct impact on service delivery and needs to be managed in order to deliver an it service in itil, configuration items cis are those service assets which are configurable and can be managed through change management. Identification this is the specification of all it components configuration items and their inclusion in a configuration management database cmdb control this is the management of each configuration item, specifying who is authorized to change it.
Software configuration management is defined as a process to systematically manage, organize, and control the changes in the documents, codes, and other entities during the software development life cycle. Software configuration management in software engineering. The purpose of the baseline is to have a static reference point for changes that occur once the baseline is crea. Cscis are selected based on tradeoffs among software function, size, host or target computers, developer, support concept, plans for reuse, criticality, interface considerations, need to be separately. The following automation is configured for configuration items. Selected items of system hardware or software or combinations of hardware and software, in which the government or acquiring activity has configuration management concern, are designated as configuration items cis. In this context, it is very important to remember that all cis are service assets. Every configuration item must have a category and possibly subcategories that define what type of item it is. It has relationships to the request tables, the knowledge management tables and to tables that provide the ci subtypes, catalog items, ci relationships, and so on. Common configuration types include software, hardware, communications, location and documentation. Information about each ci is recorded in a configuration record within the configuration management system and is maintained throughout. The configuration management system oversees the life of the cis through a. Configuration items cis are the focal point of a cmdb.
System configuration management scm is an arrangement of exercises which controls change by recognizing the items for change, setting up connections between those things, makingcharacterizing instruments for overseeing diverse variants, controlling the changes being executed in the current framework, inspecting and revealingreporting on the. The item approval, which may be a written quality record or verbal, is a product of quality assurance. Software configuration management is the process of identifying and defining the software configuration items in a system, controlling the release and change of these items throughout the system lifecycle, recording and reporting the status of configuration items and change requests, and verifying. Software configuration items are placed under scm control at different times.
Configuration items vary widely, but include anything related to your account that you want to track. What is configuration management and how does it work. Scm helps in identifying individual elements and configurations, tracking changes, and version selection, control, and baselining. Lets look at how configuration items cis are defined by some. Identify configuration items to be placed under government program office configuration management cm. Itil checklist cms cmdb, enhanced with many additions itil process.
Feb 27, 2019 software configuration management involves identifying configuration items for the software project, controlling these configuration items and changes to them, and recording and reporting status. This chapter is the updated version of the software configuration management scm generally accepted knowledge to be used as a consistent view of this software engineering topic worldwide. Well start with configuration management system or cms. Configuration management and engineering change control. Each element in the it environment is an individual entity requiring accurate capture of its attributes. A software baseline includes the source code for each software configuration item and a software baseline document that provides a listing of the software and any other pertinent information such as developer, version, or software libraries. The configuration management process seeks to identify and track individual configuration items cis, documenting functional capabilities, and interdependencies.
Configuration items itil documentation agiloft help. Configuration management cm is a governance and systems engineering process for ensuring consistency among physical and logical assets in an operational environment. In software engineering, software configuration management scm or sw cm is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger crossdisciplinary field of configuration management. Configuration management is also used in software development and deployment, where it is called software or unified configuration management scm or ucm.
Product owners, who are responsible for maintaining and controlling the product, and sometimes give approval prior to. Lets start with configuration management, as that has a smaller scope. Itil defines a ci as any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver an it service. The thing we call a configuration item ci and assigning a configuration item identifier cii are part of configuration management identification. For example, source codes, property files, binaries, servers, and tools can all be configuration items for a software firm. Configuration management represents the one true source of the configuration items. What configuration management is and where it originated from.
In this series of cmsights posts from cmstat on configuration management best practices we will describe what are hardware configuration items ci or hwci and where they are used. These items must not be modified without a corresponding entry into the configuration management plan software, etc. Official definition of csci computer software configuration. Definition an aggregation of hardware, software, or both, that is designated for configuration management and treated as a single entity in the configuration management process.
A configuration item ci is any component of an it infrastructure, including a documentary item such as a service level agreement or a request for change, which is or is to be under the control of configuration management and therefore subject to formal change control. Configuration control requires that both proposed and approved engineering changes be tracked and identified to the affected items. Indeed, managing configurations is one of the more challenging activities in. Configuration item configuration management systems. Software configuration management patterns alleviates software engineers most common concerns about software configuration managementperceived rigidity and an overemphasis on process. What is the meaning of baseline in software configuration. Configuration items as a configuration management software. Developers and others involved in the project can use scm to keep track of artifacts, including source code, documentation, problems, changes requested, and changes made. The era is a largescale, comprehensive system designed to provide preservation of, and access to, electronic federal. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was. Scm practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines. Simply put, a ci is an instance of an entity that is part of your environment and has configurable attributes specific to that instance. This article is about both these processes and the relationship between them.
Software configuration item an overview sciencedirect topics. Csci an aggregation of software that satisfies an end use function and is designated for separate configuration management by the acquirer. A toplevel configuration item is a ci used as the starting point for organizing and promoting a set of related configuration items an example of a toplevel ci is a computer system. Software has its own need for configuration management see section 3. Department of energy quality managers software quality. A toplevel configuration item is a ci used as the starting point for organizing and promoting a set of related configuration items.
A configuration item is an entity designated for configuration management, which may consist of multiple related work products that form a baseline. Configuration items can overlap and exist at many levels of granularity. A configuration item is anything that can be configured and that is absolutely necessary for the success of your project. A configuration item ci is any service component, infrastructure element.