Doc:1.0A/Configuration Management

This manual covers the configuration management discipline.

Terminology (a.k.a "The least you need to know")
As with any discipline, there is a lot of jargon used in configuration management. Configuration management uses some common words in very specialised ways and, unfortunately, there is not generally accepted set of definitions. This section attempts to provide only a few key terms used and to define them using simple language. For a more comprehensive list of terms used throughout system lifecycle management, refer to the glossary.


 * Baseline
 * A static set of configuration items.


 * Configuration Item
 * This is the most important term you need (it is also the one that gives people the most difficulty when starting out). A configuration item is quite simply anything that you want to control using your configuration management system. The difficulty people have is not with this definition, but with selecting configuration items in the first place.

Definition of Configuration Management
As with so much else in IT there are a miriad different definitions to be found for configuration management. Things are further complicated by sub-discipline definitions such as, hardware CM and software CM.

In truth configuration management is a core discipline consisting of four functions:


 * 1) Identification
 * 2) Control
 * 3) Status accounting
 * 4) Audit

Some commentators object that these four functions, or at least the terminology used, are to difficult too understand for the newcomer. The following table provides a simple expansion of each to show that they are, in fact, very simple ideas.

In a nutshell
The central ideas behind all configuration management systems are essentially very simple.
 * 1) Identify the things you are going to control.
 * 2) Identify a starting point (this may be an empty list for a new project) — call this your initial baseline.
 * 3) Use a formal process to identify changes to your initial baseline, evaluate those changes, approve those change you want to make, and manage the implementation of those changes.
 * 4) Having completed work on the identified changes, define another list of controlled things, your finishing point — call this your final baseline.
 * 5) Repeat as necessary.

In a real world situation there are all manner of complications, but the preceding steps are the core of configuration management. If you follow these steps, being careful to record any decisions you make, you will be in a position to answer questions about the current disposition of your system (status accounting) and account for changes made between your initial baseline and your final baseline (audit).

Careers
There are many opportunities for careers in configuration management within IT.