Configuration management (CM) is a control and systems engineering development for maintaining reliability among physical and rational assets within an operational setting. The major function of configuration management procedure is to recognize and trail particular configuration stuff, recording functional abilities and compatibility. It is an essential tool for managers, technicians and software developers since it enables them to identify what effect a change in a specific configuration has on others systems. CM makes sure that the existing design and developed condition of the system are understood, high-quality and reliable, and that it does not depend on the implicit knowledge of the developers. After its initiation from the United States Department of Defence in the 1950s, configuration management has been acknowledged across the world after being part of key compliance requirements of the ISO ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2013). It is regarded a crucial part of project life cycle and has a significant effect on sinking product maturity period/time, reducing life cost, and improving the general quality of the product.
Configuration management entails three fundamental interdependent actions namely configuration identification, configuration control and configuration management status accounting. Configuration identification refers to the formal step of classifying the configuration of an item through identification of such things as name, location, and version and recording its functional and physical components. Configuration control, on the other hand, is the implementation of the established processes to identify, commend or reject, enforce, and affirm changes to the approved requirements and baselines. Lastly, configuration management status accounting refers to the official documentation and exposure of data associated to configuration classification, endorsement status of planned modifications and enforcement position of the accepted changes in all the phases of the project.
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Why do we carry out configuration management? One of the key reasons why CM is performed is that it is a prerequisite in the Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) among other organizational operated programs ( Huang & Lie, 2017). The next reason is that after a program has been created and launched as a system, there is a need to understand the baseline for sustainability and affordability. It is important to note that it is difficult to maintain or advance a program that is not defined or managed. For this reason, there a need to reduce unanticipated negative results and extra expenditure that may be incurred due to required changes. With CM, interchangeable items, standards, and baselines are achieved, essential components that help in maintenance and interoperability ( Huang & Lie, 2017). Lastly, CM is performed to facilitate repeatable operations such as trials, security, and protection. Through the use of CM, it is easy to evaluate and trace any possible vulnerability using the baselines and perform maintenance since items are well known and traceable.
Configuration management is often used across the life cycle of a system. At this point, configuration management plays a significant role in providing visibility and governance of its performance, practical and substantial characteristics ( Whyte, Stasis & Lindkvist, 2016). CM authenticate that a developed system meets its intended purpose effectively and that it is recognized and detailed documentation is done to help meet the set goals across its anticipated life cycle. The CM development ensures logical administration of the system modifications for such advantageous reasons as capability adjustment, enhanced performance, dependability, extended life cycle, minimize expenditures, minimize risk and liability ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2013). The relatively negligible expenditure of enforcing CM is achieved in abundance regarding cost avoidance. The lack of CM and its poor implementation can be very costly and even cause catastrophic effects like device failure or deaths.
CM focuses on the functional connection between sections, units, and systems for successfully administering system change. It helps to authenticate that the intended modifications are systematically evaluated to reduce unfavorable consequences ( Huang & Lie, 2017). Modifications to the systems are planned, appraised and enforced using a consistent, systematic model that make sure reliability and planned changes are appraised based on their anticipated effect on the whole system. CM authenticates that the modifications are implemented as scheduled and that the certification of the object and systems show their real configuration ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2013). An absolute CM program entails provisions of the storing, trailing and revising of all system information on a module, subsystem, and system background.
A planned CM program makes sure that documentation such as fundamentals, design, trials, and certification for items is precise and reliable with the real structure of the item. Often, lack of CM, the certification exists but it is not reliable with the item ( Chen, et al., 2017). Because of this, before initiating change, it is important for the engineers, contractors and the management to create certifications showing the real status of the item.
A configuration management tool plays a significant role enterprise’s change-effect analysis, minimizing the outages resulting from production alterations. CM merges applicable service models, configuration identification interdependency configuration and interconnectedness initiated between CIs and the demand for modifications to assist reinstate services more rapidly in case of an outage ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2014). From this, an organization is likely to achieve enhanced service provision taking into consideration the mean time to fix a problem and the mean time between outages. Additionally, such metrics as time used probing for data, data quality and correct reporting on the information technology unit may significantly improve. Through status accounting, configuration management offer audit and compliance assistance in chronological operational documentation of equipment and their deployment and adjustments ( Whyte, Stasis & Lindkvist, 2016).
There are a range of advantages that a business can achieve by adopting a configuration management plan in its day to day operations. From a financial approach, some of the key financial benefits that facilitate positive ROI in embracing CM include; rise in information technology staff productivity ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2014). Maximizing IT personnel actions through automation minimizes the time spent on troubleshooting in case of an emergency or liberation of important employee resources for business-linked programs. The next benefits are user productivity increase. Adoption of CM minimizes time wastage resulting from system failure, cyber or virus attacks, security interruption, and in case of alteration and configuration actions reduced. The next benefit is information technology expense reduction ( Ali, U., & Kidd, 2014). Maximization of IT activities cuts cost in many sections such as infrastructure, outsourced services, and administrative software.
In conclusion, after the inception of the CM by the US Department of Defence, CM has highly been embraced by diverse organization across the world and plays a significant role today. CM tools play essential role in recording, controlling and correlation of Configuration Items (CIs), Configuration Unites (CUs), and Configuration Components (CCs) in different entity baselines throughout the life cycle ( Whyte, Stasis & Lindkvist, 2016). Next, CM help trail, manage and report requirements for modifications to the baselines CIs, CCs, and CUs. Additionally, using the automated CM enterprises can classify and manage baselines. It further enables enterprises trail necessities from specification to trials; categorize and manage software versions; and trail hardware components ( Chen et al., 2017). The use of automated CM enables organizations to comply with CM process; perform Physical Configuration Audits (PCA); and Functional Configuration Audits. Using CM tools have vast advantages that include but not limited to increased IT personnel productivity; reduced time wastage in troubleshooting in case of system outage; increased user productivity; and reduced cost in such areas as infrastructure, outsourcing services, and software management.
References
Ali, U., & Kidd, C. (2013). Critical success factors for configuration management implementation. Industrial Management & Data Systems , 113 (2), 250-264.
Ali, U., & Kidd, C. (2014). Barriers to effective configuration management application in a project context: An empirical investigation. International Journal of Project Management , 32 (3), 508-518.
Chen, W., Xu, P., Dou, W., Wu, G., Gao, C., & Wei, J. (2017, July). A Hierarchical Categorization Approach for Configuration Management Modules. In Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), 2017 IEEE 41st Annual (Vol. 1, pp. 160-169). IEEE.
Huang, Z., & Lie, D. (2017). SAIC: Identifying Configuration Files for System Configuration Management. arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.03397 .
Whyte, J., Stasis, A., & Lindkvist, C. (2016). Managing change in the delivery of complex projects: Configuration management, asset information, and ‘big data'. International Journal of Project Management , 34 (2), 339-351.
