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. Lets start with configuration management, as that has a smaller scope. Configuration management cm is a governance and systems engineering process for ensuring consistency among physical and logical assets in an operational environment. Standard 8282005, standard for software configuration management plans, was used to guide the development of this plan. Hardware configuration items in asx configuration management. Software configuration management patterns alleviates software engineers most common concerns about software configuration managementperceived rigidity and an overemphasis on process. List configuration items each item that requires tracking should be identified. What are hardware configuration items and how are they. What are hardware configuration items and how are they used. Itil defines a ci as any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver an it service. 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. Eine cmdb configuration management databasekonfigurationsdatenbank enthalt.
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. Explaining configuration item ci, cmdb, cms and dml. These items must not be modified without a corresponding entry into the configuration management plan software, etc. 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. Official definition of csci computer software configuration. Each element in the it environment is an individual entity requiring accurate capture of its attributes. This document provides a practical guide for integrating software configuration management disciplines into the management of software engineering projects. 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 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. The purpose of the baseline is to have a static reference point for changes that occur once the baseline is crea. Ein ci kann jede vorstellbare itkomponente sein, beispielsweise software. Cis are the basic units of configuration management. Oct 17, 2019 the design drawings are the configuration item, and its history is tracked because it has implications to potential project scope changes. They are used in service management, change management, configuration management, incident management and a variety of other processes related to directing and controlling change.
If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was changed and who changed it. Configuration control requires that both proposed and approved engineering changes be tracked and identified to the affected items. 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. Configuration management represents the one true source of the configuration items. 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. Identify configuration items to be placed under government program office configuration management cm. Configuration items vary widely, but include anything related to your account that you want to track.
Configuration items as a configuration management software. Dec 27, 2016 a configuration item, or ci, is anything uniquely identifiable that can be changed independently. 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. The thing we call a configuration item ci and assigning a configuration item identifier cii are part of configuration management identification. 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. Administrators, technicians, and software developers can use. Configuration management and engineering change control. The configuration management process seeks to identify and track individual configuration items cis, documenting functional capabilities, and interdependencies. This is related to the older workload automation category of software. Checklist configuration item ci record from the itil process map v2. Configuration items cis are the focal point of a cmdb. 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. Software configuration item an overview sciencedirect. Itil checklist cms cmdb, enhanced with many additions itil process.
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. The createtask ci action is used as a reference qualifier to the configuration item field of the incidentproblem tables. Configuration items itil documentation agiloft help. Determine when in the acquisition life cycle the government program office will assume initial and full configuration control of its technical baselines. Software configuration management scm a practical guide. Its predecessor defined only the contents of a software configuration management plan. Configuration management is also used in software development and deployment, where it is called software or unified configuration management scm or ucm. What is the meaning of baseline in software configuration. The configuration management system oversees the life of the cis through a combination of processes and tools by implementing and enabling the. Software engineering system configuration management. Configuration management is all about identifying, defining and mapping all your assets and their relationships to one another. The following automation is configured for configuration items. Configuration management database cmdb computer weekly. It can have many child cis, such as an operating system, application software, and hardware components.
This article is about both these processes and the relationship between them. In itil terminology, configuration items ci are components of an infrastructure that currently is, or soon will be under configuration management. The era is a largescale, comprehensive system designed to provide preservation of, and access to, electronic federal. The configuration management system oversees the life of the cis through a. Specify the important characteristics of each configuration item.
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. This logical grouping provides ease of identification and controlled access. Ci a component of a system that is treated as a self contained unit for the purposes of identification and change control. 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. Example characteristics of configuration items include author, document or file type, and programming language for software code files. Software configuration management a aa ab ac aaa aab aca acb version 1 version 2 version 3 version 4 figure 2. Erp needs a robust capability to track and support engineering changes. A configuration item is anything that can be configured and that is absolutely necessary for the success of your project. After that, this article zooms in on the use of software configuration items sci.
Configuration items can overlap and exist at many levels of granularity. Configuration management interacts with quality assurance, as illustrated by the item approval process that accompanies a configuration item from production to storage. Starting in version 1806, select if you want to always apply this baseline for comanaged clients. Common configuration types include software, hardware, communications, location and documentation. Csci an aggregation of software that satisfies an end use function and is designated for separate configuration management by the acquirer. The tailoring of this standard as it applies to this document is. Configuration item management itil documentation agiloft help. In this context, it is very important to remember that all cis are service assets. Well start with configuration management system or cms. This is often named software configuration management scm. Examples of cis include individual requirements documents, software, models, and plans. 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. 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. A configuration management system is basically just a set of tools like databases, files, etc.
Product owners, who are responsible for maintaining and controlling the product, and sometimes give approval prior to. A ci record within the cmdb contains the following data. For more information about configuration item revisions, see management tasks for configuration data. Configuration item configuration management systems. The steps to performing configuration management are as follows. 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 configuration management scm process and procedure. A software baseline locks in a version, build number, or release number at a particular moment in time.
Scm practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines. 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. 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. Simply put, a ci is an instance of an entity that is part of your environment and has configurable attributes specific to that instance. The configurationmanagement system oversees the life of the cis through a combination of processes.
Devops code software configuration items best read on. A product data management system or engineering document control system is a logical approach to addressing this and other documentation needs. Through the use of patterns, the authors show that a properly managed workflow can avert delays, morale problems, and cost overruns. Most of the time the eco process is enormously more cumbersome than software development could use and still stay productive. The representations of these entities in the cmdb are configuration items cis. Workload automation is still used by many organizations to handle eventbased scheduling and resource management across applications, databases, and. 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. However, in the world of software development, a configuration management process is also identified. A baseline is a configuration of a hardware, software, or system at a. To remove a configuration item from the configuration baseline, select a configuration item, and then click remove. The primary goal is to increase productivity with minimal mistakes.
Example configuration item hierarchy software configuration management is formally defined in ansiieee std 610. 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. The term configuration item ci refers to the fundamental structural unit of a configuration management system. A configuration item ci is any service component, infrastructure element. What configuration management is and where it originated from. Identify the associated artifacts to be contained in the programs technical baselines. Software has its own need for configuration management see section 3. The item approval, which may be a written quality record or verbal, is a product of quality assurance. Sep 12, 2019 configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. In a new incident or problem, cis in which operational status is retired are filtered out from the configuration item list on the form. 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. For example, source codes, property files, binaries, servers, and tools can all be configuration items for a software firm. Lets look at how configuration items cis are defined by some. Checklist configuration item ci record it process wiki.
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. 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. 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. 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. Information about each ci is recorded in a configuration record within the configuration management system and is maintained throughout. Scm helps in identifying individual elements and configurations, tracking changes, and version selection, control, and baselining. A ci is a software model that contains the attributes of the represented entity.
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. 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. Software configuration items are placed under scm control at different times. Every configuration item must have a category and possibly subcategories that define what type of item it is. A configuration item, on the other hand, is subject to change control, which is baselinedand thats not true for every asset. Specify when each configuration item is placed under configuration management. 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 the completeness and correctness of. Software configuration management in software engineering. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organize the development process. This is the main table holding a record for each trackable configuration item. Configuration management is focused on managing asset information that can be managed and controlled.
Configuration management software is designed to automate the deployment of applications in the data center and in the cloud. All configuration items cis are uniquely identified by ci registration codes and version numbers. A configuration item is an entity designated for configuration management, which may consist of multiple related work products that form a baseline. Software engineering system configuration management whenever a software is build, there is always scope for improvement and those improvements brings changes in picture. Use configuration items and configuration management. Good leaders in the tech space will want to know what it takes to implement it. Configuration item ci a configuration item is an entity in a configuration management solution such as a cmdb. Changes may be required to modify or update any existing solution or to create a new solution for a problem. It services are typically made up of a bunch of individual components things like servers, software and middleware, and unique configuration information.
Software configuration item an overview sciencedirect topics. The goal of scm is to improve the speed of and quality by catching errors early and enabling quick fixes when they occur. It is abbreviated as the scm process in software engineering. Simply put, for software development, a baseline is a static i. What is configuration management and how does it work. Department of energy quality managers software quality. 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. 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. Create configuration baselines configuration manager. Indeed, managing configurations is one of the more challenging activities in. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was. Configuration item ci cio wiki it management glossary.
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