CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
Systems Engineering Glossary
Systems Engineering — Systems Engineering — Configuration Management
Information on Configuration Management
Configuration management refers to the act of controlling and
managing the physical and functional make-up of the configuration items
that comprise the system. Configuration management is therefore a
critical part of systems engineering management.
The principal intentions of configuration
management are to identify the functional and physical characteristics
of configuration items during the Acquisition Phase, control changes to
the characteristics of those configuration items, and record and report
the status of the configuration items. Configuration management also
maintains an effective history of the changes to configuration items,
including the alternatives considered and the reasons for selecting the
preferred alternative.
There are four principal configuration management functions:
1) Identification
(of the items to be placed under control);
2) Control (of
these items through effective change management processes);
3) Status accounting (accurate
and up to date configuration information on each configuration item);
and
4) Audits (confirmation of correct operation of the configuration management process).
Configuration management standards include MIL STD 973 and
ANSI/EIA 649.
Other topics in our resources on Systems Engineering related to Configuration Management include:
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