configuration management introduction

7/27/2019 Configuration Management introduction

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Change: The cause,

result, object to be

managed of CM


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Topics to be discussed:

Short History

What is CM

Objectives of CM

Audience of CM

Usage

Configuration Management Processes and Activities


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Short History

Configuration, to form or after, derives from the Latin com-,meaning with or together, and figurare, to form

It also means a relative arrangement of parts or elements.

Configuration management, as we know today, started in the late1960s.

In the 1970s, the American government developed a number ofmilitary standards, which included configuration management


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Later, especially in the 1990s, many other standards andpublications discussing configuration management have emerged

In the last few years, the growing understanding of process/ producdevelopment as a collection of interrelated activities has influencework on configuration management

This means that CM is now also considered from a process point ofview.


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Introduction

To cope with the drastically changing businessenvironment, enterprises are becoming strongly focusedon ways to:

achieve speed-oriented management

Improve management efficiency, and

Reduce costs

In achieving these goals, enterprises should undergo ifnot many, some drastic changes


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These changes would not only apply to the corebusiness/ operations of the organization.

Even back support departments like HR, Sales andMarketing, etc were obligated to undergo changes

internally, and even as part of the totality of changes inan organization

Being subjected to Configuration Management


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What is CM?

There are many definitions of configuration management and manopinions on what it really is

Configuration management is unique identification, controlledstorage, change control, and status reporting of selectedintermediate word product components, and product during the

life of a system


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CM processes/ activities

The view of configuration management that we will use in thiscourse is process oriented

Therefore, the definition includes activity areas, which can bedescribes in terms of process descriptions

These processes are Identification, Assessment/ Approval,Implementation, Test/ Release, Status Accounting Reporting(Auditing)


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CM Five Processes

Identify

Asses/ approve

Implement

Test/ Release

Account/ Audit

IdentificationAssessment &

ApprovalImplementation Test & Release


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CM is cyclicor is it?

In everyday language, configuration item is often used to refer toan item, which is then to be produced several versions.

This is not strictly correct. In fact, each new version of aconfiguration item is a new configuration item in its own right

CM activities may be viewed as cyclic for each item class placedunder configuration management. This means that theconfiguration item continuously goes through the mill (or theprocess)


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The first cycle is initiated by a (planned) need for configuration itemand later the driving force is a change request

In each cycle, a configuration item will be identified, produced,stored, and released for usage.


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Objectives of CM

CM is a set of related processes that will achieve the

following objectives: Maintain a detailed record of each products configuration. Thi

means tracking down to the patch and revision level ofindividual component and sub-components of the product

Control the changes implemented. This includes a formal procefor change requests, assessment, approval, implementation, tesand release


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Ensure an audit trail. This includes change requests, approvals, testresults, installation/ deployment dates, and post installation qualityassurance tests to support the systems operational baselineconfiguration documentation

Facilitate life cycle management and operational consistency. This

is verified by auditing installed systems against baselineconfiguration documentation


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Audience of CM

The audience of CM includes ___________________

These customers fall in to four categories, each using CM fordiffering purposes.

Role How it applies

User Request a change or recommend an

improvement to the new process

Changer Provide change to the process

Information Technology personnel Recommend a change or to propose

an improvement in the IT related

concerns

Configuration Control Manager Manage the process (the old, and th

new)


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Usage

The configuration management consists of series of processes thatflow clockwise

Five of the six processes are sequential, starting with requirements oimprovements identification and ending with status reporting

The sixth process, auditing, is an on going process to verify that thesystem configuration documentation accurately reflects thesystems actual configuration


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Processes Activity

Identification User initiates a change request. Someone else will

validate a change request, notifies the initiator, and

passes the request on to the Configuration Control

Manager

Assessment and Approval The CCM assigns priorities, initiates a review, complies the

findings, and forwards the findings to one of three parties

Depending on the requester, CCB, subject matter

experts, or peer review approves or denies the requests

directed to them

Implementation If the change request is approved, the project is

implemented. If the Change request is denied, it is closed

out and the initiators are notified

Test and Release Provides criteria for testing the system after a change has

been implemented and releasing the system back into

operation

Status Accounting This process documents the change that been

implemented

Audits This process audits the configuration documentation

against the actual system configuration


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A Closer Look at Configuration

Management


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Fundamentals of ConfigurationManagement

1.1 The need for configuration management

1.2 Basic concepts of configuration management

1.3 Configuration management in standards/ regulation

1.4 Configuration management related to Processimprovement

1.4.1 CM process Model

1.4.2 CM planning levels

CM activities in detail (Configuration Identification)


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The need for CM

It is the objective of CM to administer and supply informationabout the product.

It is often said that people once having worked with proper

implemented configuration management without realizing it

will realize the strengths of CM when working in environments

where it is not implemented


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CM should provide visibility of the products configurationthrough recording specific data in order to establish and

maintain integrity of the product described by the

configuration throughout its complete life cycle.


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CM in detail

CM is the discipline of organizing, controlling, and managingthe evolution of defined products from a descriptive point of

view

It supports all phases from the requirements phase till the endof the product lifecycle

It identifies the products and components and keeps tracks ohow they are organized and where they are stored

Manages and controls changes of any kind and for anyreason to these configuration items such that the integrity ofthe product can be maintained

Collects and disseminates information about configurationand its items based on recorded data


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CM is based on the principle of immutability

which implies the existence of versions, and provides

mechanisms and techniques for the co-ordination of a

team of people working together


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Costs and Benefits

Proper performance of configuration management activities costsresources and time

Costs Benefits

The moment when theconfiguration items are placedunder configuration management

Saves time and money

The level of formality appliedthroughout the life cycle

Can be transferred into savedbudget by calculating howmuch solving problems like

defects (operational/ details/specs), delays, etc would havecosts

The total number of configurationitems defined

* Indirect savings obtained frommore effective, efficient andreliable phases and as a result ahigher quality of the product is

achieved.


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CM in standards/ regulations

Two of the standards known to professionals:

ISO 10007 (Guidelines for Configuration Managemen

CM aspects of ISO 20000 (Service Management)

The rest of the standards are all software related i.eCMMI, ISO/IEC 9001:2000, ISO/IEC 12207:1995, etc.,etc., etc.


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Configuration Management

related to Process Improvement


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CM has two different relations toProcess Improvement

CM is a support process for process improvement, that ifor products being produced and maintained by thoseresponsible for process improvement

Process improvement staff should perform configuration

management on the products they are responsible for

CM can also be the subject for process improvement

Setup and constantly improving a configuration

management should be the responsibility of process

improvement


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Improving CM

Improving CM is setting up a plan to improve the

discipline of CM within the organization to reach ahigher maturity level

This improvement plan should reflect the aimed maturityor ambition and comply with the internally defined

policy. Includes: Implementation of automated tools

Defining overall standards and guidelines

Including a common terminology

Education and training of CM personnel


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Different Roles in Improving CM

Improving the CM processes in an organization is anorganizational change project

Change manager

Change agents

Champions

Target group


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Activities in Improving CM

Determining current state Defining goal

Planning and monitoring implementation

Pilot project

Roll out

Determining success


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CM Process Model

CM is a process consisting of the Five CM activities.

CM is an even-driven process

Starts when an item needs to be controlled (at least for the

planning and identification)

Ready to be placed under configuration management

Released for usage or a next phase

Events are identified which leads to changes

Information is needed

Audit needs to be executed


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Skills/ People

ProcessesTechnology/

Tools

The Challenge is to find the rightBalance


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Although CM process is based on the same basicprinciples, the process itself can be implementeddifferently per organization or even per product type

Responsible unit should describe in detail how the

process is/ will be implemented


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CM planning levels

Organization level (CM strategy) Product levelneeded when no project is defined like

at the end of the life cycle or cross project level ormaintenance

Project levelwhen developing a release of a product


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CM Activities: IDENTIFICATION


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Learning Objectives for CMactivities: Identification

Understand and explain the criteria for definingConfiguration items

Recall the products that can be placed underconfiguration management

Describe the attributes to be defined for configuration

items Describe and explain the concept of configuration

controlled documentation


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Configuration IdentificationSELECTION AND NAMING


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Configuration Items Candidates

Purposes: Determine which products should be taken under

configuration managementunique configurationitems

Determine the characteristics (attributes/ metadata)

for configuration items Specify relations to other configuration items and to

the outside world

fi i i i


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Configuration item candidates

In principle everything may be placed underconfiguration management

Configuration itema product placed under CM

- is assembled in configurations

Configurationsmay vary in complexity

- may be an individual item or ahierarchical collection of otherconfigurations/ CI

C fi ti it t


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Configuration item cont

The individual CI in a configuration may be of all types inany required mixture

Note that CIs can be any possible part of a productdefined as a configuration (in tagalog parte ng

kabuuan) that it is necessary to have identified,produced, stored, used, and changed individually

C t


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ContRisks in Selection of CIs

Selecting too many CIs could result in too much work(and/ or less productivity)Cost and Benefits

Too much worklead to the misconception that CM is a

bureaucratic process

Less productivity(remember one of the costs of CM)

C t


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ContRisks

Selecting too few CIs does not give the control you areaiming for

Configuration Identification is one of the maincornerstones during the manufacturing process of the

products Impossible to control something you do not know

T f CI


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Types of CIs

Software Hardware

Network data

Documents

Services

Physical CIs and Electro

C t


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ContTypes of CIs

For each of the types, it has to be decided whether andhow they may be placed under CM

In view of CM the differences between the types needto be understood with respect to the attributes and

storage of a CI

C fi ti Id tifi ti


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Configuration Identification:Baselines in CM

What do you mean by Baseline/s???


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A baseline is an agreed-to-configuration, formallyestablished at a specific point in time

It serves as a reference for further activities and a basisfor managing changes

CIs identified in this first activity may be treated as thebaseline that could serve as the comparison point afterthe release of a specific item is done

Examples of CIs


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Examples of CIs

Software related components which when controlledwithin software development isSCM

Hardware in CI context is the hardware to be deliveredas part of the product

Information sourcescontaining information related tothe product (requirements, specs, user manuals, etc)

Cont


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ContExamples of CIs

The services to be delivered for a product are intangibleand cannot be identified as CIs. However the tangiblecomponents sustaining them, can be placed under CM(procedure description, training material, and usermanuals)

Cont


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ContExamples of CIs

Companies often have cross-organizational products orassets for which CM should be considered(administrative docs, company product assets,infrastructure, etc)

Unique Identification of CIs


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Unique Identification of CI s

An organization must define the conventions for uniqueidentification of configuration and its items

One general conventionnot enough

Typically several conventions are necessary for various

types of CIs (like both hardware and software,documents and codes, supplier and distributor, etc)

Cont


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Cont

Unique identification may include affiliation, name,version, states, date (referring to the status), and storageplace

The unique identification must connect the registrationand the actual product (physical or electronic) in such a

way that it is always possible to find the CI

Examples: electronic products (file names), specs(version, supplier, price, etc)

CI attribute: relationships


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CI attribute: relationships

Unique identification is also a necessity for registration orelations between CIs

The relations between CIs are part of the attributes torecord

Types of Relations


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Types of Relations

Build (model)

Dependency (to who/ what department, supplier, etc)

Breakdown (Specs)

Impact-relations (improvement, Price/ cost,

Records of relations supply valuable information whenproducts are analysed or need to rebuild (e.g. forcorrecting issues, implementing new functionality)


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Tracesthese are registrations of relations between CIs

Two types of Traces:

Forward tracesreferences to all design object and test

procedures from individual requirements

Backward tracesreferences from individual design

objects and test procedures to the requirements

implemented and tested


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Trace information is important for understanding theproduct, and avoiding omissions

Impact analysis

Relations between CIs can be one-to-one, one-to-manor many-to-many

CI attribute: Authorization and


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CI attribute: Authorization andDistribution

May be derived CM, project or a quality plan

To implement proper configuration controlhavegeneral directions for authorization specified in a plan

Examples: responsibilities for:

Production

Delivery

Acceptance for different types of CIs

Authorities in CIs


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Authorities in CI s

Author him/herself for CIs (drafts of documents) A group consisting the project manager, the person

responsible for QA, and representative of the customer(for documents to be used by everybody)

Other CI attributes


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Other CI attributes

How (process) With what (tools)

Where (environment)

Ownership

Multiple ownership exist

For CM, the responsible person (rather than group or

department) related to changes should be known

Has been produced

Cont


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ContOther attributes of CIs

Other technical attributes: Requirements

Designs

Test reports

Quiz:


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Quiz:Identification of CIs

By partnerONLY Identification of Configuration items in a certain

product/ service

Different item per partner

Situation: Improving your chosen product, what CIs areyou going to select for identification stage


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Situation: Improving your chosen product

1. What CIs are you going to select for identification stage

2. Determine each item as software, hardware, documents, orservices

3. Describe the baseline/s for each CI

4. Identify the forward trace/s or/and backward trace/s for

each CI (if both are applicable)5. Who has/have authorization for each CI? Explain

6. Describe the how, with what, where each CI has beenproduced

Choose 1 product among the ff:


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C oose p oduc a o g e :

Registration Form

Transcript of Records

A Medical Bill

Pay slip

Clearance Form


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CONFIGURATION ITEM: STORAGE

AND RELEASE


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In most configuration management related standards,

storage and release is not defined as a separate set of

activities

A sub-activity of Configuration Identification

Storage plays an essential role in establishing and maintaining

integrity of products

Release is essential for making configuration items available

for usage

Objectives of Storage and Release


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j g

Ensure that any CI is stored in such a way that it will not

disappear, that it can be found anytime

It can be delivered in the expected condition

Storage Areas


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g

Stored items are physically present at a specific location, a

storage area

The term area is used for storage of both physical and

electronic items

For electronic items, it can be: directory structure on a

workstation, a loose-leaf book, a shelf, a desk, etc.

3 Types of Storage Areas


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yp g

Configuration Controlled Area

Manufacturing Area

Usage Area

Manufacturing Area


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g

Is the location where drafts and un-finished products are kep

while they are being produced or developed

May also be referred to as development library, workspace

area, or sandbox

A complete manufacturing area will often consist of a

considerable number of independent areas

Usage Area


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Is the location where the products are being deployed to an

used

Usageany deployment of the product as it is without

changing it in any way

Some Types of Usage:

a. Review of a specification

b. basis for development of a design (for example)

c. test specification

d. testing of a component

e. actual deployment of a finished product


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The responsibility of for the usage area varies depending on

the usage context.

For example:

- Review of a project; reviewers desk

- Execution of a product in production; production

machine or on users workstation

Configuration Controlled Area


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This is where CIs are stored by transfer from the

manufacturing area

Configuration items are released from the configuration

controlled area to the usage area.

Manufacturing Area

ConfigurationControlledArea

UsageArea

Storage in Configuration Controlled


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Area

This area contains the CIs themselves

May be referred to as the CM area or the controlled library

CIs are transferred from manufacturing area to configuration

controlled area when they are ready to be placed under CM

Check-in

Release from the Configuration


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Controlled Area

CIs kept in the configuration controlled area are given out to

stakeholders via the usage or manufacturing areas

Release from storage

Two types of Release from Storage


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Release can take place to the usage area, when a

configuration item is going to be used as it is

It can also take place to a manufacturing area if a CI is going

to be used as the basis for manufacturing another

Release Cont


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A release may be accompanied by a release note stating th

contents of and reason for it

Information about distribution of releases, such as who has go

what and why, may be registered as part of the attributes for

a configuration item


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CONFIGURATION CHANGE

CONTROL

Two aspects of handling changest CI


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to CI

The control of the impact of change on the CIs

- Configuration Change Control

The actual implementation and verification of changes

- is called change management and is not part of CM

Configuration Change Control


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Implies the need to control every change to all the CIs

For each new version of a CI it should identify the changes

that have been implemented relative to the predecessor

All changes should be traceable from the change request to

the configuration item(s) where the change has beenimplemented and vice versa

Causes for Changes


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When a product is being developed, deployed, and

maintained, wishes for change/s are inevitable

Employees make mistakes, business requirements change

over time, and the environment in which a product is

deployed can evolve as well


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People constantly develop their knowledge about their

products and business processes consequently get new ideafor the evolution of the product

Some even say a solution to a task will create new problems:

We learn while doing

Events


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The initiation of configuration change control is the

occurrence of an event.

Eventcould be anything varying from a simple incident

during deployment or validation tests to a new business need

for adapting the product for commercial or regulation

reasons


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Some aliases of an Event

- anomalies

- bugs

- problems

- deviations

- failures- enhancements

- waivers

- incidents


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The first five are related to the recognition of events where th

product does not conform to expectations

Enhancements are events where new ideas for improvement

of the product is recognized

Waivers are events where the customer agrees to leaverequirements unfulfilled


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An event must be registered if it pertains to one or more CIs

and if it is not evident that no change can possibly be causeby the event

The event registration must be done meticulously so that the

origin of the event can be understood and followed by

stakeholders, recreated, investigated, and decided upon by

the appropriate CCB, and monitored to confirmation of

solution implementation


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The information should also be useable in data analysis to find

trends and suggestion for process improvement

Event registration requirements


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Information about the originator of the event

A comprehensive description

When and how the event was identified

Asserted impact

Possible solution

Suggested responsible for solution Appropriate signatures


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Events can be raised by all stakeholders within the

organization or at customers

Depending on the event there may be an impact onto

individual projects, entire development lines throughout the

whole enterprise

An event may lead to a formal change request of the

defined configuration item. The decision about the fate if an

event is made by the relevant CCB

Assignment: Individual


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Think of just 1 possible important event to be changed in you

ID

Identify its type or alias, and provide the requirements, excep

the appropriate signatures

Follow the same format

Essay form. Always explain clearly