Configuration management (CM) is frequently misunderstood. This discipline is growing in popularity because it allows project participants to better identify potential problems, manage change, and efficiently track the progress of a software project. CM is not easy, but at the same time, it need not be difficult. This book gives the reader a practical understanding of the complexity and comprehensiveness of the discipline. Many current CM practitioners rely too heavily on commercial CM tools, and fail to understand the concept as a whole. With the deeper knowledge of CM principles taught in this book, readers will be better able to manage and deliver their next project. The book is included in the Agile Software Development Series because there is growing recognition that an effective configuration management strategy is the cornerstone of a truly agile project.
I. What is configuration management?
1. Definition of configuration management used in this book
2. Configuration management in maturity models
3. Configuration management in international standards
4. Organizations working with configuration management
5. Scoping the configuration management task II. Configuration management data
6. What can be placed under configuration management
7. What one needs to know about a configuration item
8. What one must register for a configuration item
9. What information is available for configuration items III. Roles in configuration management
10. People and configuration management
11. Configuration management roles
12. Organizational roles
13. Project-related roles
14. External roles IV. Configuration management in practice
15. General principles
16. Configuration management in development activities
17. Managing configurations for project support functions
18. Managing configurations in different development models
19. Managing configurations for different product types
20. Managing configurations under special conditions
21. Managing configurations for cross-organizational functions V. Improving configuration management
22. Getting started on configuration management up to capability. Level 1
23. Planning configuration management up to capability. Level 2
24. Processes for configuration management up to capability. Level 3
25. Continuous improvement of configuration management up to capability. Level 4 and 5
26. Tool support for configuration management
