The document discusses project management information systems and configuration management. It defines configuration management as a part of PMIS that includes configuration control and change management. Configuration management has four main aspects: identification, control, status accounting, and verification. Configuration control and change control are related but distinct activities for managing changes to a product and project respectively.

1. Project Management Information System
BY: PRADEEP PATEL PMP
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2. Configuration Management System is a part of the overall Project Management
Information System (PMIS). Change Management System is a subset of the
Configuration Management System.
PMIS
Configuration
Management
System
Change
Management
System
Configuration Management System has 4 main aspects:
1. Configuration Identification(identifying configurable items(CI))
2. Configuration Control(Access Control of documents)
3. Configuration Status Accounting(updating the status of documents)
4. Configuration Verification and Audit(Verifying that the documents being
used are latest copies from configuration management system)
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3. The four main activities of a good Configuration Management System are:
Configuration Identification- It is the process of identification of Configuration
Items (CI) and developing a method to uniquely identify each individual CI. It
helps answers the following questions:
1. Which items are placed under configuration management?
2. What are the components of the product?
3. What is the structure (or configuration) of components in the product?
4. What are the versions of the configuration items?
Configuration Control- It is activity of managing the product (or project's
deliverables) and related documentation, throughout the lifecycle of the product.
It answers the questions:
1. Which items are controlled?
2. How are changes controlled?
3. Who controls the changes?
Configuration Status Accounting- It involves the recording and reporting of all the
changes to the configuration items. It tells us:
1. What is the status of proposed changes?
2. What changes have been made?
3. When were the changes made?
4. What components were affected by the change?
Configuration verification and audit- It is the process of verifying the correctness
of the product and its components in order to ensure conformance to
requirements. It also means verifying the correctness of the Configuration Status
Accounting information. It helps to:
1. Ensure that all the configuration items have been correctly identified and
accounted for.
2. Ensure that all the changes have been registered, assessed, approved,
tracked, and correctly implemented.
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4. 3. Measure the effectiveness of the configuration management process.
Configuration Control and Change Control are distinct but related activities.
Both are related activities as both of the activities are concerned with
"management of change".
One critical point to remember here is the fact that both are distinct activities
with different focus, and one is not a substitute for other.
Configuration Control is the activity of managing the product (or project's
deliverables) and related documents, throughout the lifecycle of the product. An
effective Configuration Control system ensures the following
1. The latest approved version of the product and its components are used at
all times.
2. No change is made to the product baselines without authorization.
3. A clear audit trail of all proposed, approved or implemented changes exists.
Change Control is the process of identifying, documenting, approving or rejecting,
and controlling changes to the project baselines (including scope baselines,
schedule baselines, cost baselines, etc.).
In other words, it is used to control changes to all aspects of an approved project
plan.
An effective Change Control system ensures the following.
1. Proposed changes are reviewed and their impact is analyzed, prior to
approving or rejecting them
2. All requests and changes are properly documented to provide a clear audit
trail.
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5. Configuration Control VS Change Control
1. Configuration Control addresses the management of the product (or project's
deliverables), whereas Change Control addresses the management of the
project.
2. Configuration Control manages changes to the product baseline, whereas
Change Control manages changes to the project's baseline.
3. Configuration Control is applied throughout the lifecycle of the product
Concept
Design
Develop
Service
Dispose
whereas Change Control is applied during the lifecycle of the project
subsequent to establishing the project baselines.
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