What is Configuration Management?

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Configuration Management Definition

Configuration management is a process that establishes and maintains consistency in a product’s performance throughout the product development lifecycle. It entails policies, procedures, techniques, and tools that help teams manage, review, and track the status of changes. The configuration management process ensures that changes are made systematically and that updated products are maintained properly.

Graphic-Configuration Management

How PLM and QMS Enhance Configuration Management

Configuration management is essential to preserving a product’s consistency, integrity, and traceability throughout its lifecycle. Organizations can attain strong control over their product configurations by using product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management system (QMS) technology. This guarantees the recording, verification, and adherence to quality standards of all product modifications.

Centralized Data Management for Seamless Configuration Control

PLM allows for the central management of all product-related information across design, engineering, and manufacturing, creating one source of truth for product versions, revisions, and requirements to facilitate smooth configuration management. By enabling teams to effortlessly manage approvals, trace changes, and ensure the use of only the most recent, verified configurations in production, PLM reduces the likelihood of errors and inconsistencies.

INTEGRATING QUALITY CONTROL INTO CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT WITH QMS

QMS enhances configuration management by integrating quality control into the process. By combining QMS with PLM, organizations can ensure adherence to internal quality standards and regulatory obligations. QMS ensures all modifications to product configurations adhere to stringent testing, validation, and approval procedures. This lowers the possibility of errors and guarantees that every process satisfies the highest quality standards.

ENHANCED TRACEABILITY AND COLLABORATION THROUGH CONNECTED PLM AND QMS

When PLM and QMS work together, it enables thorough traceability into product and quality information, which simplifies auditing configuration modifications, finding the sources of problems, and carrying out corrective measures. In addition to simplifying configuration management, this connection improves product quality, shortens time to market, and lowers the risk of expensive recalls or rework.

FAQs

What is configuration management example?

The practice of keeping computer systems, servers, and software in a desired, consistent state is an example of configuration management. Configuration management is all about preventing problems so that you don’t have to deal with them later. You may, for example, ensure that your test and production settings are identical. You’ll have less issues with applications once they’ve been deployed this way than you would if the environments weren’t identical. Because you know what exists in the original environment, configuration management allows you to correctly recreate an environment with the necessary configurations and applications.

*Source: https://www.redhat.com

What is included in configuration management?

Configuration management includes:

  • Planning: Outlining project-specific procedures and identifying roles and responsibilities
  • Identification: Identifying all components of the final product
  • Control: Ensuring that all changes to items are revision-controlled
  • Status Reports: Providing updates on outstanding deliverables throughout the duration of the product lifecycle
  • Audit: Ensuring that all processes are working as they should with the implementation of changes

Source: https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com

What is configuration management in project management?

The practice of tracking and regulating changes to critical project documents and products is known as project configuration management. The deliverables of the project, as well as project management documents such as the timeline, are included. The configuration management strategy identifies anything that has to be tracked through the project change control system.

Source: https://www.projectengineer.net

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