Hi

I know, I might sound stupid for asking these question, but i have some doubts regarding this whole configuration management concept,

My questions are ...

1. What actually configuration management is ?

2. What is the difference in release management, build management, version management?

3. Is there anything apart from configuration, build, release & version management?

It would be great if you provide some examples rather than definitions.

Hi

Perhaps you can read a little on these forums, but in particular www.cmwiki.com and then ask some more specific questions?

The more you show that you are prepared to do a some work yourself, the more others might be willing to help you.

Robert

I've seen you posting recently with some obvious frustration so I don't mind taking a quick stab at providing a few rudimentary examples. Of course, you can research here at CM Crossroads (CM Wiki), but I remember not having clear concepts of the things of which you inquire when I first started so let me take a quick stab at some examples without going too deep.

--My view beginning in reverse order:

Version Management: Basically you give a name to each rendition of a work-product to identify and track it. This could be a software file, part, image, system, etc. Numbers work well here. Example: the operating system you are now using and any patches applied. The software company tracks that and knows what goes with what to make it work.

Difference in release management and version management: depending on company, size project etc, generally the developers develop and create versions of their work. The CM or build engineer collects all the versions, calls it a baseline (snapshot in time), gives a name and builds it. The release manager normally is not concerned with versioning until it's built and is more concerned that the agreed upon SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) is followed (testing, handling, auditing, etc). The release manager in commercial organizations can work closely with the business to manage the integrity of the release to the business on time. Example: The release manager would communicate with the Development Manager, CM Manager, Testing Manager, Technical Writing Manager and Marketing Manager all during the release’s lifecycle to coordinate all the parts of a release and ready it for beta testing and then final release to market.

Configuration Management: In practice there exists many varied implementations in the commercial and government work place of configuration management. If you take a course you will receive instruction on its high level concepts and structure. And over the years a number of standards have been developed to provide a foundation and some uniformity for the community to work with. Everyone knows the four pillars of CM, identification, control, reporting, auditing. But for me there are two basic levels for software (I limit my comments to software only) configuration management: build engineering and administration. Many companies, particularly the smaller commercial ones consider build engineering to be CM. Tracking software changes and consistently building code into a product is the business of BE. CM managers and analysts or engineers are often hired strictly into the BE role.

The CM administratin part can include BE, but is much more concerned with insuring the integrity and reliability of the end-product using CM processes. The CM manager is concerned with how to insure, verify, sustain (improve) and repeat those processes in an organization whether the organization is a company, program, project, division, department, or team. Process example: CM will run a 150 step sanity check smoke test after every build before official testing by the test team may begin. Process example: all changes to the code after the code-freeze date must be approved by the Engineering Review Board. Process Example: All feature changes to the product must be approved by the Change Control Board.

BTW agile development does not mean not testing and in order to release to a client quickly. In fact, good agile means showing the client development’s progress often, but not delivering production until thoroughly tested in order to avoid missing requirements, rework and a poor delivery.


My view of the four pillars of CM.

Configuration Identification: is giving a work-product a permanent name we all can refer to.
Configuration Control: is knowing who changed what when.
Configuration Reporting: what do we put in the product?
Configuration Auditing: making sure that what they said was in the product is in it. 

Have a good weekend

Cheers
--Craig

Hi,

I'd second Robert's advice, or go further;
and dismiss or fight Craig's one.

Read www.cmwiki.com, sure, but... better yet: write there!
Make sure you grow something, in a manageable way,
avoiding duplication, and leaving space for disagreements (until others would decide to agree with you--which seldom happens)

This should make it concrete, and is in step with what Robert wrote: the more you give, the more you'll receive in return.

And then some kind of definition:
SCM is tool support for shared understanding.
It is primarily needed in presence of complexity, when it would be ridiculous to assume that anybody has a global view. That is, building and maintaining an objective and stable representation of something subjective, inconsistent, and volatile.

Marc

Bharat,

All of us understand were you are coming from, this field can be confusing, you can take 1 CM'er ask them a question and get 5 different opinions.

However, none of us can help until you do some studying and getting the basics under your belt CM Wiki is a good start, Wikipedia is a good start, there are alot of books out there.

Another thing to think about is look at the practical side of this as well as the theoretical side. CM is all around you, you do CM activities every day.

From fixing your food, to starting your car, to taking the bus or riding the train, you can find practical examples of CM.

Joe

After years of trying to get my head a subject that was poorly understood even by it's own community a gift came in the form of a book. Software Configuration Management Patterns, of which I still pull off the shelf frequently.

Chapter one of this book does an eloquent job of concisely just what SCM is. I wont spoil the plot foryou but I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in SCM.

I just saw the Books thread as well.