Role of configuration management in a software development project

The first software configuration management was a manual operation. Marketing creative project management product development professional services all teams. The project managers role in software development segue. It is abbreviated as the scm process in software engineering. Software project management typically encourages constant product testing in order to discover and fix bugs early, adjust the end product to the customers needs, and keep the project on target. Mar 15, 2007 it describes any development approach typically in the guise of a known methodology employed by an actual project team that adheres to the values of the manifesto for agile software development. In this way, scm is a fundamental piece of all project management activities.

Define configuration management and describe its role in project management. Software engineering role and responsibilities of a. What configuration management is and where it originated from. This document is often part of the project quality management plan. The project management role is one that is designed to help ensure that the software development process works as it is intended. Software development project roles and responsibilities atlas. Still, when defining and distributing responsibilities, its important to keep the boundaries clear, so change control is part of configuration management. The configuration manager works with the project leader to determine the most appropriate environment strategy manages the process of releasing the software although configuration managers need access to the repository, they dont need to manipulate the application objects that make up the contents of the repository. Mar 14, 2018 with the right tool and a knowledge of project process and phases, any project is manageable.

Theres no need to start from scratch as you approach your next software development project. Software configuration management is a process to systematically manage, organize, and control the changes in the documents, codes, and other entities during the software development life cycle. Technical workers are creative, productive, downright wonderful resources, but they. Project configuration management is managing the configuration of all of the project s key products and assets. Software change management for application development. Bad software configuration management can paralyse a project. The project managers role is like a dice game what do you do in a game where sixsided dice is involved. Work with configuration teams in development and enhancement of cm tools. Role of project management software in process project success. There are many roles of a project manager in the development of software. Configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. Just as in it configuration management, where one can use cm software to see the history of each exact configuration to identify problems in a configuration, if correctly implemented on a project, cm will provide a complete, auditable record of all changes made during the lifecycle of a project, a virtual snapshot in time of every step of a. A baseline is an approved configuration object, such as a project plan, that has. The project management role works closely with the development management role in order to facilitate, encourage and prioritize the process.

Difference between devops and software configuration. Implementation of configuration management and project change management need to occur handinhand. Project configuration management pcm is the collective body of. This paper will discuss software engineering practices and product management. The terms describe very similar concepts and responsibilities, and in general they are somewhat synonymous. A good project manager manages the projects team, the projects scope, handles any issues that arise and can remain your reliable and knowledgeable single point of contact. The role of configuration management in the development and. This paper will discuss software engineering practices and product management risks, and it will provide. Software projects are difficult and they all take careful planning, a talented development team and collaboration of a projects team members, both internally within the company and externally with the software development company.

This comprehensive plan will take you from planning through closeout without missing a beat. Assist in management, maintenance and automating of cm tools. He is the author of the recent book, adapting configuration management for agile teams wiley publishing, 2010, and the agile configuration management champion at software giant ca. Early software had a physical footprint, such as cards, tapes, and other media. This includes any end products that will be delivered to the customer, as well as all management products, such as the project management plan and performance management baseline. See how it can help you by taking this free 30day trial. Software configuration management in software engineering. Good software configuration management is essential for efficient development and maintenance, and for ensuring that the integrity of the software is never compromised. Sign up to download this project plan and get unlimited access to our library of webinars, timesaving templates and more. Cm is a recognized engineering discipline that provides processes and technologies to identify and control items to ensure integrity and quality of the product under development. Good leaders in the tech space will want to know what it takes to implement it. This article discusses configuration management endtoend and studies its role in devops. Without scm, source code would become so fragmented and.

Sep 12, 2019 configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. At the core, agile projects should exhibit central values and behaviors of trust, flexibility, empowerment, and collabo. One of thekey purposes of configuration management is to control changes made to the software. Software product development companies are starting to rely on project management and sound software engineering practices to get their products into todays competitive marketplace. Cm roles, responsibilities, skills, and job descriptions. This includes checking whether the project is going on as per plan or not if any problem created then the project manager. However, there have been no empirical studies that investigate software use in project management. Software configuration management plan introduction scope and intent of scm activities the primary focus of the software configuration management scm is to identify and control major software. In software development and management, configuration management refers to the items that need to be configured and managed in order for the project to be successful. Using the responsibility definitions from the cm responsibilities in the devtoprod lifecycle section, we can begin to identify specific skills needed to perform the role. However, many software development projects still utilize this somewhat antiquated.

A variety of agile software development methods and practices have now been around for a solid ten years and existed for at least another ten years prior. The configuration management of such a project is straightforward, since in general there is just one latest and greatest version of the software, which forms the context in which all development work. The software configuration management process traces changes and verifies that the. Oversee the delivery of software applications in test and deployment environments. On the other hand, software configuration management. Configuration management tool implementer based on the major responsibilities classified in the cm roles to responsibilities matrix above based on the establish the cm infrastructure responsibility, here are the skills needed within this cm role. In software engineering, software configuration management is the task of tracking and. Developers use tools like sonar for static analysis and code coverage, junit for code coverage. It reflects the developing profession, recognising project based working at. Project configuration management is dealing with the configuration of the entirety of the projects key products and resources. Software configuration management an overview sciencedirect. The importance of configuration management cm for successful. The project manager must be a good leader who makes a team of different members of various skills and can complete their individual task. Implementation of configuration management and project change.

A configuration management plan details how you will record, track, control, and audit configuration. Configuration management role in project management and system development. We explore the role of the build system specifically, a build system based on makepp in addressing some of these needs in the context of a large integrated circuit development project using perforce for source configuration management scm. Agile pioneer fernandes said that configuration management isnt new to him, either.

Agile configuration management for large organizations. Software configuration management plan introduction. Maintain proper version controls of software deliverables. The configuration manager works with the project leader to determine the most appropriate environment strategy. To begin with, theres management of the project team. Developers and others involved in the project can use scm to keep track of artifacts, including source code, documentation, problems, changes requested, and changes made. Configuration management project management and programme. One of the key roles of the technical manager is to partner with other it managers to acquire appropriate technical assistance for such areas as enterprise architecture, database, software development, security, testing, configuration management, change management, release management. You shake the dice and roll in your hand, aiming for the highest number and planning ahead. Any change must be monitored and assessed to determine its impact on project. Successful project management for software product and. What is configuration management in project management.

Lean configuration management evolving the cm discipline. The term configuration management originates from the software industry, where it was used to keep control of the various versions of programs and other files of data that were created during the course of a software development initiative. Wylie college it department staff perform the configuration manager role for all projects. What is the role of project management in agile software. All configuration requirements on a project should be identified and recorded. Programme and project configuration management department. Role of code configuration management in devops pluralsight. Configuration management, as a discipline for supporting software development, has been around for half a century and has evolved intostandard practice within traditional software development processes. It describes any development approach typically in the guise of a known methodology employed by an actual project team that adheres to the values of the manifesto for agile software development. Define quality assurance and describe its role in project management. This incorporates any final results that will be conveyed to the client, just as all management products, for example, the project management plan and performance management benchmark. One of thekey purposes of configuration management is to control changes made to the software product.

Each project at wylie college will have one or more persons assigned to the change control manager role. Running the configuration management version control process. Configuration management cm for agile development has now been discussed since the turn of the century. The primary goal is to increase productivity with minimal mistakes. So what are the core principles of cm and how can cm help agile teams. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organizes the development process. That includes functionality requirements, design requirements, and any. Developers also use configuration management tools like svn, where they can check in source code, unit tests. Software development project plan project management. Moreira is a configuration management expert and author who specializes in configuration management as it applies to agile development. Planning includes defining the scope and the objectives of configuration management. The software project manager is responsible for ensuring proper and consistent testing, evaluation and fixes are being made.

It helps automate builds, unit testing, branching, merging and deployment of the actual code. Parallel development strategies for software configuration. There are many software tools that are specialized to varying degrees in project management, as well as numerous general business software packages that support project management. This guide defines and explains what software configuration management is, provides guidelines on how to do it, and defines in detail what a software configuration management plan should contain. Certainly it is tightly coupled with project management, product management, and quality assurance, and in some cases is considered part of quality assurance or test activities.

Software configuration management is defined as a process to systematically manage, organize, and control the changes in the documents, codes, and other entities during the software development life cycle. Configuration management is a process of tracking and controlling the changes in software in terms of the requirements, design, functions and development of the product. Software engineering system configuration management. Aug 21, 2016 agile project management is an iterative and incremental approach to delivering requirements throughout the project life cycle. Understanding configuration management also provides you the process to identify product system, software, etc deliverables for the development. In agile software development projects, there are many tools that are being used in various situations. Jan 25, 2018 software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organizes the development process. It simultaneously maintains the current state of the software called the baseline, while enabling developers to work on new versions for features or fixes. What is testing and configuration management in agile.

But, there is a whole lot more to configuration than managing source codes when it comes to devops. Processes involved in scm configuration management provides a disciplined. The term configuration management originates from the software industry, where. Planning configuration management planning defines how configuration management will be implemented in a company or organization. The book referenced above is an excellent source to understand configuration management, its definition and concept while also understanding the system software development life cycle sdlc. Rocket aldon lifecycle manager lm automatically builds, organizes, and maintains a central inventory of all application components organized by the components business functionnot just the directory structures. A software project is the complete procedure of software development from requirement gathering to testing and maintenance, carried out according to the execution methodologies, in a specified period of time to achieve intended software product. The role of configuration management in the development. Time and money being of critical importance, in large deployment scenarios. List three factors that demoralize software development. Project management has been used extensively in the engineering, construction and defense industries. It is the view of the author that all too often project management and systems development are seen as separate entities but there are several common aspects in the two disciplines. Jan 10, 2019 most people in the software development industry refer to the source code management alone as configuration management. No matter how large the project may be, software configuration management has a critical effect on quality.

It simultaneously maintains the current state of the software. This research investigated the factors that influence the effects of such software on project success and also. What is configuration management and how does it work. The information in the configuration management database cmdb is used for five major activities. Configuration management, however, can have many connotations, depending on whos discussing it. Developmental baselinestatus of work products while in development. Software projects can only move forward when the key stakeholders are all in place. The apm body of knowledge 7th edition is a foundational resource providing the concepts, functions and activities that make up professional project management. Within the context of the software development process the project management role is responsible for driving the work through the process and to completion. Configuration management encompasses the technical and administrative activities concerned with the creation, maintenance, controlled change and quality control of the scope of work. Software configuration management is a process to systematically manage.

The main focus of project monitoring and control activities is to ensure that the software development proceeds as per plan. Lean configuration management software development magazine. Project configuration management is managing the configuration of all of the projects key products and assets. List of configuration manager responsibilities and duties. The roles and responsibilities of the actors have become merged as well with developers now being able to. This role typically requires a seniorlevel cm professional. You can learn more about configuration management in chapter four of the apm body of knowledge 7 th edition. List three factors that are prime motivators of software development personnel. Operation of the configuration management version control process might be a project office task, it might be a designated role within the development subteam, or it might be a specific service within the organisations it department. Role of configuration management in devops pluralsight. The term devops is a relatively new one, popularized by the devopsdays ghent 2009 conference and subsequent devopsdays events.

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