Configuration Management Strategy 1.0.0

Scope

This document sets the policies for creating and using the system that will collect and manage all the items produced by the project. These processes are undertaken with the logic of versioning any item. The major reason is about the preservation of what has been produced within the stated quality criteria. This requires to set policies and processes for graduating any produced item. The criteria to be adopted will be set in the Benefit Review Plan and then detailed either in the Acceptance Criteria (register) or Quality Plan.

The main reasons for this investment are:

  1. Protecting the assets from any damage.
  2. Offering the current version in order to avoid any mistake due to lack of updating / synchronization.
  3. Making available, as by-product, data regarding the ongoing processes. These can offer, for example, windfalls about auditing the production results

A special care will be used to verify the correctness of the status assigned to each item. The assets available and those one which will be produced are evaluated to the front of their readiness. The criteria to be applied are set in the following documents.

  1. Benefits review plan
  2. Acceptance Criteria
  3. Quality Plan

The reason for this lies in the necessity to establish a common strategy (i.e. striking the balance between desired quality and necessary resources) with the stakeholders.

Note

The new version of Prince2 puts together the Configuration Management and Change Management. This will be dealt with the next version; when, having mapped all documents, will be easier to match the general requirements with the specific needs.

Quality

The policies (from which arrangements can be set for specific situations – e.g. localization for security reasons) must be consistent with the corporate or program strategy.

The operational rules will be checked against the existing / proposed reality. These are the involved subjects and the interested areas:

Technical / Operational

  1. This includes storage / retrieval, network and disaster recovery.
  2. Evaluation of the tools for versioning; either already available or to be acquired.
  3. Mapping any area which could be considered sensitive from company’s security policies.

Verification that all necessary structures (e.g. network and storage) are available and the staffs are properly trained for managing any situation (i.e. disaster recovery).

Business / Organizational

  1. Obtain the full acceptance of the plan from all stakeholders. Namely, check that any organization involved can cope with the proposed system; both from the organizational viewpoint and the eventual burden (required cost and time) for fulfilling all the stated rules.
  2. Full compliance to the existing (pending) rules about safety (e.g. data integrity) and security (accesses profiling).
  3. The system for retrieving elements – either items (e.g. code) or documents – is deemed accessible to anybody has the right to carry out the defined operations. An example of this kind of process is the mail merge to be used for creating reports.
  4. Auditing policies and related processes are set up and reports on reviews are approved as per Communication Strategy Management document.

Moreover, any suggested modification to the existing company’s policy has to be justified and approved by the Project Board.

RACI (who does what)

Operation desc./Roles Owner Spr PM SME BA Stkhd
Assessment of the situation C C A C R C
Planning the Configuration Management Register. I C A R R C
Verifying that all necessary information is consisted with the company’s current standards. I C A I R I
Assessing the feasibility of the proposed plan C A R C C C
Compiling the Configuration Management Strategy document C C A I R C
Approving A R C I C
Updating whenever the board authorizes it C A R I I C
Manning the system I I A R C I
Auditing the system I C A R R C

Document structure

Distribution list

This kind of information can be considered highly important. Therefore, it is suggested to inform all the interested stakeholders as described in the “Communication Management Strategy”. Any update has to be reflected on all the plans (including Quality Plan).

Registrar section

These are the key fields.

Configuration Management Strategy

Location Servers’ addresses where the system is located.
System properties All references (name, version) to the software used.
Identification policies All involved areas (technical, support, clerical, management etc.) have a common/specific naming system.
Checking item status All policies and processes to assign the correct status to each item are in working conditions.
Approving statuses Any item has to be classified in relation with the approvals received. The statuses will be set in the Quality Plan.
Planning audits These operations can have many different scopes. They span from testing the system’s reliability to charting the progresses in a specific production’s area.
Reporting methods An example is offered by the mail-merge system fed by specific queries. The layouts of the reports will be presented in the “Communication Management Strategy”.
Major Risks Is the software regularly updated and currently maintained?Is there a specific agreement for maintenance of the whole system (i.e. network and hardware)?
Approved Project Manager

Technical domains

Financial / Commercial domains

Notes